New findings published in Molecular Cell provide details about the hidden organization of the cytoplasm—the soup of liquid, organelles, proteins, and other molecules inside a cell. The research shows it makes a big difference where in that cellular broth, messenger RNA (mRNA) gets translated into proteins.

“You know the old real estate saying, ‘location, location, location.’ It turns out it applies to how proteins get made inside of cells, too,” says Dr. Mayr, a molecular and cell biologist at the Sloan Kettering Institute, a hub for basic and translational research within MSK. “If it’s translated over here, you get twice as much protein as if it’s translated over there.”

This first-of-its-kind study highlights the degree to which the cytoplasm is “beautifully organized” rather than being just a big jumble of stuff, she says.

A new study found that while exercise is important to living a long life, following other healthy lifestyle habits may have an even greater impact.

Deep-pocketed investors have adopted a bearish approach towards CRISPR Therapeutics CRSP, and it’s something market players shouldn’t ignore. Our tracking of public options records at Benzinga unveiled this significant move today. The identity of these investors remains unknown, but such a substantial move in CRSP usually suggests something big is about to happen.

We gleaned this information from our observations today when Benzinga’s options scanner highlighted 11 extraordinary options activities for CRISPR Therapeutics. This level of activity is out of the ordinary.

The general mood among these heavyweight investors is divided, with 45% leaning bullish and 54% bearish. Among these notable options, 2 are puts, totaling $98,000, and 9 are calls, amounting to $744,659.

Researchers have created an artificial intelligence tool that uses sequences of life events—such as health history, education, job and income—to predict everything from a person’s personality…

The race to develop quantum computers has really heated up over the past few years. State-of-the-art systems can now run simple algorithms using dozens of qubits—or quantum bits—which are the building blocks of quantum computers.

In a new breakthrough, researchers have used a novel technique to confirm a previously undetected physics phenomenon that could be used to improve data storage in the next generation of computer devices.

Spintronic memories, utilized in advanced computers and satellites, leverage the magnetic states produced by the intrinsic angular momentum of electrons for data storage and retrieval. Depending on its physical motion, an electron’s spin produces a magnetic current. Known as the “spin Hall effect,” this has key applications for magnetic materials across many different fields, ranging from low-power electronics to fundamental quantum mechanics.

More recently, scientists have found that electrons are also capable of generating electricity through a second kind of movement: orbital angular momentum, similar to how Earth revolves around the sun. This is known as the “orbital Hall effect,” said Roland Kawakami, co-author of the study and a professor in physics at The Ohio State University.

Much like the humans that created them, computers find physics hard, but quantum mechanics even harder. But a new technique created by three University of Chicago scientists allows computers to simulate certain challenging quantum mechanical effects in complex electronic materials with far less effort.

By making these simulations more accurate and efficient, the scientists hope the technique could help discover new molecules and materials, such as new types of solar cells or quantum computers.

“This advance holds immense potential for furthering our understanding of molecular phenomena, with significant implications for chemistry, material science, and related fields,” said scientist Daniel Gibney, a University of Chicago Ph.D. student in chemistry and first author on the paper, published Dec. 14 in Physical Review Letters.

Neuromorphic computers are based on intricate networks of simple, elementary processors (which act like the brain’s neurons and synapses). The main advantage of this is that these machines are inherently “parallel”.

This means that, as with neurons and synapses, virtually all the processors in a computer can potentially be operating simultaneously, communicating in tandem.

In addition, because the computations performed by individual neurons and synapses are very simple compared with traditional computers, the energy consumption is orders of magnitude smaller. Although neurons are sometimes thought of as processing units, and synapses as memory units, they contribute to both processing and storage. In other words, data is already located where the computation requires it.

In 2007, Luciano Marraffini struck out on what was then a scientifically lonely path: to understand CRISPR, which had been discovered in bacteria only about a decade before.

Seventeen years later, we all know what CRISPR is: a revolution in medicine. A once-in-a-lifetime scientific breakthrough. The most promising tool for gene therapy ever discovered. But back then, “clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats” were merely curious genetic fragments with no known purpose.

“When I started, there was nothing that indicated that it was going to one day help people to cure genetic diseases,” Marraffini recalls.

Summary: A new study illuminated a part of the “dark genome,” specifically focusing on LINE-1, a genetic element linked to various diseases and aging.

Researchers have provided the first high-resolution images and structural details of LINE-1, an “ancient genetic parasite” with about 100 active copies in each person. This research, involving international collaboration, reveals LINE-1’s mechanism of integrating DNA into the human genome and its correlation with diseases like cancer and neurodegeneration.

The study’s findings offer a foundation for potential treatments targeting this retrotransposon.