Category Biology/Biotechnology

C/2006 P1 Comet McNaught, the ‘Great Comet of 2007′, as seen from Swift’s Creek, Victoria, Australia on 23 January 2007. Image credit: Fir0002 / Flagstaffotos / Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 3.0.

Substantial synthesis of peptides – the first building blocks of life may have been driven by comet impacts. Dr Sugahara from JAMSTEC in Yokahama, and Dr Koichi Mimura, from Nagoya University performed a series of experiments to mimic the conditions of comet impacts on the Early Earth at the time when life first appeared, around 4 billion years ago.

They took frozen mixtures of amino acid, water ice and silicate (forsterite) at cryogenic condition (77 K), and used a propellant gun to simulate the shock of a comet impact...

Dopamine-dependent long term depression of mediated transmission profoundly disrupts normal synaptic transmission between hippocampus and PFC. These results show how dopaminergic activation induces long-term hypofunction of NMDARs, which can contribute to disordered functional connectivity, a characteristic that is a hallmark of psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia. Credit: https://neurowiki2012.wikispaces.com/file/view/Reward_circuit.jpg/315908202/Reward_circuit.jpg

New research reveals mechanisms that trigger disruption in the brain’s communication channels linked to symptoms in psychiatric disorders. This research could have important implications for treating symptoms of brain disorders.

Many of our everyday cognitive functions such as learning and memory rely on normal communic...

A. This image shows methyl phosphate. B. Methyl phosphonate. Phosphonate compounds are characterized by a direct link between carbon (C) and phosphorus (P), marked with red. C. The molecular structure of the C-P lyase complex. Credit: Ditlev E. Brodersen, Aarhus University

Bacteria exhibit extreme adaptability, which makes them capable of surviving in the most inhospitable conditions. New research results produced by Danish and British researchers now reveal the molecular details behind one of the secret weapons used by bacteria in their battle to survive under very nutrient-poor and even toxic conditions.

All living things need phosphate to grow, which is why several hundred million tons of phosphate fertilisers are used every year in agriculture throughout the world...

A snake generates friction at the points needed to move forwards only and prevents its scales from being worn off by too much friction. Researchers of KIT have found a way to transfer this feature to components of movable systems. In this way, durability of hip prostheses, computer hard disks or smartphones might be enhanced.

“Friction and wear are two of the biggest challenges in systems of several individual components,” Christian Greiner of the Institute for Applied Materials says. A solution is found in nature: Snakes, such as the ball python, or lizards, such as the sandfish skink, use friction to move forwards, but can reduce it to a minimum thanks to their scales...