Latest Articles
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May- 2022 -3 MayMolecular Biology
Bacterial Enzyme Converts CO2 Into Carbon Compounds 20x Faster Than Photosynthesis
Lead Image: Artist interpretation of the enzyme Credit: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory Researchers discover that a spot of molecular glue and a timely twist help a bacterial enzyme convert carbon dioxide into carbon compounds 20 times faster than plant enzymes do during photosynthesis. The results stand to accelerate progress toward converting carbon dioxide into a variety of products. Carbon fixation, or the conversion of carbon dioxide from the air into carbon-rich biomolecules, is essential for plants’ survival. That’s the whole point of photosynthesis, and a cornerstone of the vast interlocking system that cycles carbon through plants, animals, microbes, and the…
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2 MayQuantum Computing
Quantum Future: Developing the Next Generation of Quantum Algorithms and Materials
Lead Image: Quantum computers are especially adept at simultaneously considering large numbers of possible combinations, but the instability of qubits in modern devices contributes to errors in calculations. Credit: Image by Timothy Holland | Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Simulating a Quantum Future Quantum computers are anticipated to revolutionize the way researchers address complex computing problems. These computers are being developed to address major challenges in fundamental scientific fields such as quantum chemistry. In its present state of development, quantum computing is very susceptible to noise and disruptive influences in the environment. This makes quantum computers “noisy,” since quantum bits, or…
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1 MayClimate Change
Filling the Climate Change Data Gap: Amazon Rainforest Gases Affect the Earth’s Atmosphere
Findings may fill gap for climate change, atmospheric research beyond tropical regions. According to a new study by scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), plant-foliage-derived gases generate a previously unknown atmospheric phenomenon over the Amazon rainforest. The discovery has significant implications for atmospheric science and climate change modeling. “The tropical Amazon rainforest constitutes the lungs of the Earth, and this study connects natural processes in the forest to aerosols, clouds, and the Earth’s radiative balance in ways that have not been previously recognized,” said Manish Shrivastava, PNNL Earth scientist and primary investigator of the study. The research was recently…
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1 MayAstronomy
Instability at the Beginning of the Solar System – Implications for Mysterious “Planet 9”
Lead Image: All stars, including our sun, are born from a cloud of dust and gas. This cloud can also seed planets that will orbit the star. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech The Instability at the Beginning of the Solar System A new explanation for why our solar system is the way it is — and why others are, too. Seth Jacobson of Michigan State University and colleagues in China and France have unveiled a new theory that could help solve a galactic mystery of how our solar system evolved. Specifically, how did the gas giants — Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune —…
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Apr- 2022 -30 AprilMicrobiology
Plant Protein Kills Bacterial Cells – New Model for Antibacterial Mechanism Could Result in New Antibiotics
Lead Image: Light microscope images of E. coli cells in transmitted light (left) and reflected light that picks up the red fluorescence of a dye staining the cells’ DNA (right). In normal cells (upper panel), the DNA is spread throughout the cells. But in cells expressing the aberrant plant protein identified in this study (bottom panel) all the DNA within each cell has collapsed into a dense mass. DNA condensation also occurs after bacteria have been treated with aminoglycoside antibiotics. Credit: Brookhaven National Laboratory Discovery of an aberrant protein that kills bacterial cells could help unravel the mechanism of certain…
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