http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. (Phys.org)—"Blood is quite a peculiar kind of juice"—that is what Mephisto knew, according to Goethe's "Faust". But if blood really is very special, then erythropoietin (EPO) must be a very special molecule, as it triggers the production of our red blood cells. After ten years of intense research, American scientists have now succeeded in making a fully synthetic version of this special molecule. This achievement represents a landmark advance in the chemical synthesis of complex biological molecules from basic building blocks. http://phys.org/news269505216.html Chemistry Mon, 15 Oct 2012 07:33:44 EST news269505216 (Phys.org)—The medical community is armed with new insights and new options for drug design and discovery to treat fatal diseases such as pancreatic cancer. Using in silico computational tools to complement the results of in vivo and in vitro experiments, researchers revealed an atomic-level understanding of the mechanism by which nanoparticles inhibit the growth and metastasis of pancreatic tumors. http://phys.org/news269076743.html Nanotechnology Wed, 10 Oct 2012 08:33:02 EST news269076743 (Phys.org)—A current focus in global health research is to make medical tests that are not just cheap, but virtually free. One such strategy is to start with paper – one of humanity's oldest technologies – and build a device like a home-based pregnancy test that might work for malaria, diabetes or other diseases. http://phys.org/news268468765.html Chemistry Wed, 03 Oct 2012 07:39:51 EST news268468765 A multi-university team has employed a high-powered laser to dramatically improve one of the tools scientists use to study the world at the atomic level. The team was able to use their amped-up electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectrometer to study the electron spin of free radicals and nitrogen atoms trapped inside a diamond. http://phys.org/news267281242.html Physics Wed, 19 Sep 2012 13:47:40 EST news267281242 A research team led by Australian engineers has created the first working quantum bit based on a single atom in silicon, opening the way to ultra-powerful quantum computers of the future. http://phys.org/news267281158.html Physics Wed, 19 Sep 2012 13:46:05 EST news267281158 A protein called "clathrin," which is found in every human cell and plays a critical role in transporting materials within them, also plays a key role in cell division, according to new research at the University of California, San Francisco. http://phys.org/news266169130.html Biology Thu, 06 Sep 2012 16:52:17 EST news266169130 (Phys.org)—Using synchrotron x-ray beams to solve the molecular structures of proteins and other large biological molecules has yielded many advances in medicine, such as drug therapies for cancer. Improvements in the techniques available to scientists could lead to even more exciting advances. Recently, scientists from NSLS, the New York Structural Biology Center and Columbia University discovered a new method to determine molecular structures that would have been difficult or impossible to solve otherwise. Their work is reported in the May 25 online edition of Science. http://phys.org/news266139713.html Physics Thu, 06 Sep 2012 08:42:22 EST news266139713 Light changes matter in ways that shape our world. Photons trigger changes in proteins in the eye to enable vision; sunlight splits water into hydrogen and oxygen and creates chemicals through photosynthesis; light causes electrons to flow in the semiconductors that make up solar cells; and new devices for consumers, industry, and medicine operate with photons instead of electrons. But directly measuring how light manipulates matter on the atomic scale has never been possible, until now. http://phys.org/news265459255.html Physics Wed, 29 Aug 2012 13:00:20 EST news265459255 Despite its impressive biological resume, phosphorus is relatively inaccessible as elements go. To understand how phosphorus obtained its prominent role, scientists are modeling the early geochemical environment on Earth and in space. http://phys.org/news264932343.html Space & Earth Thu, 23 Aug 2012 10:10:03 EST news264932343 (Phys.org) -- DNA holds the genetic code for all sorts of biological molecules and traits. But University of Illinois researchers have found that DNA's code can similarly shape metallic structures. http://phys.org/news263662241.html Nanotechnology Wed, 08 Aug 2012 16:30:50 EST news263662241 (Phys.org) -- By blending optical and atomic force microscope technologies, Iowa State University and Ames Laboratory researchers have found a way to complete 3-D measurements of single biological molecules with unprecedented accuracy and precision. http://phys.org/news263194025.html Nanotechnology Fri, 03 Aug 2012 06:27:31 EST news263194025 An international team led by SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory has proved how the world's most powerful X-ray laser can assist in cracking the structures of biomolecules, and in the processes helped to pioneer critical new investigative avenues in biology. http://phys.org/news257689199.html Physics Thu, 31 May 2012 14:00:16 EST news257689199 NPL and University of Leicester scientists have explored a new way of ordering proteins for materials engineering at the nanoscale, using natural biological phenomena as a guide. http://phys.org/news255158595.html Biology Wed, 02 May 2012 06:23:31 EST news255158595 Theoretical physicist Ali Naji from the IPM in Tehran and the University of Cambridge, UK, and his colleagues have shown how small random patches of disordered, frozen electric charges can make a difference when they are scattered on surfaces that are overall neutral. http://phys.org/news255003531.html Physics Mon, 30 Apr 2012 12:50:02 EST news255003531 EPFL chemists have shown how the three-dimensional shape of an antibiotic changes when it is in an aqueous environment. This could lead to a better understanding of how drugs interact with biological molecules. http://phys.org/news254115120.html Chemistry Fri, 20 Apr 2012 05:20:01 EST news254115120 Scientists have designed a molecule which, in living cells, emits turquoise light three times brighter than possible until recently. This improves the sensitivity of cellular imaging, a technique where biological processes inside a living organism are imaged at high resolution. The results have been published in Nature Communications on 20 March 2012. http://phys.org/news251465077.html Biology Tue, 20 Mar 2012 12:24:53 EST news251465077 A new method to reveal the structure of proteins could help researchers understand biological molecules – both those involved in causing disease and those performing critical functions in healthy cells. http://phys.org/news251376017.html Chemistry Mon, 19 Mar 2012 11:40:24 EST news251376017 Over the decades X-ray crystallography has been fundamental in the development of many scientific fields. The method has revealed the structure and function of many biological molecules, including vitamins, drugs, proteins and nucleic acids such as DNA. However, in order to obtain good data, large single crystals are required. These are often nearly impossible to grow. There also is the problem that X-rays damage delicate biological samples. http://phys.org/news249041525.html Physics Tue, 21 Feb 2012 10:14:50 EST news249041525 While there have been major advances in the detection, diagnosis, and treatment of tumors within the brain, brain cancer continues to have a very low survival rate in part to high levels of resistance to treatment. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Journal of Nanobiotechnology has used Sendai virus to transport Quantum Dots (Qdots) into brain cancer cells and to specifically bind Qdots to epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) which is often over-expressed and up-regulated in tumors. By molecular-labeling cancer cells this nanoparticle technology could be used to aid diagnosis. http://phys.org/news248675729.html Nanotechnology Fri, 17 Feb 2012 04:35:38 EST news248675729 Using some of the most powerful nuclear magnetic resonance equipment available, researchers at the University of California, Davis, are making discoveries about the shape and structure of biological molecules -- potentially leading to new ways to treat or prevent diseases such as breast cancer and Alzheimer's disease. http://phys.org/news247330605.html Chemistry Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:00:01 EST news247330605 Using a liquid laser, University of Michigan researchers have developed a better way to detect the slight genetic mutations that might predispose a person to a particular type of cancer or other diseases. http://phys.org/news247249359.html Chemistry Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:22:52 EST news247249359 Scientists working at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have created the shortest, purest X-ray laser pulses ever achieved, fulfilling a 45-year-old prediction and opening the door to a new range of scientific discovery. http://phys.org/news246722632.html Physics Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:04:02 EST news246722632 In biology, what molecules are located where dictates much about how any biological system functions. http://phys.org/news245493041.html Chemistry Wed, 11 Jan 2012 08:30:55 EST news245493041 Pick your poison from this smorgasbord of recent salmonella outbreaks in the United States: ground turkey; fresh papayas; alfalfa sprouts. That's in 2011 alone, and the list goes on, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But perhaps not for long, thanks to a promising new biosensor nanotechnology that could identify the presence of salmonella bacteria before contaminated food or animals reach the marketplace. http://phys.org/news238758632.html Nanotechnology Tue, 25 Oct 2011 10:50:51 EST news238758632 A relatively simple combination of naturally occurring sugars and amino acids offers a plausible route to the building blocks of life, according to a paper published in Nature Chemistry co-authored by a professor at the University of California, Merced. http://phys.org/news232117880.html Chemistry Tue, 09 Aug 2011 14:11:40 EST news232117880 Shape and alignment are everything. How nanometer-sized pieces fit together into a whole structure determines how well a living cell or an artificially fabricated device performs. A new method to help understand and predict such structure has arrived with the successful use a new imaging tool. http://phys.org/news232035257.html Nanotechnology Mon, 08 Aug 2011 15:14:45 EST news232035257 Researchers who have been working for nearly a decade to piece together the process by which an enzyme repairs sun-damaged DNA have finally witnessed the entire process in full detail in the laboratory. http://phys.org/news230824586.html Biology Mon, 25 Jul 2011 15:00:42 EST news230824586 For University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee researchers studying the toxicity of gold nanoparticles - a minuscule material with potentially big biomedical applications - the road to a new medical advance may or may not be paved with gold. http://phys.org/news230555893.html Nanotechnology Fri, 22 Jul 2011 12:19:00 EST news230555893 (PhysOrg.com) -- Electrical engineers have long been toying with the idea of designing biological molecules that can be directly integrated into electronic circuits. University of Pennsylvania researchers have developed a way to form these structures so they can operate in open-air environments, and, more important, have developed a new microscope technique that can measure the electrical properties of these and similar devices. http://phys.org/news226662587.html Nanotechnology Tue, 07 Jun 2011 10:50:10 EST news226662587 (PhysOrg.com) -- University of Michigan physicists used the electric fields generated by intersecting laser beams to trap and manipulate thousands of microscopic plastic spheres, thereby creating 3-D arrays of optically induced crystals. http://phys.org/news226136384.html Physics Wed, 01 Jun 2011 08:40:27 EST news226136384