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Researchers from the University of Innsbruck have developed a new method for covalently labeling RNA in the cell. In the journal Nature Chemical Biology, they show how it can be used to map RNA movements in the cell. The specific labeling of RNA in living cells poses many challenges. In the journal Nature Chemical Biology, researchers from the University of Innsbruck describe a structure-guided approach to the formation of covalent (i.e.

TU/e researchers have developed a way to make a cytoskeleton for artificial cells. The new research has been published in Nature Chemistry. Just like your body has a skeleton, every cell in your body has a skeleton - a cytoskeleton to be precise. This provides cells with mechanical resilience, as well as assisting with cell division.

Stories on tamper-proof ID tags, sound-suppressing silk, and generative AI's understanding of the world were some of the most popular topics on MIT News. MIT's research community had another year full of scientific and technological advances in 2024. To celebrate the achievements of the past twelve months, highlights some of our most popular stories from this year.

A recent study conducted on melon plants has revealed a defense mechanism that certain plants activate to deal with insect pests. It is a system of signaling molecules that, distributed through extracellular vesicles - including exosomes - allow plants to adapt their defenses according to the level of stress they are under.

As part of a high-resolution biosensing device without wires, the antennas could help researchers decode intricate electrical signals sent by cells. Monitoring electrical signals in biological systems helps scientists understand how cells communicate, which can aid in the diagnosis and treatment of conditions like arrhythmia and Alzheimer's.

Opening new doors for the development of nanotechnologies in medicine, UdeM scientists recreate two natural mechanisms to better program the timescale of molecular communication and functionality. Living organisms monitor time - and react to it - in many different ways, from detecting light and sound in microseconds to responding physiologically in pre-programmed ways, via their daily sleep cycle, monthly menstrual cycle, or to changes in the seasons.

To fight the virus that causes influenza, one of the avenues being explored by scientists is the development of drugs capable of destabilising its genome, made up of eight RNA 1 molecules.

Sensors developed by SMART researchers are capable of detecting pH changes in plant xylem enable farmers to detect drought stress up to 48 hours before visible physical symptoms manifest. Have you ever wondered if your plants were dry and dehydrated, or if you're not watering them enough? Farmers and green-fingered enthusiasts alike may soon have a way to find this out in real-time.

MIT study confirms the climate impacts of hydrogen, recommends leak prevention be a priority as infrastructure for handling this clean-burning fuel is built. As the world looks for ways to stop climate change, much discussion focuses on using hydrogen instead of fossil fuels, which emit climate-warming greenhouse gases (GHGs) when they're burned.

A UNIGE study reveals how mechanics, linked to tissue growth, help generate the diversity of biological structures. How can we explain the morphological diversity of living organisms? Although genetics is the answer that typically springs to mind, it is not the only explanation. By combining observations of embryonic development, advanced microscopy, and cutting-edge computer modelling, a multi-disciplinary team from the University of Geneva demonstrate that the crocodile head scales emerge from the mechanics of growing tissues, rather than molecular genetics.

Changes in atmospheric particles since preindustrial times have masked some of the warming caused by rising levels of carbon dioxide. Atmospheric particles cool the climate by directly reflecting sunlight and by making clouds more reflective; they are also deadly pollution. Fifteen years ago, it was thought that sulfuric acid drove almost all particle formation.

Identifying optimal catalyst materials for specific reactions is crucial to advance energy storage technologies and sustainable chemical processes. To screen catalysts, scientists must understand systems' adsorption energy, something that machine learning (ML) models, particularly graph neural networks (GNNs), have been successful at predicting.

Key Takeaways Better-performing film capacitors are needed for safe, reliable electric vehicles and renewable energy, but it's challenging to find suitable materials. To accelerate the discovery of breakthrough materials, researchers developed a machine-learning technique to rapidly screen tens of thousands of polymer compounds and identified several candidates with exceptional properties.

CLOUD project at CERN investigates particle formation of isoprene in the troposphere Aerosol particles in the atmosphere play a central role in cloud formation and consequently influence solar radiation on its way to Earth. An international team of scientists from the Universities of Vienna and Innsbruck is researching their formation and growth mechanisms.

Physicists are getting closer to controlling single-molecule chemical reactions - could this shape the future of pharmaceutical research? Controlling matter at the atomic level has taken a major step forward, thanks to groundbreaking nanotechnology research by an international team of scientists led by physicists at the University of Bath.

In the effort to develop new quantum technologies of the future, scientists are pursuing several different approaches. One avenue seeks to use molecules as the fundamental building blocks of quantum technologies. Now scientists at Caltech have figured out a new way to use ultrafast laser pulses to realize an important quantum mechanical property known as superposition, turning a relatively simple molecule into a quantum sensor-a tool that can measure chemical phenomena in its surroundings through inherently quantum means.

Scientists are calling for changes to chemistry textbooks after discovering a fundamental aspect of structural organic chemistry has been incorrectly described for almost 100 years. The team from Cardiff University's School of Chemistry, dispute the long-held belief that alkyl groups - a chemical group consisting of carbon and hydrogen atoms arranged in a chain - donate electrons to other parts of a molecule.

A research team at the Institute of Materials Chemistry at TU Wien, led by Professor Dominik Eder, has developed a new synthetic approach to create durable, conductive and catalytically active hybrid framework materials for (photo)electrocatalytic water splitting. Porous metal-organic framework catalysts The development of technologies for sustainable energy carriers, such as hydrogen, is essential.

A new study shows that artificial ponds created to restore peatlands exploited by humans achieve a balance similar to that of natural ponds, but it takes time. Ponds created to restore bogs degraded by peat extraction take over 17 years to develop ecosystems similar to natural ponds. That is the finding of a study by master's students Émilie Jolin and Mahmud Hassan and doctoral candidate Julien Arsenault, supervised by Julie Talbot of the Department of Geography at Université de Montréal and Line Rochefort at Université Laval.

Within a cell, DNA carries the genetic code for building proteins. To build proteins, the cell makes a copy of DNA, called mRNA. Then, another molecule called a ribosome reads the mRNA, translating it into protein. But this step has been a visual mystery: scientists previously did not know how the ribosome attaches to and reads mRNA.