Ancient genome reveals its secrets

Max Planck researchers describe Denisovan genome, illuminating the relationships between Denisovans and present-day humans

03-Sep-2012 - The analyses of an international team of researchers led by Svante Pääbo of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, show that the genetic variation of Denisovans was extremely low, suggesting that although they were present in large parts of Asia, their ...

Turning chemistry inside-out

Self-assembling smart microscopic reagents to pioneer pourable electronics

31-Aug-2012 - First place in an EU competitive call on “Unconventional Computing” was awarded to a collaborative proposal coordinated by Prof. John McCaskill from the RUB Faculty of Chemistry and Biochemistry. The project MICREAgents plans to build autonomous self-assembling electronic microreagents that are ...

Microscopic tracking of photocatalysis

New measuring technique brings solar fuels closer

30-Aug-2012 - Detailed molecular-scale measurements of a chemical reaction accelerated by sunlight have been made for the first time ever. Chemists at Utrecht University and the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (Germany) have set up a special microscope to simultaneously take part in and observe the ...

New imaging technique homes in on electrocatalysis of nanoparticles

30-Aug-2012 - By modifying the rate at which chemical reactions take place, nanoparticle catalysts fulfill myriad roles in industry, the biomedical arena and everyday life. They may be used for the production of polymers and biofuels, for improving pollution and emission control devices, to enhance reactions ...

New method helps researchers decode genomes

29-Aug-2012 - Although scientists sequenced the entire human genome more than 10 years ago, much work remains to understand what proteins all those genes code for.Now, a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences describes a new approach that allows researchers to decode the genome ...

Tokyo Institute of Technology research: Simplifying genetic codes to look back in time

Tokyo Institute of Technology researchers show simpler versions of the universal genetic code can still function in protein synthesis

29-Aug-2012 - Daisuke Kiga and co-workers at the Department of Computational Intelligence and Systems Science at Tokyo Institute of Technology, together with researchers across Japan, have shown that simpler versions of the universal genetic code, created by knocking out certain amino acids, can still function ...

Weighing molecules 1 at a time

Caltech-led physicists create first-ever mechanical device that measures the mass of a single molecule

28-Aug-2012 - A team led by scientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have made the first-ever mechanical device that can measure the mass of individual molecules one at a time. This new technology, the researchers say, will eventually help doctors diagnose diseases, enable biologists to ...

Virus detector harnesses ring of light in 'whispering gallery mode'

27-Aug-2012 - By affixing nanoscale gold spheres onto a microscopic bead of glass, researchers have created a super-sensor that can detect even single samples of the smallest known viruses. The sensor uses a peculiar behavior of light known as "whispering gallery mode," named after the famous circular gallery ...

MRI findings shed light on multiple sclerosis

23-Aug-2012 - New magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) research shows that changes in brain blood flow associated with vein abnormalities are not specific for multiple sclerosis (MS) and do not contribute to its severity, despite what some researchers have speculated. Results of the research are published in ...

Photonic-plasmonic microcavity for ultrasensitive protein detection

Measuring proteins in real-time down to fM solution concentration levels

21-Aug-2012 - Label free optical biosensors enable the monitoring of biomolecules and their interactions in often highly sensitive diagnostic assays. Several methods have been employed for this purpose, including Whispering Gallery Mode (WGM) biosensing, which offers a particularly sensitive approach to ...