Anna Demming

1 week ago | chemistryworld.com | Anna Demming

An artificial protein moves between predetermined conformations when exposed to calcium ions. These dynamic structural changes mimic those seen in naturally occurring proteins, which often gain their functionality by switching between subtly different arrangements. Designing useful proteins that do not occur naturally is an art that researchers have been picking away at since the 1980s, greatly accelerated in recent years with the help of machine learning algorithms.

1 week ago | physicsworld.com | Anna Demming

Bismuth has puzzled scientists for nearly 20 years. Notably, the question of whether it is topological – that is, whether electrons behave differently on its surface than they do inside it – gets different answers depending on whether you ask a theorist or an experimentalist. Researchers in Japan now say they have found a way to resolve this conflict. A mechanism called surface relaxation, they report, may have masked or “blocked” bismuth’s true topological nature.

3 weeks ago | livescience.com | Anna Demming

A common gut fungus could lead to new treatments for one of the world's most common chronic liver disorders, scientists say. The condition, called severe metabolic-dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD), affects more than 1 in 4 adults worldwide. Once known as nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, it can lead to metabolic dysregulation, inflammation and fibrosis, or scarring, of the liver.

2 months ago | physicsworld.com | Anna Demming

The nervous system is often considered the body’s wiring, sending electrical signals to communicate needs and hazards between different parts of the body. However, researchers at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst have now also measured bioelectronic signals propagating from cultured epithelial cells, as they respond to a critical injury.

2 months ago | chemistryworld.com | Anna Demming

Exoplanets orbiting a star 133 light years away contain a far greater abundance of carbon than the star itself, according to the first direct spectral data of this kind captured by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The discovery has implications for how these planets formed, suggesting they share a similar evolutionary history to Jupiter and Saturn.