Despite the wide-held perception that Christians have become more concerned about the environment, new research finds this so-called “greening of Christianity” is not evident among the religious rank-and-file. (more…)
Using molecular simulations that modeled a potassium channel and its immediate cellular environment, atom for atom, UChicago scientists have discovered that just 12 molecules of water cause the long post-activation recovery period required by such ion channels before they can function again. The research has revealed a new mechanism in the function of a nearly universal biological structure that will have broad implications, ranging from fundamental biology to the design of pharmaceuticals.
“Our research clarifies the nature of this previously mysterious inactivation state. This gives us better understanding of fundamental biology and should improve the rational design of drugs, which often target the inactivated state of channels,” said Benoît Roux, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, whose team’s findings were published online July 28 in Nature. (more…)
Stunning Japanese-lacquered chests, Gujarati fabrics and fine Chinese porcelain are some of the distinctive objects displayed in a new exhibition co-curated by UCL researchers, National Trust staff and volunteers at Osterley Park and House in west London. (more…)
U.S. Department of Energy national laboratories – including Berkeley Lab – collaborate to build the new magnets CERN needs to increase LHC luminosity by an order of magnitude
The U.S. LHC Accelerator Program (LARP) has successfully tested a powerful superconducting quadrupole magnet that will play a key role in developing a new beam focusing system for CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC). This advanced system, together with other major upgrades to be implemented over the next decade, will allow the LHC to produce 10 times more high-energy collisions than it was originally designed for.
Dubbed HQ02a, the latest in LARP’s series of High-Field Quadrupole magnets is wound with cables of the brittle but high-performance superconductor niobium tin (Nb3Sn). Compared to the final-focus quadrupoles presently in place at the LHC, which are made with niobium titanium, HQ02a has a larger aperture and superconducting coils designed to operate at a higher magnetic field. In a recent test at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), HQ02a achieved all its challenging objectives. (more…)
A University of Colorado Boulder team has developed a radically new technique that uses the power of sunlight to efficiently split water into its components of hydrogen and oxygen, paving the way for the broad use of hydrogen as a clean, green fuel. (more…)
How did life on Earth get started? Three new papers co-authored by Mike Russell, a research scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., strengthen the case that Earth’s first life began at alkaline hydrothermal vents at the bottom of oceans. Scientists are interested in understanding early life on Earth because if we ever hope to find life on other worlds — especially icy worlds with subsurface oceans such as Jupiter’s moon Europa and Saturn’s Enceladus — we need to know what chemical signatures to look for.
Two papers published recently in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B provide more detail on the chemical and precursor metabolic reactions that have to take place to pave the pathway for life. Russell and his co-authors describe how the interactions between the earliest oceans and alkaline hydrothermal fluids likely produced acetate (comparable to vinegar). The acetate is a product of methane and hydrogen from the alkaline hydrothermal vents and carbon dioxide dissolved in the surrounding ocean. Once this early chemical pathway was forged, acetate could become the basis of other biological molecules. They also describe how two kinds of “nano-engines” that create organic carbon and polymers — energy currency of the first cells — could have been assembled from inorganic minerals. (more…)
Students in U of M assistant professor Chris Larson’s sculpture course, “Site, Environment, Community,” probably weren’t expecting mathematics and power tools to play such an important role in their creation of art.
But then, it’s not every class that gets to design and build two holes of mini golf for a world-renowned museum like The Walker Art Center.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Walker’s outdoor sculpture garden, and the 6th year the museum has hosted its summer treat, the 15-hole Artist-Designed Mini Golf course. (more…)
Study at Berkeley Lab’s Advanced Light Source Links Vitamin D Deficiency to Accelerated Aging of Bones
Everyone knows that as we grow older our bones become more fragile. Now a team of U.S. and German scientists led by researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California (UC) Berkeley has shown that this bone-aging process can be significantly accelerated through deficiency of vitamin D – the sunshine vitamin. (more…)
