Elements heavier than iron come into being only in powerful stellar explosions, supernovae. During nuclear reactions all kinds of short-lived atomic nuclei are formed, including more stable combinations — the so-called magic numbers — pred…
Do mountain tops act as sky islands for species that live at high elevations? Are plant populations on these mountain tops isolated from one another because the valleys between them act as barriers, or can pollinators act as bridges allowing gen…
Participating in an 8-week mindfulness meditation program appears to make measurable changes in brain regions associated with memory, sense of self, empathy and stress. In a study that will appear in the January 30 issue of Psychiatry Research: Ne…
An Anglo-Swiss research project has found that the impact of disease-resistant genetically-modified wheat plants on insects may be negligible.
Many studies have looked at the effects of genetically-modified (GM) plants on single non-target insects…
A University of Manchester scientist has revealed the mechanism that binds skin cells tightly together, which he believes will lead to new treatments for painful and debilitating skin diseases and also lethal heart defects.
Professor David Garrod,…
PASADENA, Calif. — Glass is inherently strong, but when it cracks or otherwise fails, it proves brittle, shattering almost immediately. Steel and other metal alloys tend to be tough — they resist shattering — but are also relatively weak; they …
People have only 20,000 to 30,000 genes (the number is hotly contested), but they use those genes to make more than 2 million proteins. It’s the protein molecules that domost of the work in the human cell. After all, the word protein comes fro…
Glass stronger and tougher than steel? A new type of damage-tolerant metallic glass, demonstrating a strength and toughness beyond that of any known material, has been developed and tested by a collaboration of researchers with the U.S. Departme…
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — In one University of Illinois lab, invisibility is a matter of now you hear it, now you don’t.
Led by mechanical science and engineering professor Nicholas Fang, Illinois researchers have demonstrated an acoustic cloak, a…
Australian researchers have identified a way to measure the structure of membrane proteins despite being damaged when using X-ray Free-Electron Lasers (XFELs), a discovery that will help fast track the development of targeted drugs using emerging XF…
From atomic crystals to spiral galaxies, self-assembly is ubiquitous in nature. In biological processes, self-assembly at the molecular level is particularly prevalent.
Phospholipids, for example, will self-assemble into a bilayer to form a cell…
Cleveland — Materials scientists from Case Western Reserve University and the Institute of Solid State Research in Jülich, Germany have produced particularly clear changes in the atomic structure of sapphire following deformation at high temperatu…