Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed an artificial enzymatic pathway for synthesizing isoprenoids, or terpenes, in E. coli. This shorter, more efficient, cost-effective and customizable pathway transforms E. coli into a factory that can produce terpenes for use in everything from cancer drugs to biofuels. Terpenes are a large class of naturally occurring…
Solar cells, quantum computing and photodynamic cancer therapy. These all involve molecules switching between magnetic and nonmagnetic forms. Previously this process, called a “spin flip,” was thought to occur slowly in most cases. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri have discovered spin flips happen in one half of one trillionth of a second, or…
Scientists have pinpointed cells in the immune system that could be key to tackling high blood pressure. The findings also shed light on current medications that could increase risk of the disorder, which affects more than 12 million people in the UK. High blood pressure – or hypertension – is a leading cause of life-threatening…
Republican and Democratic governors have strikingly different visions for the future of health care, according to a new analysis published in the American Journal of Public Health. While Republican leaders favor maintaining or shrinking public health insurance programs, Democratic leaders are advancing several new proposals to expand public coverage, including “public option” and single-payer health…
SYDNEY, Australia — It was a young penguin colony, and all but one of the couples were pretty bad parents. They would get distracted from their nests, go for a swim or play, and so neglected eggs were getting cold, likely never to hatch. This was normal for inexperienced penguins, and the aquarium managers didn’t…
Members of the Sackler family, which owns the company that makes OxyContin, directed years of efforts to mislead doctors and patients about the dangers of the powerful opioid painkiller, a court filing citing previously undisclosed documents contends. When evidence of growing abuse of the drug became clear in the early 2000s, one of them, Richard…
No foods protect people against cancer completely. The term cancer-fighting foods refers to foods that may lower the risk of developing cancer if a person adds them to their diet. This article looks at the best cancer-fighting foods and explains the science that supports these claims. Foods that contain naturally occurring compounds that have potent…
It’s known as fight or flight — the message the brain sends your body when it detects something frightening. Something like it happens to plants when they are under attack, too. And then there are fungi — perhaps the most mysterious kingdom of multicellular life. Fungi too can sense attackers and manufacture powerful weapons to…
Most Important Photo Ever Neither of us wanted to be at our high school reunion. I was worried I would have to retell the story of my high school sweetheart’s death to pancreatic cancer over and over. He was recently separated after years of being in an unhappy marriage. We didn’t know each other in…
If you’re going to celebrate cupid’s favorite holiday then you might as well lean into all the sacchrine sweet paraphernalia it has to offer. Because for some, “Pay my rent for Valentine’s Day” just doesn’t have off up the same whiff of romance. Here, 10 gifts that are doused in hearts, littered in roses, and…