Category: Science

liu.se

Storing solar energy is a big challenge, so researchers have come up with a new molecular photoswitch, a molecule that changes with light energy.
First, they designed the molecule and used supercomputers to calculate if it would lead to the right chemical reaction.
Another team built the molecule, and performed experiments that confirmed the initial calculations.
In most chemical reactions, a molecule passes from high energy to low energy - here, the opposite happens, and the molecule absorbs energy extremely fast.
The next step is to figure out how to release the energy from the molecule in the best way.

Bulleted by Michał Słupski
on September 11, 2020

The cancer was found in the lower leg bone of a Centrosaurus apertus, a horned dinosaur that lived around 77 million years ago.
At first, researchers thought the weird bone growth was the result of a healed fracture.
An international, multidisciplinary team performed a series of tests and found that the bone growth diagnosis was similar to an unknown tumor in a human patient.
It was determined to be osteosarcoma, an bone overgrowth that spreads rapidly across the body.
The importance of this study is that it shows a clear link between human disease and diseases of the past, helping to understand their evolution and genetics.

Bulleted by Michał Słupski
on August 14, 2020

In the past few decades, scientists have linked mitochondrial DNA mutations to multiple diseases, but they only recently started looking at links to mental disorders.
Multiple studies suggest that faulty mitochondria may cause increased stress, anxiety and depression, but there is still very little evidence.
Responding to stress might change the shape of the mitochondria, making it hard for them to “communicate”, which can lead to cell damage and even death.
Researchers are already looking into drug therapies that would boost mitochondrial output as a way to potentially treat people prone to stress, anxiety and depression.
Many experts say stress and anxiety are too complicated to have a single cause, and while mitochondria are crucial for neurons, they’re only a piece of the puzzle.

Bulleted by Michał Słupski
on August 14, 2020

nature.com

New research techniques and AI are allowing scientists to study internal brain states in animals by identifying neuronal patterns in relation to behaviour.
Research papers on internal brain states (like emotions, motivation, or existential drives like thirst) might lead to a better understanding of mental illness.
Animals were previously thought to only respond to stimulus, but this research is showing that a lot of interesting stuff is happening in their brains beyond that.
The entire animal brain (not specific regions) coordinates internal brain states that control what animals do, and the key question now is: how does the brain do it?
It’s a new field of study that might change our understanding of the world, but it’s very early - for now, scientists are still trying to understand “what the questions are”.

Bulleted by Michał Słupski
on August 11, 2020

In a big milestone for biology, scientists successfully engineered the first genetically altered squid using the DNA editing tool CRISPR.
It could not only explain the mystery of the squid’s intelligence, but also genes involved in learning and memory, helping in the study of neurodegenerative diseases.
Until now, cephalopods like squid were notoriously difficult when it comes to manipulating genes.
For now they only removed pigment from the squid, but they’re planning to use their new technique to study the squid’s neural activity.

Bulleted by Michał Słupski
on August 11, 2020

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