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Using nuclear power on a grand scale requires that spent nuclear fuel be reused. Emma Marris finds out which of the world's nations could jump on a reprocessing bandwagon.
Reducing your calorie intake makes you live longer — if you're a rat or a worm. Laura Spinney asks whether the same holds for humans — and if it does, whether the benefits could be put in a pill.
Human and monkey immunodeficiency viruses are studded with ‘spikes’ that enable them to infect cells. Structural studies reveal that these spikes are tripod-like assemblies that cluster on the virus surface.
When oxygen atoms bind to a graphite surface, they fall into line and make bridges across carbon atoms. This is the spearhead of a chemical attack in which the atomic arrangement of solid carbon is torn apart.
Autophagy — cellular ‘self-eating’ — can be induced by stress, but it also acts continuously in a housekeeping role, disposing of unwanted proteins. Can it protect against neurodegenerative diseases?
Mutually repulsive atoms placed at periodic intervals in a ‘crystal of light’ can, counterintuitively, be forced into stable couplings. That theoretical prediction has just seen experimental confirmation.
In a changing world, how do we decide our best option? How do we settle between picking something familiar or trying out a new, possibly more rewarding, choice?
Carbon is unusual in its family of elements because it has gaseous oxides. But under high pressure, carbon dioxide forms crystalline solids and can become a glass — so revealing the chemical family resemblance.
The high-pressure nature of the core-forming process led to the Earth's core being richer in low atomic number elements, notably silicon and possibly oxygen, than the smaller planetesimal building blocks would indicate.
Modelling of satellite growth as a giant planet accumulates hydrogen gas and rock-ice solids from solar orbit finds that the mass fraction of its satellite system is ∼10−4 and regulated by a balance of two competing processes.
A strategy involving high-throughput flow cytometry to monitor protein abundance at single-cell resolution in yeast allows a different view of the cellular response to environmental changes than can be obtained with DNA microarrays.
In a periodic potential with no dissipation, stable composite objects can exist even for repulsive interactions. The paper reports the observation of such an exotic bound state, which is comprised of a pair of ultracold rubidium atoms in an optical lattice.
Development of an asymmetric organocatalytic triple cascade able to synthesize tetra-substituted cyclohexene carbaldehydes proceeds through a Michael/Michael/aldol condensation sequence, generating four stereogenic centres with high diastereo- and complete enantiocontrol in good to moderate yields.
A sophisticated radiative transfer model estimates the effect of air traffic condensation trails, or contrails, on the atmosphere — although the effect is currently small compared with that induced by other sources of human emissions, the comparably large growth rate of air traffic requires an improved understanding of the resulting impact.
Breeding experiments re-created the intermediate wing coloration of Heliconius heurippa from H. cydno and H. melpomene, showing that its distinctive patterning reproductively isolates it from the parent species and that a hybrid trait directly causes reproductive isolation.
Use of a gambling task and a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanner shows that human subjects' choices can be characterized by a computationally well regarded strategy for addressing the explore/exploit dilemma.
One of two papers showing that loss of autophagy in the central nervous system of mice causes the accumulation of protein aggregates in inclusion bodies, neurodegeneration and premature death of the mice. This demonstrates that continuous clearance of cellular components is essential for proper housekeeping and vital to keep the neurons in tiptop shape.
One of two papers showing that loss of autophagy in the central nervous system of mice causes the accumulation of protein aggregates in inclusion bodies, neurodegeneration and premature death of the mice. This demonstrates that continuous clearance of cellular components is essential for proper housekeeping and vital to keep the neurons in tiptop shape.
As well as cleaving hydrophobic stretches of amino acids in the plane of the cell membrane, the protease signal peptide peptidase plays a role in the disposal of unwanted glycoproteins from the endoplasmic reticulum — indicating that these proteases may be important for general membrane protein quality control.
β-catenin stabilizes the mRNA encoding the F-box protein βTrCP1, and the RNA-binding protein CRD–BP (coding region determinant-binding protein) is identified as a previously unknown target of β-catenin/Tcf transcription factor.
