Researchers have captured the first atomic-level views of human SMUG1, a key enzyme involved in repairing damaged DNA.
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New plasma trick could unlock smaller, more powerful computer chips
Under carefully controlled conditions, particles within a plasma can strike the surface of a TMD material and knock atoms loose. The challenge is achieving enough energy to remove sulfur atoms from the top layer without harming the molybdenum layer beneath. Because the difference between success and damage is so small, developing a reliable process has proven difficult.
Using computer simulations, researchers found that treating molybdenum disulfide with oxygen or fluorine before plasma exposure can make the process much more controlled. Their findings were published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters.
The Connectome 2.0 Scanner Captures the Brain in Unprecedented Detail
A one-of-a-kind MRI machine helps researchers see the relationship between the structure of the brain and how it functions.
Silicon-compatible nanocomposite garnet enables better, simpler optical isolators
A research team from Tohoku University and Kyocera Corp. has developed a new magneto-optical material—a nanocomposite magnetic garnet film—that can be deposited directly onto silicon substrates while delivering a magneto-optical figure of merit four times higher than conventional polycrystalline films.
Using this material, the team demonstrated a monolithically integrated optical isolator on a silicon chip that matches the performance of conventional devices but with a far simpler, seed-layer-free structure. The breakthrough opens a practical path toward large-scale deployment of silicon photonics in AI-era data centers.
The work is published in the journal ACS Applied Optical Materials.
Colorectal tumors use mitochondrial complex II to stockpile iron, but eliminating it causes cell death
Scientists know that colorectal cancer cells require large amounts of iron and that as cancer becomes more aggressive, the cells have even higher amounts of iron. Normal cells with high levels of iron would undergo a type of iron-related cell death called ferroptosis. But in cancer cells, the iron continues to accumulate well beyond normal levels without succumbing to expected cell death processes.
Researchers from the University of Michigan Health Rogel Cancer Center have now discovered a key metabolic pathway that allows colorectal cancer cells to accumulate large quantities of iron. Blocking that pathway reduced iron levels and caused the cancer cells to die.
In this new study, published in Cell Metabolism, researchers started by looking at the known pathways involved in ferroptosis, assuming something in this process was awry. But knocking out these typical ferroptotic enzymes had no impact on tumor growth. So they dug deeper into mitochondrial metabolism.
Quantum sensor overcomes major obstacle in search for dark matter and gravitational waves
A prototype quantum sensor developed by researchers at Imperial has demonstrated for the first time that a key principle behind next-generation quantum detectors can work under realistic conditions.
The study shows how comparing two long-baseline atom interferometers, instruments that use lasers to precisely measure the behavior of atoms, allows experimental noise to be effectively canceled.
This enables signals to be recovered even when individual measurements are overwhelmed and opens the door to searches for gravitational waves from the early universe and signatures of exotic forms of dark matter.