News tagged with molecular switch

Presto! Fast color-changing material may lead to more powerful computers (w/Video)

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers in Japan are reporting development of a new so-called "photochromic" material that changes color thousands of times faster than conventional materials when exposed to light.

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Apr 23, 2009 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (18) | comments 7

How hemp got high: Canadian scientists map the cannabis genome

A team of Canadian researchers has sequenced the genome of Cannabis sativa, the plant that produces both industrial hemp and marijuana, and in the process revealed the genetic changes that led to the plant's drug-producing proper ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Oct 19, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (12) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

The smallest conceivable switch: Targeted proton transfer within a molecule

For a long time miniaturization has been the magic word in electronics. Dr. Willi Auwaerter and Professor Johannes Barth, together with their team of physicists at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM), ...

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Dec 12, 2011 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (7) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Study sheds light on RNA 'on/off switches'

Scientists from The Scripps Research Institute have shed new light on a molecular switch that turns genes on or off in response to a cell's energy needs.

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Feb 13, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

When will artificial molecular machines start working for us?

Physicist Richard Feynman in his famous 1959 talk, "Plenty of Room at the Bottom," described the precise control at the atomic level promised by molecular machines of the future. More than 50 years later, synthetic molecular ...

Chemistry / Other

created Nov 25, 2011 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (6) | comments 5 | with audio podcast

Researchers invent a switch that could improve electronics

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have invented a new type of electronic switch that performs electronic logic functions within a single molecule. The incorporation of such single-molecule elements could enable ...

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Dec 01, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (8) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Study provides insight into evolution of first flowers

(PhysOrg.com) -- Charles Darwin described the sudden origin of flowering plants about 130 million years ago as an abominable mystery, one that scientists have yet to solve.

Biology / Evolution

created May 18, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (10) | comments 0

Insulin-releasing switch discovered

Johns Hopkins researchers believe they have uncovered the molecular switch for the secretion of insulin — the hormone that regulates blood sugar — providing for the first time an explanation of this process. In ...

Medicine & Health / Medical research

created Mar 15, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Researchers decipher the molecular basis of blue-green algae

Under normal conditions, cyanobacteria, also termed blue-green algae, build up energy reserves that allow them to survive under stress such as long periods of darkness. They do this by means of a molecular switch in an enzyme. ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Aug 01, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | 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 study solidifies role of DISC1 in risk for schizophrenia and other mental illness

Johns Hopkins researchers report the discovery of a molecular switch that regulates the behavior of a protein that, when altered, is already known to increase human susceptibility to schizophrenia and mood disorders.

Medicine & Health / Genetics

created Apr 06, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

A closer look at ring opening: Electron diffraction studies of photoswitchable molecules

(PhysOrg.com) -- We use a switch to turn lights off and on; however, light can also act as a switch itself, for example when molecules change their structure upon irradiation. Photoswitchable molecules are ...

Chemistry / Analytical Chemistry

created Sep 09, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New nano-tool synthesized

Two chemists at The Scripps Research Institute have synthesized a new nano-scale scientific tool -- a tiny molecular switch that turns itself on or off as it detects metallic ions in its immediate surroundings.

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

created Apr 13, 2010 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Researchers create drug to keep tumor growth switched off

A novel -- and rapid -- anti-cancer drug development strategy has resulted in a new drug that stops kidney and pancreatic tumors from growing in mice. Researchers at the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, ...

Medicine & Health / Cancer

created Feb 11, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (9) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Researchers discover switch that causes the body to produce cancerous cells

A team of Syracuse University researchers discovered a second molecular switch within the Mixed Lineage Leukemia protein complex that they believe could be exploited to prevent the overproduction of abnormal cells that are ...

Medicine & Health / Cancer

created Sep 04, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1

Molecular switch

A molecular switch is a molecule that can be reversibly shifted between two or more stable states. The molecules may be shifted between the states in response to changes in e.g. pH, light, temperature, an electrical current, microenvironment, or the presence of a ligand. In some cases, a combination of stimuli are utilized. The oldest forms of synthetic molecular switches are pH indicators, which display distinct colors as a function of pH. Currently synthetic molecular switches are of interest in the field of nanotechnology for application in molecular computers. Molecular switches are also important to in biology because many biological functions are based on it, for instance allosteric regulation and vision. They are also one of the simplest examples of molecular machines.

For more information about Molecular switch, read the full article at Wikipedia.
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Related topics: cells , protein , molecules