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Why no individual is like another when epigenetics come into play

Why do animals behave differently, and what are the consequences of this? A research team from the Collaborative Research Center NC³ at Bielefeld University and the University of Münster now provides a new explanation: epigenetic processes—chemical markings on DNA—may play a key role. The study, published in the journal Trends in Ecology & Evolution, links individuality, environmental adaptation, genetics, ecology, and evolution in a novel way.

“With our study, we propose that individuality and epigenetic variation influence each other,” explains Dr. Denis Meuthen, an evolutionary biologist at Bielefeld University, who is one of the study’s main authors. “This bidirectionality—this mutual interaction—helps us to better understand ecological and evolutionary processes.”

Laser-modified graphene enables molecule-thick films to grow only where needed

Researchers from the University of Jyväskylä and Aalto University have developed a new method based on laser modification, which allows metal-organic materials to be grown locally one molecule-thick layer at a time. The method enables the precise construction of films of different shapes and offers new ways to modify the properties of materials for various applications. The study was published in the journal ACS Nano.

Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is a method used especially in the semiconductor industry to produce high-quality thin films with atomic layer accuracy. The method was developed in the 1970s by the Finnish Tuomo Suntola, and it has since become an important technology.

In ALD, thin films are grown one atomic layer at a time through controlled chemical reactions between the reactants, as well as their interactions with the surface. This so-called bottom-up method allows for precise film thickness adjustment.

Unusual signal may prove existence of primordial black holes

It may well take years to prove, but a pair of University of Miami astrophysicists could be on the verge of a cosmic breakthrough that will confirm the existence of primordial black holes and the role they play in one of cosmology’s greatest mysteries.

Believed to have formed within the first fraction of a second after the Big Bang, primordial black holes are purely theoretical. But if confirmed, these hypothetical cosmic phenomena, which could range from asteroid-sized to massive, could explain a lot, including the nature of dark matter—the invisible substance that constitutes about 85% of all matter in the universe, acting as “gravitational glue” that holds galaxies together.

“We believe our study will aid in confirming that they actually do exist,” Nico Cappelluti, an associate professor in the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Physics, said of the research he and Ph.D. student Alberto Magaraggia have conducted.

Motivations behind violent extremism uncovered in new global study

New research from the University of St Andrews has revealed that human readiness for intergroup violence is not a single or unified mindset. Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the new study, spanning 58 countries and involving more than 100 researchers from various institutions around the world, demonstrates that violent extremist intentions are driven by two fundamentally different psychological motivations.

These are defensive extremism, which aims to protect a group from perceived threats, and offensive extremism, which seeks to establish group dominance and expand influence.

This preregistered study analyzed data from 18,128 participants globally. The findings indicate that defensive extremist intentions are consistently more prevalent, showing higher levels of endorsement than offensive intentions in 56 out of the 58 surveyed nations. This suggests a widespread tendency to find protective violence more morally acceptable than violence aimed at conquest.

RNA-guided CRISPR system activates gene expression

In back-to-back studies published in Nature, researchers from Purdue University and Columbia University report a naturally evolved gene-editing system that can activate genes, offering an advantage over existing CRISPR gene-editing systems that merely find and cut DNA. The research includes two complementary studies, one examining the biological function of the system and the other revealing the molecular mechanism that enables it.

The team’s research on a variant of the CRISPR—Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats—system broadens understanding of CRISPR’s natural diversity and provides a foundation for new gene-regulation technologies. Because this CRISPR variant activates genes without cutting DNA, it could be adapted for precise gene control applications, including research tools and potential therapeutic strategies that turn on genes without permanently altering the genome.

One study shows that this CRISPR system, using a strand of RNA as a guide, finds specific sections of DNA, known as genes, and attracts the cell’s own gene expression machinery to the location to activate the gene. The second study explains how the molecular complex performs this task, revealing how its structure allows it to recruit RNA polymerase—the enzyme responsible for transcribing DNA into RNA—to initiate gene expression.

Topological solitons power a chip-scale frequency comb source

Caltech scientists have developed a new way to produce optical frequency combs—important tools in devices that keep time and measure distances very precisely—at the chip scale, an advance that should make it easier to incorporate such combs in optical devices and more practical to use them outside the laboratory.

To generate the combs, the new research demonstrates the utility of a robust class of light pulses, called topological solitons, that had been previously predicted but largely unexplored until now. The scientists, led by Caltech’s Alireza Marandi, professor of electrical engineering and applied physics, describe their findings in a paper published in Nature.

Frequency combs are light sources that emit a precise ruler-like “comb” of many evenly spaced frequencies. Over the last three decades, they have become important tools in spectroscopy, in telecommunications, and even in astronomical research. Currently, most frequency comb sources rely on bulky tabletop laser sources. The new work shows that an electrically pumped laser diode integrated with a photonic chip with strong nonlinearity can serve as a frequency comb source.

Protein modification discovery opens cancer therapy possibilities

A research team led by Purdue University’s W. Andy Tao has discovered a new type of protein modification related to cellular mutation that impairs a crucial enzyme’s ability to help drive energy processes. Their discovery, published in Nature Chemistry, opens a new route to therapeutic cancer intervention.

“Mutation is considered the driving mechanism leading to cancer. Many mutations are hidden and harmless, but the mutation of enzymes like kinases can lead to the uncontrolled growth of cancer cells,” said Tao, a professor of biochemistry in Purdue’s College of Agriculture.

The study wades into the interactive dynamic complexity of the human genome (containing 20,000 to 25,000 genes) and the human proteome (containing more than 1 million proteins). The researchers identified a new modification on proteins because of the mutation in the isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) enzyme, which affects how kinase enzymes control protein function.

XRISM clocks hot wind of galaxy M82 at 2 million mph

For the first time, astronomers have directly measured the speed of superheated gas billowing from a cauldron of stellar activity at the heart of M82, a nearby galaxy undergoing an extraordinary burst of star formation. The material is moving more than 2 million miles (over 3 million kilometers) per hour and appears to be the primary force driving a cooler, well-studied, galaxy-scale wind.

Researchers made the calculations using data from the Resolve instrument aboard the XRISM (X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission) spacecraft.

“The classic model of starburst galaxies like M82 suggests that shock waves from star formation and supernovae near the center heat gas, kick-starting a powerful wind,” said Erin Boettcher, an astrophysicist at the University of Maryland, College Park and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Making quantum vibrations nonlinear to enable phonon-phonon interactions

Phonons are the quantum units of mechanical vibration. They describe how motion propagates through a solid at the smallest possible scales, in much the same way that electrons describe electric currents. Because phonons can be exceptionally stable and sensitive, they are used in quantum science and technology.

Researchers can already detect and control individual phonons. The problem lies in making phonons interact with each other in a predictable and tunable way, which would be a key requirement for building complex quantum systems like quantum computers.

Interactions are essential in quantum technologies. Whether the goal is sensing tiny forces or processing information, one quantum excitation must be able to influence another. In practice, this requires nonlinearity, which means that adding one excitation changes how the system responds to the next, rather than each excitation behaving independently.

Finding order in disorder: New mechanism amplifies transverse electron transport

For decades, it has been widely believed that electrons move most efficiently in materials that are clean and highly ordered. Much like water flowing more easily through a smooth pipe, conventional wisdom has held that electrical transport improves as a material’s internal structure becomes more perfectly arranged. However, a recent study shows that the opposite can also be true. A research team at POSTECH in South Korea has discovered that engineered disorder can actually enhance electron transport.

The work was conducted by Prof. Hyungyu Jin of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at POSTECH (Pohang University of Science and Technology), Dr. Sang Jun Park (currently a postdoctoral researcher at the National Institute for Materials Science, NIMS, Japan), Prof. Hyun-Woo Lee of the Department of Physics at POSTECH, and Ph.D. student Hojun Lee.

Their findings are published in Physical Review Letters.

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