News tagged with calcium ions

Blue light enables genes to turn on

(Medical Xpress) -- With a combination of synthetic biology and optogenetics, researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute for Technology published a paper in Science outlining their new technique which enable ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Jun 24, 2011 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (9) | comments 0 | with audio podcast report

Oldest objects in solar system indicate a turbulent beginning

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have found that calcium, aluminum-rich inclusions (CAIs), some of the oldest objects in the solar system, formed far away from our sun and then later fell back into the mid-plane ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Mar 03, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (4) | comments 13 | with audio podcast

Scientists convert carbon-dioxide emissions to useful building materials, using genetically altered yeast

Every year, about 30 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide are pumped into the Earth’s atmosphere from power plants, cars and other industrial sources that rely on fossil fuels. Scientists who want to mitigate ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Sep 22, 2010 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (15) | comments 10 | with audio podcast

Researchers discover water on the moon is widespread, similar to Earth's

Researchers at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, are once again turning what scientists thought they knew about the moon on its head.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Jul 21, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (23) | comments 25 | with audio podcast

Quantum simulation of a relativistic particle

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers of the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information (IQOQI) in Innsbruck, Austria used a calcium ion to simulate a relativistic quantum particle, demonstrating a phenomenon ...

Physics / Quantum Physics

created Jan 06, 2010 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (22) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Could salt crusts be key ingredient in cooking up prebiotic molecules?

German scientists investigating the complex chemical mixture thought to be present in the early Earth’s oceans have found that amino acids can be 'cooked' into many other important chemical building blocks ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Sep 18, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (4) | comments 0

Alzheimer’s Findings Resolve Dispute Over How Disease Kills Brain Cells

(PhysOrg.com) -- For a decade, Alzheimer's disease researchers have been entrenched in debate about one of the mechanisms believed to be responsible for brain cell death and memory loss in the illness.

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Apr 15, 2009 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (6) | comments 0

Efficient and tunable interface for quantum networks

(Phys.org) -- Quantum computers may someday revolutionize the information world. But in order for quantum computers at distant locations to communicate with one another, they have to be linked together in ...

Physics / Quantum Physics

created May 23, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Sperm can count

The speed at which the calcium concentration in the cell changes controls the swimming behavior of sperm. They can calculate the calcium dynamics and react accordingly.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Mar 07, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

The secret life of proteins: Researchers discover dual role of key player in immune system

Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine researchers have identified a new and unusual role for a key player in the human immune system. A protein initially believed to regulate one routine function within the ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Jan 28, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Gene discovery explains how fruit flies retreat from heat

A discovery in fruit flies may be able to tell us more about how animals, including humans, sense potentially dangerous discomforts.

Biology / Biotechnology

created Dec 15, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Cellular communications visualized with a vibrant color palette

A University of Alberta-led research team has dramatically expanded the palette of fluorescent highlighters that can be used to track the movement of messengers inside of single cells.

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Sep 08, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Epileptic seizures may be linked to an ancient gene family

New research points to a genetic route to understanding and treating epilepsy. Timothy Jegla, an assistant professor of biology at Penn State University, has identified an ancient gene family that plays a ...

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Aug 01, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Electrical activity in developing brain influences choice of neurotransmitter

Cascades of genetic signals determine which neurotransmitter a brain cell will ultimately use to communicate with other cells. Now a pair of reports from biologists at the University of California, San Diego, have shown for ...

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Jul 28, 2010 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (6) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Calcium connections: Basic pathway for maintaining cell's fuel stores

University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine researchers have described a previously unknown biological mechanism in cells that prevents them from cannibalizing themselves for fuel. The mechanism involves ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Jul 27, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Calcium

Calcium (pronounced /ˈkælsiəm/) is the chemical element with the symbol Ca and atomic number 20. It has an atomic mass of 40.078 amu. Calcium is a soft grey alkaline earth metal, and is the fifth most abundant element by mass in the Earth's crust. Calcium is also the fifth most abundant dissolved ion in seawater by both molarity and mass, after sodium, chloride, magnesium, and sulfate.

Calcium is essential for living organisms, particularly in cell physiology, where movement of the calcium ion Ca2+ into and out of the cytoplasm functions as a signal for many cellular processes. As a major material used in mineralization of bones and shells, calcium is the most abundant metal by mass in many animals.

For more information about Calcium, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

Related topics: protein