biochemistry

Microscopic image of adipose tissue and identification of unique fat cells. Credit: Prof. Assaf Rodich

New types of fat cells discovered in the human body: a breakthrough in personalized medicine

Leading international research from Ben-Gurion University discovers unique subpopulations of fat cells and provides innovative treatment approaches to prevent obesity complications
Antibiotic resistant bacteria. Illustration: depositphotos.com

An innovative approach to dealing with antibiotic-resistant bacteria

The "black box" of artificial intelligence. Illustration: depositphotos.com

Deciphering the black box of artificial intelligence - scientists reveal unexpected results

Researchers at the University of Bonn in Germany are investigating how the internal engines of machine learning applications in drug research work. Among other things, they discovered that the artificial intelligence systems have become quite lazy
Wheat and rice are the most common food plants in the world. Illustration: depositphotos.com

Researchers have succeeded in deciphering the movement mechanism of the plant hormone gibberellin, which is of great importance to humanity

According to the researchers, it is a hormone, a small signal molecule, which controls the growth of plants. The decoding may help a lot in expanding agricultural crops and dealing with the global food crisis
Natural food colors. Photo: Prof. Assaf Aharoni's laboratory, Weizmann Institute

Color from nature

human empowerment. Illustration: shutterstock

The next step in human evolution - Part I: Where is the technology?

Calcium carbonate walls that protect a bacterial colony. Illustration: Weizmann Institute

Break down walls - and heal

Illustration: pixabay.

Are the weeds raising their heads? New technology will kill them

Conceptual illustration of a patch carrying microneedles for the treatment of type 2 diabetes patients. [Courtesy: Chen lab, NIBIB]

Body patch for monitoring sugar levels in diabetics

Cellular "selfie": an mTEC cell that was photographed using the new method called PLIC. The green dots indicate an interaction between proteins that helps prevent an autoimmune attack. Source: Weizmann Institute magazine.

Security selfie

The mud crab. Source: Anirnoy, Wikimedia Commons.

On crustaceans in the dark and sensing mechanism

Dong caterpillars, like the one in the picture, are able to gnaw and break down plastic. Image: Federica Bertocchini, Paolo Bombelli, and Chris Howe.

Can caterpillars that eat plastic save the world?

An example of improving the resolution of a biomolecule: from the left, before 2013; On the right, today.

Life at the atomic level

Illustration: pixabay.

The synthetic melanin that will act as a natural radiation filter

A nanocapsule of nucleic acids and peptides that releases the medicine inside in response to defined enzymes. (1) in the first step the peptide undergoes cross-linking on the surface of the nanoparticle; (2) In the next step, a defined enzyme recognizes the peptide cross-linking group, (3) and in the last step, the enzyme's release leads to the release of the drug or the nucleic acids that were locked inside the capsule. Courtesy: Joseph Luciani/UConn.

An innovative system for delivering drugs in the body

Phytoplankton bloom of the species Emiliania huxleyi, photographed from space. Source: Landsat image from 24th July 1999, courtesy of Steve Groom, Plymouth Marine Laboratory.

The algae security breach

Illustration: pixabay.

think outside the box

The branched structures of the glass needle of the sea sponge. Courtesy of the Technion spokesperson.

The glass craftsman

Birth Pool: Life on Earth may have originated in places similar to the Great Prism Spring in Yellowstone Park, USA. Photo: Jim Peaco, National Park Service.

Life on Earth originated in volcanic hot springs, not the sea, new evidence suggests

Fluorescent actin fibers. Produce rounded folds on the cell membrane. Source: Weizmann Institute magazine.

Reshaping the surface: wave fronts create folds in the cell membrane

Genetically modified tomatoes produce betalains in the fruit, but not in the rest of the plant. Source: Weizmann Institute magazine.

Tomato in beet skin: healthier, more durable, more purple

This is not a new version of the national flag of The Gambia, but a lining of the intestine as seen under a microscope. Messenger RNA molecules of two different genes (red and green) are located on both sides of the cell nucleus (blue). Source: Weizmann Institute magazine.

Intestinal economy

Dr. Zvi Chioka. Source: Courtesy of the Hebrew University.

Researchers have developed antibiotics against antibiotic-resistant bacteria

A general view of nerve fibers stretching from cells in the forebrain of a mouse demonstrates the advantages of the hydrogel method that allows researchers to follow the complex neural wiring. Source: Dysroth Laboratory, Stanford University.

A look into the transparent mind

Schematic representation of the passage of light through the detector complex of a photoreceptor and the progress of the light to the effector (courtesy: © TU Graz/IBC).

A biological system with a light switch

Between matching and cutting

A flood of tears

Simulation of astronauts on Mars, according to SpaceX's vision to colonize the planet. Source: SpaceX.

Twenty big questions about the future of humanity

The plant Arabidopsis, after genetic engineering (right) during which 11 genes involved in the production of cholesterol were inserted into it, produces cholesterol in a quantity 15 times greater than a normal white Arabidopsis (left). Source: Weizmann Institute magazine.

green cholesterol

From the study: Fluorescent radiation emission map of cells treated with the organometallic compound. Source: Dr. Carlos Sanchez-Cano et al. Synchrotron X-Ray Fluorescence Nanoprobe Reveals Target Sites for Organo-Osmium Complex in Human Ovarian Cancer Cells, Chemistry - A European Journal, 2017.

An organic-metallic compound for the elimination of cancer cells

Diagram of 3-GSK enzyme. How do complex molecules like proteins work together? Source: Boghog, Wikimedia.

When proteins manage to surprise

Photo from a malaria vaccination project in the Solomon Islands. Source: Jeremy Miller, AusAID, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Flickr.

I know you from where?

Illustration. Source: pixabay.com.

Biomimetic chemistry - a window into the molecular world

sea ​​urchins Source: Nick Hobgood / Wikimedia.

Thorns and hedgehogs (in seawater)

Illustration of acetylcholinesterase. Source: pdb101.

between calculation and delay

The AS-beta protein (green), which is expressed on the surface of the mitochondria, the organelles responsible for the production of energy in the cell, enables the separation between the sperm cells in the mature ferment fly. Cell nuclei are marked in blue

Destruction builds life

Who described evolution more correctly - Darwin or Lamarck?

Illustrating the way Nobel laureate Satoshi Umura arrived at the effective substances against parasitic diseases. Illustration: Nobel Prize website

Bacteria and plants against parasites

Bromine, one of the 92 common chemical elements in nature, is the 28th element in number among the essential substances for the development of life of every organism on earth. Illustration: shutterstock

It was found that the element bromine is essential for life

A duck in the rainforests of Australia. Photo: shutterstock

Mirror molecules / Sarah Everts

Right: structure of a single ring (A) and structure of a double ring (B), known as hexadecameric catenane. Left: The structure of the hexadecameric catenane can be visualized as two interlocking rings.

An enzyme with an unusual and surprising structure

John Shanklin and Ed Whittle, Brookhaven

Revealing the mechanism of activity of an important enzyme