A metal-free ribonucleotide reductase–an enzyme required for DNA replication–from bacterial pathogens uses a post-translationally modified amino acid (pictured) to initiate an essential DNA biosynthesis reaction. The modification (indicated by arrow) is essential for initiation of ribonucleotide reduction. This metal-free enzyme could allow microbes associated with strep throat and pneumonia infections to more effectively proliferate during iron/manganese limitation imposed by the human immune system.
Credit: Gavin Palowitch, Penn State

A new study shows that some bacterial pathogens, including those that cause strep throat and pneumonia, are able to create the components necessary to replicate their DNA using a ribonucleotide reductase enzyme that does not require a metal ion cofactor...

Purdue University researchers have created wearable electronic devices that someone can easily attach to their skin. They can be used to monitor physical activity and alert a wearer about possible health risks in real time.
Credit: Ramses Martinez/Purdue University

Researchers have created wearable medical electronic devices that someone can easily attach to their skin. The devices are made out of paper to lower the cost of personalized medicine. Heart surgery can be traumatic for patients. Having to continuously monitor your status without a doctor when you are back home can be even scarier. Imagine being able to do that with a simple sticker applied to your body.

“For the first time, we have created wearable electronic devices that someone can easily attach to their skin and are made out ...

An international team of astronomers has discovered a titanic structure in the early Universe, just two billion years after the Big Bang. This galaxy proto-supercluster, nicknamed Hyperion, is the largest and most massive structure yet found at such a remote time and distance. It has a mass estimated at a million billion Suns.
Credit: Luis Calçada & Olga Cucciati/ESO

Largest galaxy proto-supercluster found. An international team of astronomers has discovered a titanic structure in the early Universe, just 2 billion years after the Big Bang. This galaxy proto-supercluster, nicknamed Hyperion, is the largest and most massive structure yet found at such a remote time and distance.

The team that made the discovery was led by Olga Cucciati of Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF) Bologna, It...

Dietary PUFA regulation of contralateral mammary gland metastasis.

Omega-3 fatty acids, such as those typically contained in fish oil, may suppress the growth and spread of breast cancer cells in mice. This is according to a new study in the journal Clinical & Experimental Metastasis, which is published under the Springer imprint. According to lead author, Saraswoti Khadge of the University of Nebraska Medical Centre in the US, fatty acids stopped further delayed tumors from forming, and blocked the cancerous cells from spreading to other organs in mice. The researchers speculate that this might be because of the way in which omega-3 fatty acids support the body’s immune and anti-inflammatory systems.

Two groups of adult female mice were fed a liquid diet for which the calorie count and pe...