News by Subject Chemistry & Physics

Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, disprove the prevailing theory of how DNA binds itself. It is not, as is generally believed, hydrogen bonds which bind together the 2 sides of the DNA structure. Instead, water is the key. The discovery opens doors for new understanding in research in medicine and life sciences. The researchers' findings are presented in the journal PNAS.

An international research team has observed in real time how football molecules made of carbon atoms burst in the beam of an X-ray laser. The study shows the temporal course of the bursting process, which takes less than a trillionth of a second, and is important for the analysis of sensitive proteins and other biomolecules, which are also frequently studied using bright X-ray laser flashes.

They can make tiny cell structures visible: cutting-edge light microscopes offer resolutions of a few tenths of a nanometre--in other words, a millionth of a millimeter. Until now, super-resolution microscopes were much slower than conventional methods, because more or finer image data had to be recorded.

A research team from Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), RIKEN, and the University of Tokyo developed a novel data analysis method for prior evaluation of single crystal structure analysis. Their proposed method is based on precise estimation of a parameter inherent in preliminary-collected small data set. They demonstrated application of it to guest distinction in host-guest crystals before single crystal structure analysis and measurement design for precise crystallographic observation.

An HZB research team has developed a novel sample holder that considerably facilitates the preparation of protein crystals for structural analysis. A short video by the team shows how proteins in solution can be crystallised directly onto the new sample holders themselves, then analysed using the MX beamlines at BESSY II. A patent has already been granted and a manufacturer found.

An international team of scientists has announced a breakthrough in its quest to measure the mass of the neutrino, one of the most abundant, yet elusive, elementary particles in our universe. At the 2019 Topics in Astroparticle and Underground Physics conference in Toyama, Japan, leaders from the KATRIN experiment reported Sept. 13 that the estimated range for the rest mass of the neutrino is no larger than 1 electron volt, or eV.

Researchers experimentally determined a property of cadmium called the magic wavelength which is considered essential for the development of the most accurate clocks ever envisaged. The researchers hope this may permit simple and robust atomic clocks so accurate they could be used to improve our understanding of current theories and even test for new physics.