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“In the past, we have tried to break things apart to study them, but if you really want to understand how these channels work, you should be able to build them,” said Patrick Lusk, associate professor of cell biology at Yale School of Medicine. In collaboration with Chenxiang Lin, an assistant professor of cell biology and a member of the Nanobiology Institute at Yale’s West Campus, the researchers recreated key aspects of the nuclear membrane transport channels by meticulously arranging the native cellular proteins on a nano-cylinder made, constructed using a technique called “DNA-origami....

“Everyone’s unique” is a popular maxim. All people are equal, but there are of course individual differences. This was no different with dinosaurs. A study by researchers at the University of Bonn and the Dinosaur Museum Frick in Switzerland has now revealed that the variability of Plateosaurus trossingensis was much greater than previously assumed. The paleontologists examined a total of 14 complete skulls of this species, eight of which they described for the first time....

Dentin, the material under the enamel that makes up the bulk of a tooth, forms in microscopic layers that compare to the rings of a tree. Adequate formation of those layers is dependent on Vitamin D. Dark streaks develop in periods when the body is deprived of the critical nutrient, usually because of a lack of sunlight. The researchers, led by anthropologist Megan Brickley, had previously established that such microscopic defects remain in place and can be read later, in the same way a tree trunk can show years of good and poor growth....

Building on recent research confirming how ketamine induces rapid antidepressant action, Professor of Pharmacology Lisa Monteggia and her collaborators show how the molecular mechanism of the gene MeCP2 and associated synaptic adaptability are critical to the long-term antidepressant effects of ketamine. While MeCP2 has been shown to be important for typical antidepressants, this research indicates that, in cooperation with ketamine’s initial target, the gene is important for long-term antidepressant action, Monteggia said....

When you think of robotics, you likely think of something rigid, heavy, and built for a specific purpose. New “Robotic Skins” technology developed by Yale researchers flips that notion on its head, allowing users to animate the inanimate and turn everyday objects into robots. Developed in the lab of Rebecca Kramer-Bottiglio, assistant professor of mechanical engineering & materials science, robotic skins enable users to design their own robotic systems. Although the skins are designed with no specific task in mind, Kramer-Bottiglio said, they could be used for everything from search-and-rescue robots to wearable technologies....

An international team of researchers has published their discovery of the source location of a radio signal emanating from a C-class solar flare over 5,000 kilometers above the surface of the Sun in the journal Nature Communications. Researchers say the study’s findings could help scientists better understand the physical processes behind the energy release of solar flares — the solar system’s most powerful explosions. “The discovery is unexpected,” said Sijie Yu, the study’s corresponding author and astronomer affiliated with NJIT’s Center for Solar-Terrestrial Research....

In a paper published September 13, 2019, in Nature Communications, scientists report that they can manipulate the electronic properties of this super-thin material in ways that could be useful for encoding quantum data. The study deals with WS2’s energy valleys, which University at Buffalo physicist Hao Zeng, co-lead author of the paper, describes as “the local energy extrema of the electronic structure in a crystalline solid.” Valleys correspond with specific energies that electrons can have in a material, and the presence of an electron in one valley versus another can be used to encode information....

1. Lowers Stress Levels In Chinese medicine, astragalus is associated with the “earth” element. It’s considered an adaptogen because it promotes homeostasis in response to stressors and helps the body adapt to stress. To test the effect of astragalus on stress hormones, scientists in one study looked at milk-producing cows under heat stress. Heat exposure normally reduces milk production in cows, but astragalus intervention was shown to mitigate this effect by lowering cortisol — the main hormone responsible for producing a stress response in the body....

Despite having lizardlike claws, scales and tails, albanerpetontids — mercifully called “albies” for short — were amphibians, not reptiles. Their lineage was distinct from today’s frogs, salamanders and caecilians and dates back at least 165 million years, dying out only about 2 million years ago. Now, a set of 99-million-year-old fossils redefines these tiny animals as sit-and-wait predators that snatched prey with a projectile firing of their tongue — and not underground burrowers, as once thought....

In this case, the dark red area along the front of the wing represents higher-speed airflow as the TTBW’s wings, which are thinner than those of today’s commercial airliners, pierce the air. The tan-colored area shows the relatively smooth wake generated by the aerodynamic wings. A TTBW aircraft produces less drag due to its longer, thinner wings supported by aerodynamic trusses. In flight, it could consume up to 10% less jet fuel than a standard airliner....

The hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) glycoproteins are the primary targets of the flu vaccine. The HA protein facilitates the virus’s attachment to host cells, while the NA protein acts as a scissor to detach the HA from the cell membrane, enabling the virus to multiply. Despite previous studies on the properties of these glycoproteins, a complete understanding of their movement does not exist. For the first time, researchers at the University of California San Diego have created an atomic-level computer model of the H1N1 virus that reveals new vulnerabilities through glycoprotein “breathing” and “tilting” movements....

The researchers report today (September 14, 2020) in the journal Cell that Ab8 is highly effective in preventing and treating SARS-CoV-2 infection in mice and hamsters. Its tiny size not only increases its potential for diffusion in tissues to better neutralize the virus, but also makes it possible to administer the drug by alternative routes, including inhalation. Importantly, it does not bind to human cells — a good sign that it won’t have negative side-effects in people....

It is well established that individuals with schizophrenia experience disruptions in various 24-hour bodily rhythms, including their sleep-wake patterns, hormone levels, and gene activity in the prefrontal cortex of the brain. However, there is limited understanding of gene activity in the brain, both in healthy individuals and those with schizophrenia, for rhythms that are shorter than the typical 24-hour circadian rhythm. Because gene transcript levels cannot be measured in living brains, the new study used a time-of-death analysis to search for 12-hour rhythms in gene activity within postmortem brains....

Gene variants associated with alcohol dependence are also linked to the risk of psychiatric disorders and other drug use, a massive study of more than 50,000 people published November 26 in the journal Nature Neuroscience has found. “There were genetic links both to other psychiatric disorders, such as depression, and to use of cigarettes and other drugs like cannabis,” said co-corresponding author Joel Gelernter, the Foundations Fund Professor of Psychiatry and professor of genetics and of neuroscience at Yale....

As the lake dries up, the concentration of salt and chemicals in the remaining water has skyrocketed, triggering a mass die-off of fish and birds, including endangered species. The salty, toxic water that coats the dry lakebed turns it into dust, causing respiratory problems for nearby residents. “It is an environmental catastrophe,” said Juan S. Acero Triana, a University of California, Riverside hydrologist and lead author of a new study focused on understanding water movement on and below Earth’s surface near the Salton Sea, a research field called hydrology....

A team from the UK and Germany discovered forest soil from the Cretaceous period within 900 km (560 mi) of the South Pole. Their analysis of the preserved roots, pollen, and spores shows that the world at that time was a lot warmer than previously thought. The discovery and analysis were carried out by an international team of researchers led by geoscientists from the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research in Germany and including Imperial College London researchers....

IC 4710 is a dwarf irregular galaxy. As the name suggests, such galaxies are irregular and chaotic in appearance, lacking central bulges and spiral arms — they are distinctly different from spirals or ellipticals. It is thought that irregular galaxies may once have been spirals or ellipticals, but became distorted over time through external gravitational forces during interactions or mergers with other galaxies. Dwarf irregulars in particular are important to our overall understanding of galactic evolution, as they are thought to be similar to the first galaxies that formed in the Universe....

It turns out that while (warm-blooded) fish able to regulate their own body temperatures can swim faster, they do not live in waters spanning a broader range of temperatures. The research therefore provides some of the first direct evidence as to the evolutionary advantage of being warm-blooded as well as underlining that species in this demographic — such as the infamous white shark and the speedy bluefin tuna — are likely just as vulnerable to changing global ocean temperatures as their cold-blooded relatives....

Priscu presented at the Center for Dark Energy Biosphere Investigation, sites where he highlighted a few subglacial lakes, where exotic chemical mixtures and unique physical phenomenons converge to create bizarre environments. At the bottom of the Taylor Glacier, there is an icefall several stories tall and streaked with orange and red bands, known as Blood Falls. Over time, subglacial water lost its oxygen and got saltier, creating a viscous liquid brine....

The ochre crayon was discovered near an ancient lake, now blanketed in peat, near Scarborough, North Yorkshire. An ochre pebble was found at another site on the opposite side of the lake. The pebble had a heavily striated surface that is likely to have been scraped to produce a red pigment powder. The crayon measures 22mm long and 7mm wide. Ochre is an important mineral pigment used by prehistoric hunter-gatherers across the globe....