News tagged with molecular mechanics

Cosmic calculations: Advance will help astrophysicists explore where stars are born

A University of Delaware-led research team reports an advance in the June 1 issue of Science that may help astrophysicists more accurately analyze the vast molecular clouds of gas and dust where stars are bo ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created May 31, 2012 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (4) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Mystery of monarch migration takes new turn

During the fall, hundreds of millions of monarch butterflies living in eastern North America fly up to 1,500 miles to the volcanic forests of Mexico to spend the winter, while monarchs west of the Rocky Mountains fly to the ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created May 31, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

How heroin works: Imaging opioid receptors in the brain

(Phys.org) -- Researchers and doctors have gleaned new clues to the molecular mechanisms behind some of the most addictive substances in the world, thanks to two new studies that uncovered the structures of ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Apr 25, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Seed size is controlled by maternally produced small RNAs: research

Seed size is controlled by small RNA molecules inherited from a plant's mother, a discovery from scientists at The University of Texas at Austin that has implications for agriculture and understanding plant ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Apr 11, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Slow snails, fast genes: Predatory snails refine venoms through continuous gene duplication

(Phys.org) -- When tropical marine cone snails sink their harpoon-like teeth into their prey, they inject paralyzing venoms made from a potent mix of more than 100 different neurotoxins.

Biology / Biotechnology

created Apr 10, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

To drive infections, a hijacking virus mimics a cell's signaling system

New biological research reveals how an invading virus hijacks a cell's workings by imitating a signaling marker to defeat the body's defenses. By manipulating cell signals, the virus destroys a defensive protein designed ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Mar 26, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Researchers uncover molecular pathway through which common yeast becomes fungal pathogen

Scientists at the University of Toronto have found a molecular mechanism that plays a key role in the transition of Candida albicans yeast into disease-causing fungus—one of the leading causes of hospital-acquired infect ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Mar 16, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Shedding light on how body fends off bacteria

To invade organisms such as humans, bacteria make use of a protein called flagellin, part of a tail-like appendage that helps the bacteria move about. Now, for the first time, a team led by scientists at The ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Feb 16, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Stress-induced genomic instability facilitates rapid cellular adaption in yeast

Cells trying to keep pace with constantly changing environmental conditions need to strike a fine balance between maintaining their genomic integrity and allowing enough genetic flexibility to adapt to inhospitable conditions. ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Jan 29, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Researchers model potential of toxic algae photoreceptors

Blue-green algae is causing havoc in Midwestern lakes saturated with agricultural run-off, but researchers in a northwest Ohio lab are using supercomputers to study a closely related strain of the toxic cyanobacteria ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Jan 26, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Method identifies mutations that drive genetic diseases

(PhysOrg.com) -- For the first time, a new computational method allows researchers to identify which specific molecular mechanisms are altered by genetic mutations in proteins that lead to disease. And they ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Jan 19, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Protein associated with learning implicated in causing grasshoppers to swarm

New research has found that a protein associated with learning and memory plays an integral role in changing the behaviour of locusts from that of harmless grasshoppers into swarming pests.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Dec 19, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New leads on mechanisms that confer virulence to E.coli-type bacteria

A team headed by scientists from the IRB Barcelona reports how the protein Ler, which is found in pathogenic bacteria, interacts with certain DNA sequences, thereby activating numerous genes responsible for ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Dec 09, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Aging human bodies and aging human oocytes run on different clocks

Reproductive and somatic aging use different molecular mechanisms that show little overlap between the types of genes required to keep oocytes healthy and the genes that generally extend life span, according to Coleen Murphy, ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Dec 06, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Lessons learned from yeast about human leukemia

The trifecta of biological proof is to take a discovery made in a simple model organism like baker's yeast and track down its analogs or homologs in "higher" creatures right up the complexity scale to people, ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Dec 05, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast