A quantum device shows promise for simulating molecular dynamics in a difficult-to-model photochemical process that is relevant to vision.
Category: chemistry – Page 278
A drug that increases dopamine can reverse the effects of inflammation on the brain in depression, Emory study shows
๐ ๐๐ซ๐ฎ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ข๐ง๐๐ซ๐๐๐ฌ๐๐ฌ ๐๐จ๐ฉ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ง ๐ซ๐๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐ฌ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ญ๐ฌ ๐จ๐ ๐ข๐ง๐๐ฅ๐๐ฆ๐ฆ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ซ๐๐ข๐ง ๐ข๐ง ๐๐๐ฉ๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง, ๐๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ฌ๐ก๐จ๐ฐ๐ฌ
๐ผ๐ฃ ๐๐ข๐ค๐ง๐ฎ ๐๐ฃ๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐จ๐๐ฉ๐ฎ ๐จ๐ฉ๐ช๐๐ฎ ๐ฅ๐ช๐๐ก๐๐จ๐๐๐ ๐๐ฃ ๐๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ง๐โ๐จ ๐๐ค๐ก๐๐๐ช๐ก๐๐ง ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐๐๐๐๐ฉ๐ง๐ฎ ๐จ๐๐ค๐ฌ๐จ ๐ก๐๐ซ๐ค๐๐ค๐ฅ๐, ๐ ๐๐ง๐ช๐ ๐ฉ๐๐๐ฉ ๐๐ฃ๐๐ง๐๐๐จ๐๐จ ๐๐ค๐ฅ๐๐ข๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ฃ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐๐ง๐๐๐ฃ, ๐๐๐จ ๐ฅ๐ค๐ฉ๐๐ฃ๐ฉ๐๐๐ก ๐ฉ๐ค ๐ง๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐จ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ฉ๐จ ๐ค๐ ๐๐ฃ๐๐ก๐๐ข๐ข๐๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ ๐ค๐ฃ ๐๐ง๐๐๐ฃ ๐ง๐๐ฌ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ง๐๐ช๐๐ฉ๐ง๐ฎ, ๐ช๐ก๐ฉ๐๐ข๐๐ฉ๐๐ก๐ฎ ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ง๐ค๐ซ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฉ๐ค๐ฃ๐จ ๐ค๐ ๐๐๐ฅ๐ง๐๐จ๐จ๐๐ค๐ฃ.
Numerous labs across the world have shown that inflammation causes reduced motivation and anhedonia, a core symptom of depression, by affecting the brainโs reward pathways.
An Emory University study published in Natureโs Molecular Psychiatry shows levodopa, a drug that increases dopamine in the brain, has potential to reverse the effects of inflammation on brain reward circuitry, ultimately improving symptons of depression.
Past research conducted by the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Emory University School of Medicine has linked the effects of inflammation on the brain to decreased release of dopamine, a chemical neurotransmitter that regulates motivation and motor activity, in the ventral striatum.
Meteorites reveal likely origin of Earthโs volatile chemicals
Meteorites have told Imperial researchers the likely far-flung origin of Earthโs volatile chemicals, some of which form the building blocks of life.
They found that around half the Earthโs inventory of the volatile element zinc came from asteroids originating in the outer solar systemโthe part beyond the asteroid belt that includes the planets Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus. This material is also expected to have supplied other important volatiles such as water.
Volatiles are elements or compounds that change from solid or liquid state into vapor at relatively low temperatures. They include the six most common elements found in living organisms, as well as water. As such, the addition of this material will have been important for the emergence of life on Earth.
Solar system formed from โpoorly mixed cake batter,โ isotope research shows
Earthโs potassium arrived by meteoritic delivery service finds new research led by Carnegieโs Nicole Nie and Da Wang. Their work, published in Science, shows that some primitive meteorites contain a different mix of potassium isotopes than those found in other, more-chemically processed meteorites. These results can help elucidate the processes that shaped our solar system and determined the composition of its planets.
โThe extreme conditions found in stellar interiors enable stars to manufacture elements using nuclear fusion,โ explained Nie, a former Carnegie postdoc now at Caltech. โEach stellar generation seeds the raw material from which subsequent generations are born and we can trace the history of this material across time.โ
Some of the material produced in the interiors of stars can be ejected out into space, where it accumulates as a cloud of gas and dust. More than 4.5 billion years ago, one such cloud collapsed in on itself to form our sun.
Researchers find ways to improve the storage time of quantum information in a spin rich material
An international team of scientists have demonstrated a leap in preserving the quantum coherence of quantum dot spin qubits as part of the global push for practical quantum networks and quantum computers.
These technologies will be transformative to a broad range of industries and research efforts: from the security of information transfer, through the search for materials and chemicals with novel properties, to measurements of fundamental physical phenomena requiring precise time synchronization among the sensors.
Spin-photon interfaces are elementary building blocks for quantum networks that allow converting stationary quantum information (such as the quantum state of an ion or a solid-state spin qubit) into light, namely photons, that can be distributed over large distances. A major challenge is to find an interface that is both good at storing quantum information and efficient at converting it into light.
Cancer cells may shrink or super-size to survive
Cancer cells can shrink or super-size themselves to survive drug treatment or other challenges within their environment, researchers have discovered.
Scientists at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, combined biochemical profiling technologies with mathematical analyses to reveal how genetic changes lead to differences in the size of cancer cellsโand how these changes could be exploited by new treatments.
The researchers believe smaller cells could be more vulnerable to DNA-damaging agents like chemotherapy combined with targeted drugs, while larger cancer cells might respond better to immunotherapy.
AI has designed bacteria-killing proteins from scratch โ and they work
The AI, called ProGen, works in a similar way to AIs that can generate text. ProGen learned how to generate new proteins by learning the grammar of how amino acids combine to form 280 million existing proteins. Instead of the researchers choosing a topic for the AI to write about, they could specify a group of similar proteins for it to focus on. In this case, they chose a group of proteins with antimicrobial activity.
The researchers programmed checks into the AIโs process so it wouldnโt produce amino acid โgibberishโ, but they also tested a sample of the AI-proposed molecules in real cells. Of the 100 molecules they physically created, 66 participated in chemical reactions similar to those of natural proteins that destroy bacteria in egg whites and saliva. This suggested that these new proteins could also kill bacteria.
The researchers selected the five proteins with the most intense reactions and added them to a sample of Escherichia coli bacteria. Two of the proteins destroyed the bacteria.
US lawmaker say DNA-targeted biological weapons are being developed
Biological and chemical weapons have the potential to pose a national security threat to the U.S. that the country is not equipped to handle, a panel of lawmakers and a military leader told an audience at the Aspen Security Forum.
Researchers propose combining classical and quantum optics for super-resolution imaging
The ability to see invisible structures in our bodies, like the inner workings of cells, or the aggregation of proteins, depends on the quality of oneโs microscope. Ever since the first optical microscopes were invented in the 17th century, scientists have pushed for new ways to see more things more clearly, at smaller scales and deeper depths.
Randy Bartels, professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at Colorado State University, is one of those scientists. He and a team of researchers at CSU and Colorado School of Mines are on a quest to invent some of the worldโs most powerful light microscopesโones that can resolve large swaths of biological material in unimaginable detail.
The name of the game is superโresolution microscopy, which is any optical imaging technique that can resolve things smaller than half the wavelength of light. The discipline was the subject of the 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and Bartels and others are in a race to keep circumventing that diffraction limit to illuminate biologically important structures inside the body.