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How did organismal complexity evolve at a cellular level, and how does a genome encode it? The answer might lie in differences, not in the number of genes an organism has, but rather in the regulation of gene expression.
Bunsen didn't just invent the burner — he also worked on spectral analysis, in which compounds are heated in flames to produce distinctive light emissions. The latest device replaces flames with microplasmas.
Pathogens have many ways of subverting their hosts' molecular machinery. A striking example of such a ploy comes to light from investigations of the species of bacterium that causes listeriosis.
The standard model of metals is found to fail in several cases. The long-sought-after marginal state in which such a breakdown occurs has been identified in a metal on the border of ferromagnetism.
Polymers of misfolded proteins underlie many diseases, including major neurodegenerative disorders. Structural data on how such aggregates of serpin proteins form answer several outstanding questions.
A study of galaxies indicates that galaxy formation may be regulated by a single parameter. This unexpected finding shows that prevailing views on the process could need revision.
Metal cofactors are an essential part of many proteins. But how is the right choice of metal made? For bacteria, one answer is to change the cellular compartment where cofactor insertion occurs.
Fishermen's aims of increasing their catch seem at odds with preserving fish stocks by limiting catch. A study of more than 11,000 fisheries shows that 'individual tradable quotas' can reconcile these goals.
Certain transition-metal complexes are thought to exist only fleetingly, perhaps as intermediates in reactions. So the discovery of one such complex that is stable at room temperature is provocative.
Apoptotic cell death is an intricate and highly regulated process. To initiate apoptosis, the protein BIM binds to a hitherto unrecognized site on the BAX protein to trigger permeabilization of the outer mitochondrial membrane.
The discovery of molecular fossils in 2.7-billion-year-old rocks prompted a re-evaluation of microbial evolution, and of the advent of photosynthesis and rise of atmospheric oxygen. That discovery now comes into question.
A provocative contribution to the logic of science extends the theorems of Kurt Gödel and Alan Turing, and bears on thinking about prediction, the standard model of particles, and quantum gravity.
Messenger RNAs don't usually correspond exactly to DNA — portions of the primary transcript, known as introns, are removed by splicing. A study reveals new ways in which splicing can be regulated.
Mapping out the resonant modes of optical antennas is part of a largely unexplored terrain — but not any more, as a study that applies a luminescence technique to gold antennas demonstrates.
Observations of the birth of a superfluid have uncovered details of the microphysics of phase transitions. Whether these results can be used to model such transitions in the early Universe is an open question.
Tiny, wind-generated ripples on the sea surface can interact and produce pressure changes felt on the ocean floor. The same line of study points to a basic distinction between two types of surface wave.
