Showing 20 articles starting at article 881
< Previous 20 articles Next 20 articles >
Categories: Biology: Zoology, Engineering: Nanotechnology
Published International team develops novel DNA nano engine



An international team of scientists has recently developed a novel type of nano engine made of DNA. It is driven by a clever mechanism and can perform pulsing movements. The researchers are now planning to fit it with a coupling and install it as a drive in complex nano machines.
Published Holy bat skull! Fossil adds vital piece to bat evolution puzzle



Bats may have lived in caves and used soundwaves to navigate much earlier than first thought.
Published Electron-rich metals make ceramics tough to crack



Engineers have developed a recipe to make a certain class of ceramics tougher and more resistant to cracking. The newfound toughness of these ceramics paves the way for their use in extreme applications, such as spacecraft and other hypersonic vehicles.
Published Pinpointing the emergence of muddy flavors in your fish



Many people have experienced a muddy off-flavor in farmed fish. While the aquaculture industry has known about the problem for 20 years, it continues to impact the consumption of otherwise healthy and potentially sustainable fish. Now, researchers have been able to pinpoint exactly when the off-flavors emerge. And this can make it easier to deal with the compounds that turn people away from farmed fish.
Published Wearable device makes memories and powers up with the flex of a finger



Researchers have invented an experimental wearable device that generates power from a user's bending finger and can create and store memories, in a promising step towards health monitoring and other technologies.
Published Biodegradable plastics still damaging to fish



Biodegradable plastics may not be the solution to plastic pollution many hoped for, with a new study showing they are still harmful to fish.
Published Going rogue: Scientists apply giant wave mechanics on a nanometric scale



Researchers have shown how the principles of rogue waves -- huge 30-meter waves that arise unexpectedly in the ocean -- can be applied on a nano scale, with dozens of applications from medicine to manufacturing.
Published Study elucidates evolution of mosquitoes and their hosts



Study creates a mosquito family tree to better understand disease transmission and host choice.
Published Milestone: Miniature particle accelerator works



Particle accelerators are crucial tools in a wide variety of areas in industry, research and the medical sector. The space these machines require ranges from a few square meters to large research centers. Using lasers to accelerate electrons within a photonic nanostructure constitutes a microscopic alternative with the potential of generating significantly lower costs and making devices considerably less bulky. Until now, no substantial energy gains were demonstrated. In other words, it has not been shown that electrons really have increased in speed significantly. Two teams of laser physicists have just succeeded in demonstrating a nanophotonic electron accelerator.
Published Superlensing without a super lens: Physicists boost microscopes beyond limits



Attempts to break the diffraction limit with 'super lenses' have all hit the hurdle of extreme visual losses. Now physicists have shown a new pathway to achieve superlensing with minimal losses, breaking through the diffraction limit by a factor of nearly four times. The key to their success was to remove the super lens altogether.
Published Nanoparticle vaccine could curb cancer metastasis to lungs by targeting a protein



Engineers have developed an experimental vaccine that could prevent the spread of metastatic cancers to the lungs. Its success lies in targeting a protein known to play a central role in cancer growth and spread, rather than targeting the primary tumor itself.
Published Mimicking a bird's sticky spit to create cellulose gels



Using a small bird's nest-making process as a model, researchers have developed a nontoxic process for making cellulose gels.
Published Whaling wiped out far more fin whales than previously thought



Whaling in the 20th century destroyed 99% of the Eastern North Pacific fin whale breeding population. Because there is enough genetic diversity, current conservation measures should help the population rebound without becoming inbred. The future of fin whales in the Gulf of California depends on the recovery of the Eastern North Pacific population.
Published Critical step made for managing brushtail possums



Researchers say mapping the genetic code of the brushtail possum will benefit those working to both conserve and control the animal.
Published Art with DNA -- Digitally creating 16 million colors by chemistry



The DNA double helix is composed of two DNA molecules whose sequences are complementary to each other. The stability of the duplex can be fine-tuned in the lab by controlling the amount and location of imperfect complementary sequences. Fluorescent markers bound to one of the matching DNA strands make the duplex visible, and fluorescence intensity increases with increasing duplex stability. Now, researchers have succeeded in creating fluorescent duplexes that can generate any of 16 million colors -- a work that surpasses the previous 256 colors limitation. This very large palette can be used to 'paint' with DNA and to accurately reproduce any digital image on a miniature 2D surface with 24-bit color depth.
Published Harnessing molecular power: Electricity generation on the nanoscale



Researchers tested a molecular energy harvesting device that captures the energy from the natural motion of molecules in a liquid. Their work showed molecular motion can be used to generate a stable electric current. To create the device, they submerged nanoarrays of piezoelectric material in liquid, allowing the movement of the liquid to move the strands like seaweed waving in the ocean, except in this case the movement is on the molecular scale, and the strands are made of zinc oxide. When the zinc oxide material waves, bends, or deforms under motion, it generates electric potential.
Published AI models identify biodiversity from animal sounds in tropical rainforests



Animal sounds are a very good indicator of biodiversity in tropical reforestation areas. Researchers demonstrate this by using sound recordings and AI models.
Published Genomic analysis in snakes shows link between neutral, functional genetic diversity



In the world of threatened and endangered species conservation, the genomic revolution has raised some complicated questions: How can scientists justify assessing species genetic diversity without consulting entire genomes now that they can be sequenced? But then again, how can scientists justify the time and expense of genome sequencing when age-old measures of neutral genetic diversity are much cheaper and easier to obtain? A new study suggests making a transition from 'old school' genetics to 'new school' genomics for species conservation purposes probably isn't necessary in all cases.
Published Fungal infection in the brain produces changes like those seen in Alzheimer's disease



Researchers have discovered how the fungus Candida albicans enters the brain, activates two separate mechanisms in brain cells that promote its clearance, and, important for the understanding of Alzheimer's disease development, generates amyloid beta (Ab)-like peptides, toxic protein fragments from the amyloid precursor protein that are considered to be at the center of the development of Alzheimer's disease.
Published New threat to Antarctic fur seals



Populations of charismatic animals have recovered since hunting ban but now struggle to find enough food.