It’s too hot for bare feet, but that doesn’t mean you can cook a fry-up on the path outside your house. A frying pan is a much better tool for the job, because it conducts heat far more efficiently.
DNA and mRNA vaccines produce a different kind of immune response than traditional vaccines, allowing researchers to tackle some previously unsolvable problems in medicine.
Using a form of artificial intelligence called deep neural networks, researchers can generate new proteins from scratch without having to consult nature.
The joint award recognizes the long road to deciphering the biology behind the brain’s ability to sense its surroundings – work that paves the way for a number of medical and biological breakthroughs.
Peng Zhang, The Rockefeller University and Yuzong Chen, National University of Singapore
Many features of proteins are analogous to music. Mapping these features together creates new musical compositions that help researchers learn about proteins.
Scientists still still don’t fully understand how general anaesthesia affects the brain and body. A molecule found in bioluminescent stony coral may shed some light.
In the spotlight for its role in COVID-19 vaccines – and a Nobel Prize – mRNA is not a new invention. It’s a crucial messenger molecule at work every day in every cell in your body.
The coronavirus pandemic has driven a lot of scientific progress in the past year. But just as some of the social changes are likely here to stay, so are some medical innovations.
A biologist explains what proteins do in viruses, how they interact with human cells, how the vaccine delivers mRNA into the cell and how antibodies protect us.
Scanning through billions of chemicals to find a few potential drugs for treating COVID-19 requires computers that harness together thousands of processors.
AMPK is normally a tumour suppressor. But once cancer arises, AMPK becomes a tumour promoter, enhancing the survival of cancer cells. Understanding this could help create drugs that inhibit AMPK.