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We're selfish and rational — that's what classical economics says. But play parlour games with brain scanners and you'll find we're pulled in different directions when it comes to money. Jonah Lehrer reports.
To help their growth and spread, bacteria rely on virulence factors, many of which are toxic. One such factor is highly potent, as it attacks a key protein that 'chaperones' other proteins through their synthesis.
Quantum-information networks use matter for long-term storage and light for long-distance transmission. Teleporting a quantum state from light onto matter has now been achieved.
Cell division is fundamental to life, and so might be expected to have changed little during evolution. Data from four species show that the genes involved can vary, but the regulation of complexes is a common theme.
Lithium isotopes provide a fingerprint of recycled material in Earth's upper mantle. But this fingerprint is different from what had been expected. So do we need to reassess our ideas about how the upper mantle evolves?
A remarkable bacterium can survive extraordinary doses of ionizing radiation that shatter its genome into thousands of pieces. How does it accurately reassemble these DNA fragments into an intact genome?
Transposable elements were long dismissed as useless, but they are emerging as major players in evolution. Their interactions with the genome and the environment affect how genes are translated into physical traits.
A planetary transit search carried out in a rich stellar field towards the Galactic bulge discovered 16 candidates with orbital periods between 0.4 and 4.2 days, five of which orbit stars of masses with 0.44–0.75 times that of the Sun.
A set of genes that cause lethality when mutated in polyploid cells, but not when mutated in wild-type cells, are involved in cell cycle processes, such as homologous recombination and kinetochore attachment to the spindle. As many cancer cells exhibit polyploidy, targeting these genes may be an effective strategy to fight cancer.
Shiga toxigenic Escherichia coli can cause gastrointestinal disease in humans, with potentially life-threatening consequences. This paper elucidates the mechanism of the bacteria-induced host cell death; a protein crucially involved in endoplasmic reticulum function is specifically targeted and inactivated by the toxin's protease subunit.
Electrons gain kinetic energy by reflecting from the ends of the contracting 'magnetic islands' that form as reconnection proceeds. The repetitive interaction of electrons with many islands allows large numbers to be efficiently accelerated to high energy.
Quantum teleportation has been previously demonstrated between objects of the same nature, such as light pulses or material particles. But this paper demonstrates teleportation between objects of a different nature: a quantum state encoded in a light pulse is teleported onto an atomic ensemble containing 1012 caesium atoms.
Deinococcus radiodurans is able to withstand high doses of radiation, despite the DNA damage caused. Genome fragments with regions of complementary sequence meet and initiate synthesis by a DNA polymerase to form long single-stranded ends on the fragments. The complementary single-strand tails then pair and regenerate long double-stranded DNA molecules that are processed into the original circular genome.
Malaria parasites trigger an increase in intracellular sodium concentration when infecting red blood cells. This effect provides a direct benefit to the parasite, as it uses the resulting gradient to energize the uptake of phosphate.
The transport of porphyrins across the mitochondrial membrane is important for cellular processes. The ABC transporter Abcb6 (an energy-requiring transporter) plays a key role not only in mitochondrial porphyrin transport but also in the upregulation of haeme biosynthesis.
