Scientists discover key to a Potential Natural Cancer Treatment’s Potency

The Wertheim UF Scripps Institute is home to one of the world's largest and most historic collections of microbial natural products.
Within the glass vials of the Natural Products Discovery Center at The Herbert Wertheim UF Scripps Institute for Biomedical Innovation & Technology, scientists have discovered two useful new enzymes which may help them create medicines for cancer and other conditions.

Natural products collection reveals novel enzymes with surprising properties. Scientists have discovered two enzymes that enable bacteria to target and break up DNA. This chemical defense likely evolved to help the organism fight off germs. The chemical riches were found within the institute’s one-of-a-kind Natural Products Discovery Center collection.

Slumbering among thousands of bacterial strains in a collection of natural specimens at The Herbert Wertheim UF Scripps Institute for Biomedical Innovation & Technology,...

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Integrated Circuits based on a 2D Semiconductor Operating at GHz Frequencies

Integrated circuits based on a 2D semiconductor operating at GHz frequencies
High-performance MoS2 ring oscillator based on air-gap device structures. Credit: Fan et al

Transistors are crucial electronic components that regulate, amplify and control the flow of current inside most existing devices. In recent years, electronics engineers have been trying to identify materials and design strategies that could help to further improve the performance of transistors, while also reducing their size.

Two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides have some advantageous properties that could help to enhance the capabilities of transistors. While past studies have demonstrated the potential of these materials in individual transistors, their use for developing entire integrated circuits (ICs) that operate at high frequencies has proved challenging.

Researc...

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Galactic ‘Lightsabers’: Answering Longstanding Questions about Jets from Black Holes

1. A simple black hole model.
To test the connection between black hole images and energy flow around black holes, the team used both simple models of a glowing ring of gas (left) and full 3D supercomputer simulations (right). By verifying that the connection between the spiral of polarization in the images persisted in both cases, they established that it could be potentially be used with real images of black holes from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) to test if magnetic fields are extracting energy and spinning down the black hole.
Images by Andrew Chael, George Wong, Alexandru Lupsasca and Eliot Quataert, Princeton Gravity Initiative
2. A 3D supercomputer simulation of M87*

The one thing everyone knows about black holes is that absolutely everything nearby gets sucked into them.

A...

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Tracking down Quantum Flickering of the Vacuum

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The X-ray beam from the world’s largest X-ray laser, the European XFEL, only becomes as clearly visible as in the photo in complete darkness and with an exposure time of 90 seconds. In 2024, the first experiments to detect quantum fluctuations in vacuum will take place here. Source: European XFEL/Jan Hosan

HZDR team proposes improvements for an experiment designed to explore the limits of physics. Absolutely empty – that is how most of us envision the vacuum. Yet, in reality, it is filled with an energetic flickering: the quantum fluctuations. Experts are currently preparing a laser experiment intended to verify these vacuum fluctuations in a novel way, which could potentially provide clues to new laws in physics...

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