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No one has seen a dodo in three and a half centuries, but that hasn't stopped the bizarre speculation about this extinct bird. Henry Nicholls investigates whether recent excavations in Mauritius could reveal the real creature.
Physicists and climate scientists have long argued over whether changes to the Sun affect the Earth's climate? A cloud chamber could help clear up the dispute, reports Jeff Kanipe.
The differences in brain size and function that separate humans from other mammals must be reflected in our genomes. It seems that the non-coding 'dark matter' of genomes harbours most of these vital changes.
Oxygen crystallizes into a sequence of structures, starting as an insulator at low pressure and becoming a superconductor at high pressure. The elusive structure of an intermediate phase has now been determined.
The latest surveys provide evidence for one, maybe two, galaxies farther back in cosmic time than ever detected before. But does the fact that we don't see more mean these are the very first galaxies to be formed?
The tumour-suppressor protein p53 is often mutated in cancer. But it seems that p53 deficiency is not all bad, and inhibiting this protein might mitigate toxic side effects of chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
Quantum mechanics states that the measurement process can fundamentally alter what is being measured. This 'back-action' has been observed on the macroscopic scale — in the vibrations of a tiny mechanical device.
Multidrug transporters provide cells with a defence against toxic chemicals, but they are also responsible for drug resistance. The structures of two such transporters reveal novel aspects of their mechanisms.
One of the most rapidly evolving genomic regions in the human lineage corresponds to a previously unstudied RNA gene, called HAR1. Based on expression studies, it is likely that HAR1 likely plays an important role in brain biology.
This paper reports a spectroscopic redshift of z=6.96, corresponding to just 750 million years after the Big Bang, for a galaxy whose spectrum clearly shows Lyman-alpha emission at 9682 Å.
A search for galaxies at z≈7–8, roughly 700 million years from the Big Bang finds only one candidate galaxy at z≈7–8, where ten would be expected if there were no evolution in the galaxy population between z≈7 and z≈6. The simplest explanation is that the Universe is just too young to have built up many luminous galaxies at z≈7–8 by hierarchical merging of small galaxies. A search for galaxies at z≈7–8, roughly 700 million years from the Big Bang finds only one candidate galaxy at z≈7–8, where ten would be expected if there were no evolution in the galaxy population between z≈7 and z≈6. The simplest explanation is that the Universe is just too young to have built up many luminous galaxies at z≈7–8 by hierarchical merging of small galaxies.
A search for galaxies at z≈7–8, roughly 700 million years from the Big Bang finds only one candidate galaxy at z≈7–8, where ten would be expected if there were no evolution in the galaxy population between z≈7 and z≈6. The simplest explanation is that the Universe is just too young to have built up many luminous galaxies at z≈7–8 by hierarchical merging of small galaxies. A search for galaxies at z≈7–8, roughly 700 million years from the Big Bang finds only one candidate galaxy at z≈7–8, where ten would be expected if there were no evolution in the galaxy population between z≈7 and z≈6. The simplest explanation is that the Universe is just too young to have built up many luminous galaxies at z≈7–8 by hierarchical merging of small galaxies.
Experiments show that domain walls in ferromagnetic wires can be moved on very short timescales, by applying nanosecond-long pulses, and also detail a so-called 'boomerang' effect, where the domain walls are driven out of their confining potential, in the opposite direction of the current pulse.
Genetic and biochemical evidence details that the tumour supressor Hippo is an upstream regulator of the tumour suppressors Warts/Lats, and that loss of Warts/Lats leads to proper dendritic tiling.
The tumour suppressor gene p53 is activated after DNA damage and helps eliminate damaged cells. But new evidence shows that during irradiation-induced tumourigenesis, p53 function in tumour suppression is not engaged by acute DNA damage, but later, in response to oncogene activation.
The crystal structure of the entire ectodomain dimer of the insulin receptor A isoform details the domain arrangement and defines the two sites for insulin binding.
Experimental results suggest an alternative mode for stimulation of Atm by double-strand breaks, in which Atm autophosphorylation at Ser 1987 (like trans-phosphorylation of downstream substrates) is a consequence rather than a cause of Atm activation.
This study identifies an mRNA encoding the host protein Tap that retains an intron when exported to the cytoplasm. A protein containing this intron is produced, although the function of this form isn't known. In a circular twist, the mechanism by which export of the intron occurs involves a CTE element in the mRNA, which binds the Tap protein.
