SciTech Daily

March 12, 2012

3-D Image Shows How DNA Packs Itself into a “Fractal Globule”

$DNA packs itself tightly into a structure known as a fractal globule.jpg$

A new imaging technique is giving scientists their first three-dimensional view of the human genome and how DNA is packed inside cells. Research has shown that the DNA forms a structure called a “fractal globule,” which is capable of holding vast amounts of material while remaining completely unknotted. While it’s clear that DNA sequencing has [...]

March 12, 2012

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Pterosaur Rhamphorhynchus Being Eaten by Ganoid Fish Aspidorhynchus Fossilized

This incredible fossil, depicting a pterosaur in the process of being devoured by a ganoid fish, was recently showcased in a new study published in PLoS ONE. Pterosaurs aren’t dinosaurs, but flying reptiles of the Mesozoic era. Most of the fossilized specimens come from the Middle Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous periods. Many of the soft [...]

March 12, 2012

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A New Fiber Opens the Possibility of 3-D Displays Woven from Flexible Fibers

new fiber developed by Yoel Fink's group emits blue laser light only at a precisely controlled location

A team of scientists at MIT have developed a new light source from a fiber roughly as thick as a human hair. The fiber has a hollow core with a droplet of fluid inside, surrounded by alternating layers of materials with different optical properties, which emits light when the droplet receives energy. Most light emitters, [...]

March 12, 2012

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Colombian Volcano Nevado del Ruiz Has Increased Activity

The Nevado del Ruiz volcano in Colombia hasn’t erupted in over 20 years, but there are signs that point that it’s entering a more active phase. INGEOMINAS scientists did a flyover with the Colombian Air Force and discovered ash on the glacier, near the crater rim, and more ash on the eastern flank. This has [...]

March 12, 2012

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Rapidly Retreating Glacial Ice Leaves Species Threatened

The rapidly disappearing glaciers are altering more than the physical landscape, as a recent analysis suggests. Species that live in streams and rivers that flow from melting glaciers could start disappearing when half of the glacial cover in a region is lost. A team of scientists looked at the diversity of insect larvae in water [...]

March 12, 2012

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Thermonuclear Behavior of Neutron Star Bridges Gap Between Theory and Observation

illustration compares the size of a neutron star to Manhattan

Over the period of roughly one month, NASA’s Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) observed some 400 thermonuclear explosions on the surface of the neutron star T5X2. The x-ray spikes detected by RXTE and other spacecraft, showed explosions at different rates of accretion and at the highest rates, the strong spikes disappeared and the pattern transformed [...]

March 9, 2012

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New Type of Neutrino Oscillation Discovered at Daya Bay

Each antineutrino detector at Daya Bay is lined with photomultiplier tubes

After of tens of thousands of interactions of electron antineutrinos at Daya Bay, data revealed a new type of neutrino oscillation, which was measured with unmatched precision, and researchers believe this will lead to future understanding of matter-antimatter asymmetry in the universe. BEIJING; BERKELEY, California; and UPTON, New York – The Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino [...]

March 9, 2012

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Amino Acids Found in Meteorites that Experienced High Temperatures

meteorite analyzed in the study at its collection site in Antarctica

While analyzing samples from carbon-rich meteorites with minerals that indicated they had experienced high temperatures, scientists found amino acids, which gives support to the theory that meteorites and comets assisted the origin of life. Creating some of life’s building blocks in space may be a bit like making a sandwich – you can make them [...]

March 9, 2012

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DnaK Identified as Key Player of Protein Folding

A new published report from the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry shows how different chaperones cooperate during the folding process. The scientists found that the Hsp70 protein DnaK binds to about 700 different protein chains as they are synthesized and mediates the folding of most of these protein chains. Proteins are the molecular building blocks [...]

March 9, 2012

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New Metamaterial Design Extremely Efficient at Capturing Light

metamaterial that is tuned to a range of specific frequencies of light

Based on computer simulations, new research shows that a new metamaterial design is able to absorb a wide range of light with extremely high efficiency. The scientists involved in this project believe this material would be both a very efficient emitter and absorber of photons and could be used in new kinds of solar cells, [...]

March 9, 2012

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Carbon Nanotubes Increase the Speed of Biological Sensors

By using the power of carbon nanotubes, scientists have almost tripled the speed of prototype nano-biosensors. The researchers believe that this nanotechnology will make it possible to do many medical lab tests in minutes and will drastically reduce the cost of those tests. CORVALLIS, Oregon – Researchers at Oregon State University have tapped into the [...]

March 9, 2012

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NASA Continues to Monitor Solar Flares

events on the sun changing the conditions in Near-Earth space

As NASA continues to give updates on the solar flares this week, they also put together a nice summary of space weather and the effects of those eruptions on Earth. UPDATE: On March 8, 2012 at 10:53 PM EST the sun erupted with an M6.3 class flare and released a CME about an hour later. [...]