UGC 12591 lies just under 400 million light-years away from us in the Pisces-Perseus Supercluster. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA

UGC 12591 sits somewhere between a lenticular and a spiral. It lies just under 400 million light-years away in the westernmost region of the Pisces-Perseus Supercluster, a long chain of galaxy clusters that stretches out for hundreds of light-years – one of the largest known structures in the cosmos. The galaxy itself is also extraordinary: it is incredibly massive. The galaxy and its halo together contain several hundred billion times the mass of the sun; 4 times the mass of the Milky Way. It also whirls round extremely quickly, rotating at speeds of up to 1.1 million miles per hour.

Observations with Hubble are helping astronomers to understand the mass of UGC 1259...

Treating postoperative and chronic inflammatory pain should now be possible without causing side effects. Doing so would substantially improve patient quality of life. (Stock image) Credit: © imacoconut / Fotolia

Researchers discover new mechanism of action. Researchers from Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin have discovered a new way of developing painkillers. The team of researchers used computational simulation to analyze interactions at opioid receptors. When used in an animal model, their prototype of a morphine-like molecule was able to produce substantial pain relief in inflamed tissues. However, healthy tissues remained unaffected, suggesting the severe side effects might be avoided.

“By analyzing drug-opioid receptor interactions in damaged tissues, as opposed to healthy tiss...

The team’s nanocones (scanning electron microscope image, (a)) were inspired by the nanotexture found on cicada wings (atomic force microscopy image, (b)). The middle plot (c) shows that the nanocones (red squares) are far less adhesive to warm water than the nanocylinders (blue circles). Because of the nanocone geometry, water droplets beneath a large drop can be reabsorbed (d) and small droplets condensing in cones can reconfigure at the top of the cones (e). Credit: Nature Materials

Nanotextures inspired by cone-shaped structures on cicada wings could inform new designs for materials prone to fogging, such as car and aircraft windshields. Several years ago, scientists at the U.S...

Schematic diagram of the molecular robot. Molecular actuators work inside the robot, and the shape of the artificial cell membrane, which are bodies, are changed. When a DNA signal is input, the “molecular clutch,” which transmits the force from the actuator, controls the shape-changing behavior. (B) Microscopy images of molecular robots. When the input DNA signal was “stop,” the clutch was turned “OFF,” and consequently, the shape-changing behavior was terminated (left side). The initiation of the shape-changing behavior when the DNA signal input was “start” was also confirmed (right side). Scale bar: 20 ?m. The white arrow indicates the molecular actuator part that transforms the membrane.
Credit: Yusuke Sato

Tohoku University and Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology researc...