Category Biology/Biotechnology

1. Schematic diagram of the bacterial flagellar basal body with name and size of each part.
2. Molecular models of the flagellar rod (purple) and hook (blue green) and their comparison. (a) The model of the rod and hook complex including their direct connection in a section along their tubular axis. The structures of their corresponding domains are nearly identical. (b) Structural comparison of the rod and hook subunits by superposition. Domain D1 of the hook protein is more tilted than that of the rod protein by 7°, producing a gap between subunits in the axial neighbors to make the entire hook flexible in bending. (c) The C-terminal helix (blue) of the hook is shorter than that of the rod, making an axial gap between subunits in the hook structure but not in the rod.

Scientists have imag...

This is a Brain Music EEG headset. Credit: Osaka University

Music, more than any art, is a beautiful mix of science and emotion. It follows a set of patterns almost mathematically to extract feelings from its audience. Machines that make music focus on these patterns, but give little consideration to the emotional response of their audience. An international research team led by Osaka University together with Tokyo Metropolitan University, imec in Belgium and Crimson Technology has released a new machine-learning device that detects the emotional state of its listeners to produce new songs that elicit new feelings.

“Most machine songs depend on an automatic composition system,” says Masayuki Numao, professor at Osaka University...

Defining RNA–Small Molecule Affinity Landscapes Enables Design of a Small Molecule Inhibitor of an Oncogenic Noncoding RNA

TSRI Scientists have designed 2 new drug candidates to target prostate and triple negative breast cancers. The new research, published recently as 2 separate studies in ACS Central Science and Journal of the American Chemical Society, demonstrates that a new class of drugs, small molecule RNA inhibitors can target and kill specific types of cancer. RNA defects can lead to cancers, ALS, myotonic dystrophy and many other diseases. In their ACS Central Science study, Prof. Disney and his colleagues used DNA sequencing to evaluate thousands of small molecules as potential drug candidates...

As marijuana legalization spreads, better understanding of side effects is needed. Using marijuana raises stroke and heart failure risk even after accounting for demographic factors, other health conditions and lifestyle risk factors such as smoking and alcohol use, according to research scheduled for presentation at the American College of Cardiology’s 66th Annual Scientific Session. While previous marijuana research has focused mostly on pulmonary and psychiatric complications, the new study is one of only a handful to investigate cardiovascular outcomes.

The study drew data from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample, which includes the health records of patients admitted at more than 1,000 hospitals comprising about 20% of U.S. medical centers...