Neutrons are subatomic particles that have no electric charge, unlike protons and electrons. That means that while the electromagnetic force is responsible for most of the interactions between radiation and materials, neutrons are essentially immune to that force.
To engineer proteins with useful functions, researchers usually begin with a natural protein that has a desirable function, such as emitting fluorescent light, and put it through many rounds of random mutation that eventually generate an optimized version of the protein.
This process has yielded optimized versions of many important proteins, including green fluorescent protein (GFP). However, for other proteins, it has proven difficult to generate an optimized version. MIT researchers have now developed a computational approach that makes it easier to predict mutations that will lead to better proteins, based on a relatively small amount of data.
Using this model, the researchers generated proteins with mutations that were predicted to lead to improved versions of GFP and a protein from adeno-associated virus (AAV), which is used to deliver DNA for gene therapy. They hope it could also be used to develop additional tools for neuroscience research and medical applications.
Watch more videos on complexity and emergence: https://bit.ly/3TxyQBmThe world works at different levels—fundamental physics, physics, chemistry, biology, ps…
Evolution processes of complex networked systems in biology and social sciences, and their underlying mechanisms, still need better understanding. The authors propose a machine learning approach to reconstruct the evolution history of complex networks.
In recent years, artificial intelligence technologies, especially machine learning algorithms, have made great strides. These technologies have enabled unprecedented efficiency in tasks such as image recognition, natural language generation and processing, and object detection, but such outstanding functionality requires substantial computational power as a foundation.
In an era where the quest for sustainable energy sources has become paramount, researchers are tirelessly exploring innovative avenues to enhance fuel production processes. One of the most important tools in converting chemical energy into electrical energy and vice versa is electrocatalysis, which is already used in various green-energy technologies.
Combining results of laboratory studies on the infra-red glow of carbon molecules in simulation software has led a team of researchers to a new discovery about the creation of spherical carbon ‘cages’ called fullerenes.
Given these molecules could have protectively carried complex compounds through the harshness of interstellar space, the findings could have implications for how life arose on Earth, and beyond.
Following the confirmed detection of fullerenes surrounding the dusty surrounds of dying stars called planetary nebulas in recent decades, researchers have pondered the process that led to their creation.
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It remains a fascinating system for astronomers because the protostar and its protoplanetary disk are estimated to be no older than 5.5 million years — a cosmic infant compared to our 4.5-billion-year-old solar system.
“PDS 70 is special, as it is the only protoplanetary disk so far where all astronomers agree that we have found forming planets caught in the act,” Christiaens said. “Detailed study of this system has thus allowed us to learn a lot about planet formation.”
The researcher said that little is known about the properties of the potential third planet around PDS 70 thus far. The planet — which, if confirmed, would be designated PDS 70D — appears to be shrouded in a vast amount of dust, and it orbits its infant star at around 13 times the distance between Earth and the sun.
The 3,200-megapixel LSST camera is the size of a compact car and weighs in at 3 metric tons, which is about half the weight of a male African bush elephant. The LSST’s wide-field view will attempt to solve lingering mysteries surrounding dark energy, the force that accounts for around 70% of our universe’s matter-energy content and causes the expansion of the cosmos to accelerate.
The LSST will also investigate dark matter, the mysterious substance that accounts for around 85% of all stuff in the cosmos despite being invisible to us, as well as answer other astronomical questions as it creates what Željko Ivezić, Director of Rubin Observatory’s construction, describes as the “greatest movie of all time and the most informative map of the night sky ever assembled.”
