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New Gene linked to Healthy Aging in Worms

The elpc-2 gene is expressed throughout the body of C. elegans, and plays an important role in locomotor ability as worms get older.

People with the same lifespan do not necessarily have the same quality of life. As we live longer, extending quality of life – “healthspan” – is gaining importance. Scientists at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) have discovered a gene linked with healthy ageing in the roundworm C. elegans, shedding light on the genetics of healthspan.

The team has identified a gene called elpc-2 in C. elegans that plays an important role in maintaining healthspan as the worm ages. This gene is conserved in humans – and worms with defects in this gene showed impaired movement as they aged...

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New Superomniphobic Glass soars high on butterfly wings using Machine Learning

Leu Sample
Creating glasswing butterfly-inspired durable antifogging superomniphobic supertransmissive, superclear nanostructured glass through Bayesian learning and optimizationMaterials Horizons, 2019; DOI: 10.1039/C9MH00589G

Engineers develop new superclear, supertransparent, stain-resistant, anti-fogging nanostructured glass based on butterfly wing. Glass for technologies like displays, tablets, laptops, smartphones, and solar cells need to pass light through, but could benefit from a surface that repels water, dirt, oil, and other liquids...

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Hubble uncovers Black hole that Shouldn’t Exist

NGC 3147 (left) and artist impression of black hole
A Hubble Space Telescope image of the spiral galaxy NGC 3147 appears next to an artist’s illustration of the supermassive black hole residing at the galaxy’s core. The Hubble image shows off the galaxy’s sweeping spiral arms, full of young blue stars, pinkish nebulas, and dust in silhouette. However, at the brilliant core of NGC 3147 lurks a monster black hole, weighing about 250 million times the mass of our Sun. Hubble observations of the black hole demonstrate two of Einstein’s theories of relativity. The reddish-yellow features swirling around the center are the glow of light from gas trapped by the hefty black hole’s powerful gravity. The black hole is embedded deep within its gravitational field, shown by the green grid that illustrates warped space...
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Imprinted Spheres Fight Breast Cancer

Imprinted Spheres Fight Breast Cancer - Inhibition of HER2 on tumor cells by molecularly imprinted nanoparticles
Inhibition of HER2-Positive Breast Cancer Growth by Blocking the HER2 Signaling Pathway with HER2-Glycan-Imprinted NanoparticlesAngewandte Chemie International Edition, 2019; DOI: 10.1002/anie.201904860

Inhibition of HER2 on tumor cells by molecularly imprinted nanoparticles. A particularly aggressive, metastasizing form of cancer, HER2-positive breast cancer, may be treated with nanoscopic particles “imprinted” with specific binding sites for the receptor molecule HER2. As reported by Chinese researchers in the journal Angewandte Chemie, the selective binding of the nanoparticles to HER2 significantly inhibits multiplication of the tumor cells.

Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in women and one of the leading causes of death...

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