Flexible 'slinkies' form in DNA of archaea
New cryo-electron microscopy images suggest archaeal microbes pack their chromatin into tight coils that can spring open, forming unexpected contortions.
New cryo-electron microscopy images suggest archaeal microbes pack their chromatin into tight coils that can spring open, forming unexpected contortions.
Molecular & Computational biology
Mar 2, 2021
0
3190
Permanent magnets akin to those used on refrigerators could speed the development of fusion energy—the same energy produced by the sun and stars.
General Physics
Mar 11, 2020
6
5249
It turns out the coiled snakes often used to symbolize medical knowledge are more than apt. They also mimic a key to life itself.
Molecular & Computational biology
Jan 3, 2020
3
269
Artificial muscles will power the soft robots and wearable devices of the future. But more needs to be understood about the underlying mechanics of these powerful structures in order to design and build new devices.
Soft Matter
Nov 15, 2019
0
119
Stellarators, twisty machines that house fusion reactions, rely on complex magnetic coils that are challenging to design and build. Now, a physicist at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory ...
Plasma Physics
Aug 21, 2019
0
219
""Implantable optical devices that target neurons can be improved using miniature coils smaller than a grain of rice using optogenetic technology. Scientists can propagate pulses of light using the method to turn protein ...
The human body is held together by an intricate cable system of tendons and muscles, engineered by nature to be tough and highly stretchable. An injury to any of these tissues, particularly in a major joint like the shoulder ...
Bio & Medicine
Apr 24, 2019
0
204
I asked my neighbor who hoses off his air conditioner condenser every spring why he does it. "Because my dad always told me I had to," he said.
Consumer & Gadgets
Mar 22, 2019
11
374
The U.S. Large Hadron Collider Accelerator Upgrade Project is the Fermilab-led collaboration of U.S. laboratories that, in partnership with CERN and a dozen other countries, is working to upgrade the Large Hadron Collider. ...
General Physics
Feb 28, 2019
0
88
Snails, like humans, can be right-handed or left-handed, and the swirl etched into the shell of a snail can reveal a lot about them, down to their genetic makeup.
Plants & Animals
Feb 27, 2019
1
6