Scientists have figured out how calcium channels – the infinitesimal cell membrane pores that generate electrical signals by gating a charged-particle influx – have solved a "needle in a haystack" problem.
Cell & Microbiology
Nov 24, 2013
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The painful, potentially deadly stings of bark scorpions are nothing more than a slight nuisance to grasshopper mice, which voraciously kill and consume their prey with ease. When stung, the mice briefly lick their paws and ...
Plants & Animals
Oct 24, 2013
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RNA editing gives organisms a way to adapt the instructions that their DNA provides for making proteins. Few people would have described RNA editing as a simple process, but a new paper in Nature Communications demonstrates ...
Biotechnology
Aug 1, 2013
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(Phys.org) —In the global war against disease-carrying mosquitoes, scientists have long believed that a single molecular door was the key target for insecticide. This door, however, is closing, giving mosquitoes the upper ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jul 8, 2013
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Computational models of the human heart can be very useful in studying not just the basic mechanisms of heart function, but also to analyze the heart in a diseased state, and come up with methods for diagnosis and therapy.
Mathematics
Apr 10, 2013
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(Phys.org)—Honeybees never cease to amaze us... their bite contains a natural anesthetic. This discovery was made by a team of Greek and Cypriot researchers, in collaboration with the CNRS Laboratoire Evolution, Génomes ...
Plants & Animals
Nov 27, 2012
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Excitation of neurons depends on the selected influx of certain ions, namely sodium, calcium and potassium through specific channels. Obviously, these channels were crucial for the evolution of nervous systems in animals. ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jul 26, 2012
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(Phys.org) -- An international team of scientists, including chemist Xiao Cheng Zeng of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, has created what is in effect a nanoscale sieve that is very selective in what it will allow to pass ...
Bio & Medicine
Jul 18, 2012
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To understand how the first cells transported ions across their membranes, researchers are studying simple channels used by fungi to kill off bacteria.
Space Exploration
Jun 7, 2012
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Mole rats aren't the prettiest things; living underground as they do, they more resemble Gollum from the Lord of the Rings trilogy than other rats or mice. But they’re interesting to scientists nonetheless ...
