Within and upon every human being reside countless microorganisms—the microbiota that help shape and direct the lives of their hosts. A similar phenomenon occurs between people, microbes and the homes they share.
Cell & Microbiology
Jun 24, 2022
0
583
Engineering enzymes to perform reactions not found in nature can address longstanding challenges in the world of synthetic chemistry, such as upgrading plant-based oils into useful biochemicals.
Biochemistry
May 2, 2022
0
77
Chemists at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) have developed an organic catalyst that can drive reactions using pyruvate—a key biomolecule in many metabolic pathways—that are difficult ...
Biochemistry
Mar 25, 2022
0
17
Where did life come from? In recent years, many scientists have shifted from favouring a "primordial soup" in pools of water to hydrothermal vents deep in the ocean as the original source of life on Earth. But one of the ...
Earth Sciences
Nov 7, 2019
0
56
Many natural compounds used in medicine have complex molecular architectures that are difficult to recreate in the lab. Help could come from a small hydrocarbon molecule, called tetravinylallene, which has been synthesized ...
Materials Science
Sep 30, 2019
0
64
Neutron techniques are good for studying light atoms like hydrogen—great for biological molecules that contain large numbers of them. Neutrons are particularly sensitive to isotopic substitution of hydrogen (1H) with deuterium ...
Materials Science
Jun 26, 2019
0
0
Like humans and animals, plants defend themselves against pathogens with the help of their immune system. But how do they activate their cellular defenses? Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have now ...
Plants & Animals
Apr 12, 2019
0
113
On early earth, a series of spontaneous events needed to happen in order for life as we know it to begin. One of those phenomena is the formation of compartments enclosed by lipid membranes. New research by Irep Gözen, Elif ...
Biochemistry
Mar 1, 2019
3
79
A little stream in the south of England could guide the way towards finding evidence for ancient life on Mars, in the form of fatty acids preserved in an iron-rich mineral called goethite.
Space Exploration
Jun 19, 2018
0
9
With summer approaching, "sea and sun" might conjure up images of a beach trip. But for scientists, the interactions of the two have big implications for the climate and for the formation of tiny droplets, or aerosols, that ...
Materials Science
Apr 18, 2018
0
7
