ScienceDaily: Matter & Energy News

Fusion researchers make breakthrough: Control intense heat bursts in fusion experiments Posted: 13 Mar 2015 02:17 PM PDT Researchers have made a breakthrough in understanding how to overcome obstacle to controlled fusion reactions.

Addressing long-standing mysteries behind anti-wear motor oil additive Posted: 13 Mar 2015 10:09 AM PDT Motor oil contains chemical additives that extend how long engines can run without failure, but, despite decades of ubiquity, how such additives actually work to prevent this damage have remained a mystery. Now, engineers and ExxonMobil have teamed up to answer this question.

High-end imaging: New blending techniques Posted: 13 Mar 2015 10:07 AM PDT Researchers have achieved the first “image fusion” of mass spectrometry and microscopy — a technical tour de force that could, among other things, dramatically improve the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

Bond and bond alike: Unlikely hydrogen bond discovered Posted: 13 Mar 2015 07:18 AM PDT As with magnets and alternating current, positively charged molecules never aim for one another. Indeed, similarly charged poles are repelled. Nevertheless, scientists have managed to bond positively charged phosphorus atoms with positively charged hydrogen ones. Their insight may prove pivotal to understanding how biologically important molecules such as DNA and proteins form properly.

High power and high safety oxide-based negative electrode materials for Li-ion battery Posted: 13 Mar 2015 06:45 AM PDT Researchers have shown electrochemical Li insertion and deinsertion property of Ti-Nb mixed oxide Ti2Nb10O29 (TNO) at high current rate is greatly improved by vacuum annealing. This is mainly attributed to enhancement of intrinsic electronic conductivity of TNO by introducing oxygen vacancy. Vacuum-annealed TNO is promising negative electrode material of high power and high safety Li-ion battery for large scale application.

Atomic force microscopy developed for imaging nanoscale dynamics of neurons Posted: 13 Mar 2015 06:45 AM PDT Atomic force microscopy is a leading tool for imaging, measuring, and manipulating materials with atomic resolution. It has previously been applied to image solid materials, but has been difficult to apply for soft and large samples like eukaryotic cells and neurons without damaging the sample. Researchers have now developed an ATM system for imaging eukaryotic cells and neurons allowing for analysis of cell morphology changes with a spatial resolution ~20-100 fold better than that of a standard light microscope.

Antibiotic nanoparticles attack respiratory infection at source, reduce drug side effects Posted: 12 Mar 2015 05:21 PM PDT Treating respiratory disease is often difficult because drugs have to cross biological barriers such as respiratory tissue and mucosa, and must therefore be given in large quantities in order for an effective amount to reach the target. Now researchers have shown that the use of nanoparticles to carry antibiotics across biological barriers can be effective in treating lung infections. Doing so allows better delivery of the drug to the site of infection, and hence prevents the development of antibiotic resistance which may be caused by too large and continued doses of antibiotic. Additionally, such a strategy might help to overcome the rapid metabolism and excretion of the antibiotic from the body, which happens when it is administered by traditional routes, either orally or intravenously.

X-ray vision used to probe early stages of DNA 'photocopying' Posted: 11 Mar 2015 01:03 PM PDT Scientists have created a 3-D model of a complex protein machine, ORC, which helps prepare DNA to be duplicated. Like an image of a criminal suspect, the intricate model of ORC has helped build a 'profile' of the activities of this crucial protein. But the new information has uncovered another mystery: ORC's structure reveals that it is not always 'on' as was previously thought, and no one knows how it turns on and off.

New 2-color x-ray laser technique could reveal atomic detail of medically important proteins Posted: 11 Mar 2015 11:06 AM PDT A unique X-ray laser innovation may make it easier and faster for scientists to fully map medically important proteins whose structures have remained stubbornly out of reach.

When it comes to nuclear disaster, safety really is in numbers Posted: 11 Mar 2015 09:43 AM PDT The safety of nuclear plants, as well as the medical management of acute radiation syndrome, could soon be dramatically improved thanks to a new mathematical equation.