Amino acids were found in the Atlantis Massif, under the ocean floor. Is their non-biological synthesis the origin of life?
Category: Research Bites
Ancient biochemistry—your four billion year old ribosome!
Four billion years ago the Earth cooled, cyanobacteria gave us our oxygen-rich atmosphere, and your ribosomes started synthesizing proteins!
Nanodome architectures lighting our way to sustainable energy!
Ever wondered how researchers are making solar energy conversion more efficient and affordable? In this article, learn about nanoscale architectural designs assisting in trapping and managing light for better solar efficiency!
New Insights on The Elusive Protein Sulfinylation
Proteins bear a staggering collection of small chemical modifications that have large effects on their function. This research provides an elegant method to study cysteine sulfinylation, a chemical mark that has proven to be pretty elusive.
Van der Waals forces form a molecular Faraday cage
Fundamental research may help us build tiny electronics – let’s return to Chemistry 101 and learn about van der Waals forces!
How do our cells sense touch?
Learn about new discoveries into how plants and animals sense the world around them on a microscopic level!
Stay young with Zinc!
We might have heard that antioxidants are good for our health. They help us to fight against oxidizing agents in our body and help us to stay young!
Recently, researchers have made a new breakthrough to help us fight against the oxides even with the inactive zinc!
Gaining insights into nanowires with help from infrared
When we hurt our elbow, we seek the help of an X-ray scan to check whether there is any bone fracture. But what if we want to visualize the inside of materials? Today’s post is a guest post contributed from ComSciCon participant – Chiung-Wei Huang.
What’s In A Screen? Improving Charge Transfer in Quantum Dot Films
What’s in a screen? It might be tiny particles called quantum dots – a novel material for everything from screens to solar cells. But how do researchers optimize new materials like quantum dot films? One type of spectroscopy – called transient absorption – could help.
Making New Batteries Using Burnt Plants
We use lithium-ion batteries in our electronics every day, but getting the materials to build them isn’t very environmentally friendly. Let’s learn about a new way to recover one of these materials from burnt plants!
A wood sponge for cleaning oil spills
Can we clean oil spills with a block of wood? Researchers have made an oil sponge out of wood for just this purpose.
Skeletons tell Stories– Chemistry of the burned bones!
Happy Halloween Everyone! In this article, we are going to honor the dead and discuss their stories and also learn to communicate with them using analytical chemistry techniques. Explore with me the power of infrared spectroscopy and walk down the memory lane with the skeletons!
Nanoparticles for Cancer Detection and Treatment
New nanoparticle devices can respond to ATP levels, deliver drugs, and induce their own removal from cells. Read about the structure of these nanoparticles and how they can advance cancer therapy and diagnostics!
The influence of one water molecule on the gas-phase structure of triglycine
Can one water molecule change the conformation of a peptide? Vibrational spectroscopy in the gas-phase is the perfect technique to answer this question.
Antibacterial Screening In Live Cells: In Search Of Life-Saving Drugs
Just as interesting as the detail of how the antibacterial molecules works can be the new methods by which they are discovered. Today’s Chembite is about the development of antibacterial agents in the fight against an infectious bacterium.
Kiss and Run: Studying how acidic organelles interact in the cell
Our cells are bustling with activity. Read on to find out how researchers are imaging the busy organelles in the cell and how they are related to neuronal pathways in the brain!
MOLECULE FROM FUNGUS DISRUPTS PLANT CIRCADIAN CLOCK
This plant is having trouble telling night from day…could a chemical be the culprit!?
What can you do with a glucose meter?
More than you might think! Researchers have “hacked” glucose meters to detect enzymes, bacteria, and viruses using a device millions of people already use every day.
Crystal Engineering for Better Solar Panels
Solar panels are made up of highly processed expensive materials. Find out how researchers explore alternative solar materials by engineering new crystal structures.
‘Optical Tweezers’ give new insights to cancer drugs
By using a technique that allows researchers to study single molecules, scientists have gained new knowledge about how a common anti-cancer drug interacts with DNA. These findings can help explain the properties of the drug and help scientists discover novel r anti-cancer treatments with improved effectiveness.
The future is bright: light-up chemistry for Zika virus detection
Chemists have developed an electrochemiluminescent sensor for the detection of Zika virus RNA. Read more to learn how this sensor compares to existing technologies!
Using Machine Learning to Discover New Fluorescent Proteins
Fluorescent proteins are incredibly useful for exploring the inside of living cells. Let’s learn about a new way to find better-performing proteins using machine learning!
Discovering Novel Structures – A molecular fidget spinner?
While discovery of new complexes can be difficult, this group at Cambridge has developed “cube traps” and effectively synthesized a molecule atkin to a molecular fidget spinner!
A surprising answer for how cells deal with a toxic – but essential – molecule
Heme is central to many processes within cells, from breaking down food to energy to transporting oxygen from the air we breathe. Bound to proteins it’s extremely useful and versatile, but by itself it is highly reactive and toxic. So how does the body prevent heme from reacting before it is used in a cell?
Using chemical probes to identify bacterial virulence factors
It seems like a silly question: how can we study the function of proteins with unknown functions? The answer: with activity-based chemical probes. In this article, researchers identified several previously unexplored enzymes that may play a role in serious bacterial infections.