news

The same substance that hampers the infection capability of bacteria can hasten the fiber formation of the protein that is involved in the development of Parkinson's disease. The study shows how important basic research is to our understanding of possible side effects from drug candidates interacting with various target proteins.

The European Space Agency's Planck mission with the support of University astronomers has unveiled more surprises about our Galaxy, bringing scientists closer to being able to understand the structure of the Universe. The results include previously unknown clouds of cold gas, and a mysterious haze of microwave emission near the centre of the Galaxy.

PA 51/12 Scientists at The University of Nottingham have discovered a new molecule that could offer the hope of new treatments for people allergic to the house dust mite. The team of immunologists led by Amir Ghaem-Maghami and Professor Farouk Shakib in the University's School of Molecular Medical Sciences have identified the molecule DC-SIGN which appears to play a role in damping down the body's allergic response to the house dust mite.

Researchers from the University of Bristol have measured and identified for the first time the stress and strain shear modulus and internal friction of graphene sheets. The research, in collaboration with the US Office of Naval Research , is published in Nano Letters . Graphene is made up of a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice.

Planck steps closer to the cosmic blueprint ESA's Planck mission has revealed that our Galaxy contains previously undiscovered islands of cold gas and a mysterious haze of microwaves. These results give scientists new treasure to mine and take them closer to revealing the blueprint of cosmic structure.

Experts at the University of Glasgow have discovered how plants survive the harmful rays of the sun. UV-B wavelengths are the most powerful part of the daylight spectrum and are potentially damaging both to humans and plants. However, plants rarely show signs of damage because they have evolved a way of protecting themselves from the sun's harmful rays by making their own chemical sunscreen in their leaves.

Research by the University of Liverpool has found that the redder ladybirds more poisonous. The study by the Universities of Liverpool and Exeter reveals that variation in colour is directly linked to diet in early life, with better-fed ladybirds being more visible and more deadly. Ecologists have long assumed that there are no individual differences between the warning signals of animals of the same species.

Scientists at the University of California, San Diego have developed a new method for making scaffolds for culturing tissue in three-dimensional arrangements that mimic those in the body. This advance, published online in the journal Advanced Materials , allows the production of tissue culture scaffolds containing multiple structurally and chemically distinct layers using common laboratory reagents and materials.

Deadly viruses are first detected by our immune system by MDA5, a receptor that recognizes viral RNA soon after it infects the cell. Yale University researchers show that pairs of these molecules assemble along this viral RNA in long filaments, which scientists Yorgo Modis and Ian Berke propose trigger a partner signaling molecule, MAVS (seen in red), which in turn instructs the cell to mount an antiviral inflammatory response.

In a paper just published , a team of University of Bristol scientists explores whether new models or concepts are needed to tackle one of the 'grand challenges' of chemical biology: understanding enzyme catalysis. On a microscopic scale, nearly all the machinery that keeps our cells working involves chemical reactions of some sort and these reactions wouldn't happen without enzymes - natural catalysts which make reactions happen very quickly, fast enough for life to be possible.

The internet is awash with stories of how silver can be used to treat cancer. Now, lab tests have shown that it is as effective as the leading chemotherapy drug - and may have fewer side-effects. Results from the study at the University of Leeds, published in Dalton Transactions , show that particular silver compounds are as toxic to cancer cells as the platinum-based drug Cisplatin, which is widely used to treat a range of cancers.

Researchers at Yale University have developed a new way of exposing the atomic attachments that keep complex molecules in precise alignment. The new method could provide insight into the mechanics of a variety of molecular structures, potentially aiding efforts to manipulate them for drug discovery and other purposes.

The heart's inner workings are mysterious, perhaps even more so with a new finding. Engineers at the University of Washington have discovered an electrical property in arteries not seen before in mammalian tissues. The researchers found that the wall of the aorta, the largest blood vessel carrying blood from the heart, exhibits ferroelectricity, a response to an electric field known to exist in inorganic and synthetic materials.

A drug used to treat multiple sclerosis may also be effective at preventing and reversing the leading cause of heart attack, a new study has found. Scientists found that Gilenya, a drug recently approved in the US for treating MS, was effective at reversing the symptoms of ventricular hypertrophy in mice.

A species of small, transparent roundworms have a highly evolved language in which they combine chemical fragments to create precise molecular messages that control social behavior, reports a new study from the Boyce Thompson Institute (BTI) at Cornell and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).

AUSTIN, Texas — Use of methamphetamines is on the rise nationally after a decrease a few years ago, according to university researchers. Use of meth dropped significantly in 2007 and 2008 after laws limiting the availability of pseudoephedrine went into effect made it much harder to obtain key ingredients.

Minuscule amounts of ethanol, the type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages, can more than double the life span of a tiny worm known as Caenorhabditis elegans , which is used frequently as a model in aging studies, UCLA biochemists report. The scientists said they find their discovery difficult to explain.

— Coral Gables — By combining detailed chemical measurements in the ocean, oil slick, and air, scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the University of Miami, and elsewhere have independently estimated how fast gases and oil were leaking during the BP Deepwater Horizon Gulf oil spill in 2010.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. With one simple experiment, University of Illinois chemists have debunked a widely held misconception about an often-prescribed drug.

The human genome contains some 3 billion base pairs that are tightly compacted into the nucleus of each cell. If a DNA strand were the thickness of a human hair, the entire human genome would be crammed into a space the size of a softball, but if it were unraveled and all the strands lined up, they would stretch from Ithaca, N.Y., to Boston.