Biology – Page 6
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FeatureThe messy chemistry that led to life
To understand how chemistry became biology, some chemists are eschewing simple reactions to study complex systems with many reactants and products. Rachel Brazil peers through the tangle
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ResearchMechanochemically accelerated sublimations used to separate chiral molecules
New technique combines ball milling with NMR to monitor sublimations in real time
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ResearchBiocompatible battery starves cancer cells of oxygen
Implantable self-charging battery creates hypoxic conditions to help kill tumour cells
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NewsGene-edited crops and animals get the green light in England
Legislation holds out hope for agri-biotech industry that has found itself stifled by EU rules
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NewsAfrica plans a network of genomics centres of excellence to tackle disease
Proposed $200 million programme to improve continent’s health would begin with two pilot centres
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ResearchWired-up symbiotic multi-organism can turn sunlight and air into valuable proteins
Symbiont could enable microfactories to produce biochemicals for food, farming and drugs
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ResearchSoapbark tree’s biosynthetic pathway for vaccine adjuvant saponins
Researchers use genome mining and bioengineering techniques to map out route
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NewsAir jet gun delivers needle-free vaccines in MOFs without any need for refrigeration
Release rate of injector system can be fine-tuned by changing the carrier gas
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ResearchRNA building block uracil recovered from near-Earth asteroid Ryugu
Japanese mission returns pristine sample to bolster idea that prebiotic chemicals could have been delivered by meteorites
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BusinessPfizer to buy cancer biotech Seagen for $43 billion
Antibody-drug conjugate specialist will fill Pfizer’s cancer pipeline
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FeatureHow do plants sense stress?
How does an organism without a brain or a nervous system sense when it’s under attack? Hayley Bennett presents the plant world’s strange yet sophisticated system for responding to wounding
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ResearchStudy challenges assumptions over how l-oligonucleotides behave in living systems
L-oligonucleotides are potentially cytotoxic but some could have unexpected therapeutic benefits
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ResearchWoodcock feathers’ nanostructure makes them the whitest ever found
The Eurasian woodcock’s white tail feathers reflect up to 55% of light –30% more than those of any other bird
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ResearchPlant biomarkers provide evidence of nerve agent attacks
Analytical method detects chemical weapon usage up to three months after exposure by probing plant proteins
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ResearchA safer, coral-friendly sunscreen is on the horizon
Polymeric UV filter doesn’t harm algae, coral or mice in tests
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FeatureChanging the game in protein structure prediction
Have AlphaFold and other machine learning techniques essentially solved the formerly fiendish problem, or is there still more to be done? Clare Sansom reports
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NewsNobel laureate and recombinant DNA pioneer Paul Berg dies
Winner of the 1980 chemistry Nobel prize has passed away in his home on Stanford’s campus at 96
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ResearchThe hunt is on for vaccine ingredients that don’t come from wild sharks
Yeast can provide the raw materials and chemical wizardry can transform them
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ResearchLipophilicity helps explain psychedelic drugs’ therapeutic effects
Understanding why psychedelic drugs that bind to serotonin receptors promote neuron growth, while serotonin itself does not
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ResearchZircon study prompts redox state rethink surrounding hydrothermal pools thought to harbour life’s first molecules
Research combining experiments with modelling suggests hydrothermal fluid was 30% as saline as sea water today and more oxidised than the surrounding mantle