Author: Marc Zimmer, Professor of Chemistry, Connecticut College The 2024 Nobel Prize in chemistry recognized Demis Hassabis, John Jumper and David Baker for using machine learning to tackle one of biology’s biggest challenges: predicting the 3D shape of proteins and designing them from scratch. This year’s award stood out because it honored research that originated […]
The propagation of light -observed and governed since ancient times by simple lens construction- has long been described through classical geometrical optics. However, in particle accelerators we do not transport photons but beams of electrically charged particles subjected to repulsive forces that tend to unpack the particle beams. Optics of particle accelerators require electromagnetic lenses […]
A team of chemists at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology has succeeded in pulling an oxygen atom from a molecule and replacing it with a nitrogen atom. In their study, published in the journal Science, the group used photocatalysis to edit a furan in their lab. Ellie Plachinski and Tehshik Yoon with […]
NASA plans to send crewed missions to Mars over the next decade – but the 140 million-mile (225 million-kilometer) journey to the red planet could take several months to years round trip. This relatively long transit time is a result of the use of traditional chemical rocket fuel. An alternative technology to the chemically propelled […]
Storms’ mysterious gamma rays may trigger lightning Surging flashes of gamma rays emanating from tropical thunderstorms may initiate lightning strikes, a group of physicists writes in a pair of papers in Nature that describe a never-before-seen type of gamma radiation as well as two rarely observed kinds. They write about data, collected from instruments on […]
Chemistry • DIPC Biochemistry • DIPC Computational and Theoretical Chemistry
Protein molecules consist of one or several long chains of aminoacids (usually between and 300 units) called polypeptides – a peptide is an organic compound comprising two or mores aminoacids – linked in a characteristic sequence. This sequence is called the primary structure of the protein. These polypeptides may undergo coiling or pleating, the nature […]
One of the hallmarks of aging is cognitive decline. New research in mice shows that long-term administration with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the primary psicoactive component of marihuana, at low doses can have antiaging-effects, particularly on cognitive decline. The endocannabinoid system (ECS) regulates various bodily and brain functions, including sleep, memory and learning, the immune system and […]
Author: Rachel Gordon, Massachusetts Institute of Technology In 1994, Florida jewelry designer Diana Duyser discovered what she believed to be the Virgin Mary’s image in a grilled cheese sandwich, which she preserved and later auctioned for $28,000. But how much do we really understand about pareidolia, the phenomenon of seeing faces and patterns in objects […]
Many large mammals have lost genetic diversity, often thanks to the actions of people shrinking their populations. The implications can be severe because without genetic diversity, a population does not have a “genetic database” to fall back on to adapt to environmental change. The Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus) is no stranger to this reduction in […]
One-electron carbon bond observed for first time Chemists have observed for the first time covalent bonds between two carbon atoms with only one electron, a bonding behavior that deepens the understanding of chemical bonds. “We aim to clarify what a covalent bond is — specifically, at what point does a bond qualify as covalent, and […]