Scientists discovered bacteria that produce gold by digesting toxic metals
Reading Time: 3 minutesHIGH concentrations of heavy metals, like copper and gold, are toxic for most living creatures. This is not the case for the bacterium C. metallidurans, which has found a way to extract valuable trace elements from a compound of heavy metals without poisoning itself. One interesting side-effect: the formation of tiny gold nuggets. A team […]
Fungal enzymes could hold secret to making renewable energy from wood
Reading Time: 2 minutesAN international team of researchers, including scientists from the University of York, has discovered a set of enzymes found in fungi that are capable of breaking down one of the main components of wood. The enzymes could now potentially be used to sustainably convert wood biomass into valuable chemical commodities such as biofuels. As an […]
170-MILLION-YEAR QUESTION…..
Reading Time: < 1 minuteDartmouth College Scientists have identified a fused gene in moss that provides insight into how cells build their external walls. The same discovery raises questions about the one-of-a-kind gene that features two distinct proteins that participate in two distinct functions. The research team identified the novel gene, known as For1F, while studying exocytosis. Exocytosis is […]
Researchers discover powerful antibiotic in soil
Reading Time: 2 minutesIT’S a new class of antibiotic that promises to live up to its rough Latin translation: killer of bad guys. In a report published this week in the journal Nature Microbiology, researchers describe a neverbefore- seen antibiotic agent that vanquished several strains of multidrug- resistant bacteria. In rats, the agent — which the researchers dubbed […]
Exciting excitonium
Reading Time: 4 minutesDiscovery of new form of matter excites researchers EXCITONIUM has a team of researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign… well… excited! Professor of Physics Peter Abbamonte and graduate students Anshul Kogar and Mindy Rak, with input from colleagues at Illinois, University of California, Berkeley, and University of Amsterdam, have proven the existence of […]
Researchers find world’s first warm-blooded fish
Reading Time: < 1 minuteRESEARCHERS have discovered a first fully warm-blooded fish that circulates heated blood throughout its body much like mammals and birds. The silvery fish, roughly the size of a large automobile tire, is known from oceans around the world and dwells hundreds of feet beneath the surface in chilly, dimly lit waters. The warm-blooded opah or […]
Cool microscope technology revolutionises biochemistry
Reading Time: 2 minutesWE may soon have detailed images of life’s complex machineries in atomic resolution. The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2017 is awarded to Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank and Richard Henderson for the development of cryo-electron microscopy, which both simplifies and improves the imaging of biomolecules. This method has moved biochemistry into a new era. A picture […]
Mysteries of Japanese dinosaur unveiled
Reading Time: 2 minutesDated back in 1934 on Southern Sakhalin Island, a Japanese team has found fossils which were then named Nipponosaurus sachalinensis. Nipponosaurus got its name from the word ‘Nippon’ which means Japan in the Japanese word and it was named by Professor Takumi Nagao of Hokkaido Imperial University. [ihc-hide-content ihc_mb_type=”show” ihc_mb_who=”2,3,5″ ihc_mb_template=”1″ ] Sakhalin Island is […]
Polar region expedition yields novel bacteria
Reading Time: 2 minutesBacteria found by Malaysian expedition team has cancer fighting potential BY DR CHEAH YOKE KQUEEN SERDANG: A new microbe discovered during an expedition to the polar region of Antarctica in November 2007 by a Malaysian research team can produce a compound that is active against pathogens and cancer cells, in particular colorectal and breast cancer […]