This glowing nebula, named NGC 248, is located within the Small Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way and about 200 000 light-years from Earth. The nebula was observed with Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys in Sept. 2015, as part of a survey called the Small Magellanic cloud Investigation of Dust and Gas Evolution (SMIDGE). Credit: NASA, ESA, STScI, K. Sandstrom (University of California, San Diego), and the SMIDGE team

The sheer observing power of Hubble Space Telescope is rarely better illustrated than in an image such as this. This glowing pink nebula, named NGC 248, is located in the Small Magellanic Cloud, SMC, just under 200,000 light-years away and yet can still be seen in great detail...

(a) Domain organization of ATX. (b) Ribbon diagram of the ATX structure in the free form. (c) Surface representation of the ATX structure in the free form. Somatomedin B-like domain 1 (SMB1), orange; SMB2, brown; core subdomain, cyan; insertion (Ins) subdomain, pale cyan; nuclease-like domain (NLD), magenta; L1, beige; L2, yellow-green; EF hand–like motif, pink. N-glycans and sulfate ion are shown as yellow and orange sticks, respectively. Zn2+, Ca2+, Na+ and K+ ions are shown as gray, green, purple and blue spheres, respectively. All 15 disulfide linkages are shown as sticks.

Higher levels of the enzyme, autotaxin, significantly predict memory impairment and type 2 diabetes. The research emphasizes the link between physical and mental health...

SEM image of PCL scaffolds mineralized by one treatment stage.
Vaterite – a biomineral found in nature as a component part of the skeleton of some gastropods (i.e. snails). Credit: Image courtesy of Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU)

A new study has revealed a technology how to cover biodegradable implants with a human skeleton similar mineral. Bone tissue regeneration, one of the issues of tissue engineering, is a research area for Dmitry Gorin and his international colleagues, a leading research fellow at the RASA Center in Tomsk Polytechnic University. The scientists have developed a new vaterite-based coating for nanofiber scaffold to grow bone tissue cells in a shorter time.

The process of porous calcium carbonate (CaCO3) covering on electrospun poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) fibers was ...

1. Color electron micrograph of an endosome, a cell organelle. Credit: Ranjan Ramachandra, UCSD 2. Check out more of our winter holiday-themed Cool Image collections

While it may look like a pine wreath dotted with crimson berries, it is in fact one of the world’s first color electron micrographs – and the method used to create it may dramatically advance cell imaging. As his Christmas gift to himself each year, the late biochemist Roger Tsien treated himself to 2 weeks of uninterrupted research in his lab. This image is a product of those annual sojourns.

Electron microscopy (EM) is a time-honored technique for visualizing cell structures that uses beams of accelerated electrons to magnify objects up to 10 million times their actual size...