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May 9, 2024

New Epigenome Editing Platform Enables the Precise Programming of Epigenetic Modifications

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, chemistry, genetics

A study from the Hackett group at EMBL Rome led to the development of a powerful epigenetic editing technology, which unlocks the ability to precisely program chromatin modifications.

Understanding how genes are regulated at the molecular level is a central challenge in modern biology. This complex mechanism is mainly driven by the interaction between proteins called transcription factors, DNA regulatory regions, and epigenetic modifications – chemical alterations that change chromatin structure. The set of epigenetic modifications of a cell’s genome is referred to as the epigenome.

Advancements in Epigenome Editing.

May 9, 2024

Scientists Bring Star Matter Closer to Earth With Creation of 5 New Isotopes

Posted by in categories: physics, space

An international research team at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) at Michigan State University has successfully created five new isotopes, bringing the stars closer to Earth.

The isotopes — known as thulium-182, thulium-183, ytterbium-186, ytterbium-187, and lutetium-190 — were reported Feb. 15 in the journal Physical Review Letters.

These represent the first batch of new isotopes made at FRIB, a user facility for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science, or DOE-SC, supporting the mission of the DOE-SC Office of Nuclear Physics. The new isotopes show that FRIB is nearing the creation of nuclear specimens that currently only exist when ultradense celestial bodies known as neutron stars crash into each other.

May 9, 2024

The Contractile Forces of Life: New Discovery Reshapes Our Understanding of Embryo Formation

Posted by in categories: biological, genetics

A breakthrough study by the Institut Curie reveals that embryonic cell compaction in humans is caused by cell contraction, offering new insights to enhance assisted reproductive technology success rates.

In human development, the compaction of embryonic cells is a vital process in the early stages of an embryo’s formation. Four days post-fertilization, the cells tighten together, helping to form the embryo’s initial structure. If compaction is flawed, it can hinder the development of the essential structure needed for the embryo to attach to the uterus. During assisted reproductive technology (ART), this stage is meticulously observed before the embryo is implanted.

An interdisciplinary research team led by scientists at the Genetics and Developmental Biology Unit at the Institut Curie (CNRS/Inserm/Institut Curie) studying the mechanisms at play in this still little-known phenomenon has made a surprising discovery: human embryo compaction is driven by the contraction of embryonic cells. Compaction problems are therefore due to faulty contractility in these cells, and not a lack of adhesion between them, as was previously assumed. This mechanism had already been identified in flies, zebrafish, and mice, but is a first in humans.

May 9, 2024

Turning Quantum Noise Into a Teleportation Breakthrough

Posted by in categories: particle physics, quantum physics

Researchers succeeded in conducting an almost perfect quantum teleportation despite the presence of noise that usually disrupts the transfer of quantum state.

In teleportation, the state of a quantum particle, or qubit, is transferred from one location to another without sending the particle itself. This transfer requires quantum resources, such as entanglement between an additional pair of qubits. In an ideal case, the transfer and teleportation of the qubit state can be done perfectly. However, real-world systems are vulnerable to noise and disturbances — and this reduces and limits the quality of the teleportation.

Advancements in Noise-Resilient Teleportation.

May 9, 2024

Physicists Develop Groundbreaking Device for Advanced Quantum Computing

Posted by in categories: computing, quantum physics

Researchers have made a significant advancement in quantum computing by adapting a microwave circulator to precisely control the nonreciprocity between a qubit and a resonant cavity. This innovation not only enhances the control within quantum computers but also simplifies the theoretical models for future research.

Scientists led by the University of Massachusetts Amherst have adapted a device called a microwave circulator for use in quantum computers, allowing them for the first time to precisely tune the exact degree of nonreciprocity between a qubit, the fundamental unit of quantum computing, and a microwave-resonant cavity. The ability to precisely tune the degree of nonreciprocity is an important tool to have in quantum information processing.

In doing so, the team, including collaborators from the University of Chicago, derived a general and widely applicable theory that simplifies and expands upon older understandings of nonreciprocity so that future work on similar topics can take advantage of the team’s model, even when using different components and platforms. The research was published recently in Science Advances.

May 9, 2024

Rare Retinal Cells May Hold the Key to True Color Perception

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Rochester researchers harnessed adaptive optics to gain insight into the complex workings of the retina and its role in processing color. They have identified elusive retinal ganglion cells (RCGs) in the eye’s fovea that could explain how humans see red, green, blue, and yellow.

Scientists have long wondered how the eye’s three cone photoreceptor types work together to allow humans to perceive color. In a new study in the Journal of Neuroscience, researchers at the University of Rochester used adaptive optics to identify rare retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) that could help fill in the gaps in existing theories of color perception.

The retina has three types of cones to detect color that are sensitive to either short, medium, or long wavelengths of light. Retinal ganglion cells transmit input from these cones to the central nervous system.

May 9, 2024

Researchers Identify Potential Target for Treating Inner-Ear Bone Erosion

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

Researchers show that the possible cause of local bone erosion in cholesteatomas are fibroblasts from the bone that express a protein called activin A.

Chronic inflammation of the middle ear can cause several problems and complications that can affect a person’s hearing and balance. One such problem is the formation of a cholesteatoma, which is an abnormal collection of cells in the ear that can cause bone erosion if left untreated. In turn, this can cause symptoms such as hearing loss, dizziness, facial paralysis, and even a brain infection.

In a study published in the journal Nature Communications, researchers from Osaka University have revealed the cause of cholesteatomas, which may help in developing new therapies for patients who are suffering from this disease.

May 9, 2024

Does the Universe expand by stretching or creating space?

Posted by in category: space

The evidence that the Universe is expanding is overwhelming. But how? By stretching the existing space, or by creating new space itself?

May 9, 2024

Atomic-scale telegraphy with light

Posted by in categories: particle physics, quantum physics

In the 1880s Heinrich Hertz discovered that a spark jumping between two pieces of metal emits a flash of light – rapidly oscillating electromagnetic waves – which can be picked up by an antenna. To honour his groundbreaking work, the unit of frequency was named “Hertz” in 1930. Hertz’s findings were later used by Guglielmo Marconi (Nobel Prize in Physics, 1909) to transmit information over long distances creating radiocommunication and revolutionizing wireless telegraphy – shaping the modern world until today.

Scientists from the Department of Physics and the Regensburg Center for Ultrafast Nanoscopy (RUN), University of Regensburg, have now been able to directly observe a quantum version of Hertz’s spark jumping between just two atoms by measuring the oscillogram of the light it emits with temporal precision faster than a single oscillation cycle of the lightwave. This new signal enabled achieving a long-sought goal: atomic spatial resolution in all-optical microscopy.

As an unprecedented communication channel with the quantum world, this signal could be crucial for the development of super-fast quantum technologies as it gives new insights into the processes happening on lengthscales of single atoms and timescales faster than a trillionth of a second.

May 9, 2024

Physicist achieve milestone in quantum simulation with circular Rydberg qubits

Posted by in categories: computing, particle physics, quantum physics

The paper is published in the journal Physical Review X.

In the world of and quantum simulation technology, there is a fundamental challenge when using neutral atoms: The lifetime of Rydberg atoms, which are the building blocks for quantum computing, is limited. But there is a promising solution: circular Rydberg states.

For the first time, the research team has succeeded in generating and capturing circular Rydberg atoms of an alkaline-earth metal in an array of optical tweezers.

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