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An anomalous measurement from a nuclear reactor triggered a three-year campaign to find an elusive particle called the sterile neutrino. The search shows definitively that sterile neutrinos don’t exist — but the anomaly persists.
CRISPR–Cas is a bacterial defence system that can attack invading DNA to protect host cells, or help to insert DNA safely into the genome. Structures of this latter type of CRISPR–Cas system have now been visualized.
Electric motors convert electrical energy into mechanical motion. A molecular motor has been designed in which electricity drives redox reaction cycles that lead to the movement of two small rings around a large circular loop. The small rings make one full revolution around the loop for every two redox cycles.
Messenger RNA has 64 possible triplet sequences, or codons, three of which usually terminate protein synthesis. But some organisms can use all codons to specify amino acids, thanks in part to a surprising feature of a transfer RNA.
The pitch of oscillations detected in the γ-rays that are emitted when neutron stars collide could provide insight into the hottest and densest matter in the Universe — revealing physics that cannot be studied with terrestrial experiments.
Ferroelectricity has been found in a superconducting compound. Strong coupling between these two properties enables ferroelectric control of the superconductivity, which could prove useful for quantum devices.
The bacterial protein BlaR1 regulates resistance to β-lactam antibiotics in the multidrug-resistant bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus. Cryo-electron microscopy has revealed the detailed structures of BlaR1 in its resting state and in its β-lactam-bound activated state, illuminating possible routes to combating antibiotic resistance.
How does a fruit fly’s brain determine which way the animal should escape in the face of a looming predator? A mechanism involving numeric gradients of synaptic connections between neurons provides an answer.
Sophisticated experimental approaches reveal cellular and immune-system mechanisms that enable rare HIV-infected cells to persist for decades in people who are taking antiretroviral drugs.
Mouse and human embryos undergo similar developmental steps, but the exact timings differ. An analysis reveals that differences in metabolic activity set the timing of one such step on the road to formation of the vertebrae.
An analysis of more than 1,500 field observations has identified a collection of agricultural practices that can improve the use of nitrogen fertilizers — boosting crop yields while reducing environmental pollution.
Disease-causing microorganisms can alter the social behaviour of their hosts. Caenorhabditis elegans hermaphrodite worms exposed to an infectious bacterial strain become attracted to a mixture of pheromone cues instead of avoiding it. This boosts mating with males in the hermaphrodites, increasing the ability to produce genetic diversity in the face of microbial challenge.
More than 200,000 human stem cells were imaged at high resolution and in 3D to make a reference data set that was used to create a generalizable computational framework. This enables cell shapes and the locations of internal structures to be measured and compared using rigorous statistical methods.
