Light News and Research

RSS

Researchers Discover How Protein Instability Drives Heritable Diseases

Most mutations which cause disease by swapping one amino acid out for another do so by making the protein less stable, according to a massive study of human protein variants published today in the journal Nature.

10 Jan 2025

Scientists Uncover Circuit Controlling Neuron Migration in Brain Development

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, but for developing neurons, this first step relies on collaboration from multiple signaling pathways.

10 Jan 2025

UK Biobank to Study Protein Changes Across 600,000 Samples

UK Biobank has today announced the launch of the world's most comprehensive study of the proteins circulating in our bodies, which will transform the study of diseases and their treatments.

10 Jan 2025

New Discovery Sheds Light on How Monoamines Regulate Brain Rhythms

A collaborative effort between Mount Sinai and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center has shed valuable light on how monoamine neurotransmitters such as serotonin, dopamine, and now histamine help regulate brain physiology and behavior through chemical bonding of these monoamines to histone proteins, the core DNA-packaging proteins of our cells.

9 Jan 2025

Identifying PRIMER Cells and their Role in Defense Signaling

A diverse population of immune cells that move from one organ to another and react to anything from cuts to colds to cancer is how human bodies protect themselves. However, this luxury is not available to plants.

9 Jan 2025

Uncovering the Ancient Genetic Secrets of Hornworts

Over 450 million years ago, plants began the epic transition from water to dry land. Among the first pioneers were the ancestors of humble hornworts, a group of small, unassuming plants that have persisted to this day.

7 Jan 2025

Unique CO₂-Concentrating Mechanism Drives the Future of Sustainable Agriculture

Researchers have been exploring methods to enhance the ability of plants to convert carbon dioxide (CO₂) into biomass, a process that could increase crop yields and contribute to climate change mitigation.

7 Jan 2025

Genetic Discovery Offers Potential for Higher Crop Yields and Biofuel Production

A team of scientists with two Department of Energy Bioenergy Research Centers -; the Center for Bioenergy Innovation, or CBI, at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation, or CABBI, at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign -; identified a gene in a poplar tree that enhances photosynthesis and can boost tree height by about 30% in the field and by as much as 200% in the greenhouse.

6 Jan 2025

Molecular Lantern Technique Could Revolutionize Brain Pathology Monitoring

Monitoring the changes caused in the brain at the molecular level by cancer and other neurological pathologies in a non-invasive way is one of the great challenges of biomedical research.

2 Jan 2025

Ancient DNA Analysis Unveils Migration Patterns in Early Europe

Waves of human migration across Europe during the first millennium AD have been revealed using a more precise method of analyzing ancestry with ancient DNA, in research led by the Francis Crick Institute.

2 Jan 2025

New Study Reveals DNA’s Role in Stabilizing Cellular Structures

In a discovery that could redefine how we understand cellular resilience and adaptability, scientists at Scripps Research have unlocked the secret interactions between a primordial inorganic polymer of phosphate known as polyphosphate (polyP), and two basic building blocks of life: DNA and the element magnesium.

26 Dec 2024

New Method Improves Quantification of Endocytosis in Living Cells

Living cells and tissues show a high capacity to absorb various chemical compounds from the surrounding environment.

23 Dec 2024

New Discovery Reveals How Tumor Stiffness Drives Cancer Progression

In 2022 alone, over 20 million people were diagnosed with cancer, and nearly 10 million died from the disease, according to the World Health Organization.

23 Dec 2024

New VR Technology Offers Fresh Insights into Neural Activity

In recent years, mice have entered a new arena – virtual reality – and now Cornell University researchers have built mini VR headsets to more fully immerse them.

20 Dec 2024

Unveiling Human Stem Cell Model with Functional Notochord

For the first time, the notochord a tissue in the developing embryo that serves as a navigation system, telling cells where to build the spine and nervous system (the trunk) has been included in human stem cell models created by researchers at the Francis Crick Institute.

19 Dec 2024

Marine Microalgae Use Light Sensors to Navigate the Ocean

Ocean-dwelling phytoplankton is known to be essential to marine ecosystems and climate regulation.

19 Dec 2024

Scientists Mimic Fungal Process to Create Novel Medicines

Since the unintentional 1928 discovery of penicillin by Alexander Fleming, fungi have been a treasure trove of medicinal compounds for almost a century.

19 Dec 2024

New Insights into Photosystem II Megacomplex Assembly in Plants

In higher plants and green algae, Photosystem II (PSII) usually combines with Light Harvesting Complex II (LHCII) to form the PSII-LHCII supercomplex.

18 Dec 2024

New Virus Found to Alter Cell Machinery in Eukaryotic Cells

Julie Thomy, lead author of the study and postdoctoral researcher in the Daniel K. Inouye Center for Microbial Oceanography: Research and Education (C-MORE) and Department of Oceanography in the UH Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST)

18 Dec 2024

New Strategy to Combat Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria

The discovery of a vulnerability in antibiotic resistance mechanisms may lead to improved strategies for combating superbugs and enhancing current therapies.

18 Dec 2024