Skip to main content
Displaying 126 of 2857 articles.

Linker histones tune the length and shape of chromosomes

A new study finds that proteins known as linker histones control the complex coiling process that determines whether DNA will wind into long and thin chromosomes, made up of many small loops, or short and thick chromosomes with fewer large loops.

Study reveals how ribosomes are assembled in human cells

Three-dimensional images of human small ribosomal subunits offer the most detailed explanation for how the cell's protein-making machines are assembled.

The physics behind a water bear's lumbering gait

Animals as small and soft as tardigrades seldom have legs and almost never bother walking. But a new study finds that water bears propel themselves through sediment and soil on eight stubby legs, in a manner resembling that of insects 500,000 times their size.

Inside the protein channel that keeps bacteria alive

A novel method for studying how one crucial membrane protein functions may pave the way for a new kind of broad-spectrum antibiotic.

An old antibiotic may combat drug-resistant tuberculosis

Drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis bacteria affect half a million people a year. A compound first discovered in the 1980s may be able to help.

As COVID-19 vaccines emerge, the search for antiviral drugs continues

Scientists are digging through drug libraries of 430,000 compounds, in pursuit of an antiviral drug that can stop the novel coronavirus in its tracks.

How cells use mechanical tension sensors to interact with their environment

In a painstaking experiment, scientists suspended a single protein filament between two microscopic beads. Their results have shed light on an elusive process in which cells receive and respond to mechanical cues.

Rockefeller's Charles M. Rice honored with Nobel Prize for research that contributed to a cure for hepatitis C

Rice will receive the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for research that led to a cure for hepatitis C, a viral disease affecting 170 million people worldwide. His lab worked on the virus for three decades and became the first to produce a version of it that could be grown and studied i...

Cancer cells use nerve-cell tricks to spread from one organ to the next

New research suggests that breast and lung tumors metastasize by hijacking a neural signaling pathway, potentially opening the door to better diagnostics and treatments.

>

How dividing cells avoid setting off false virus alarms

A new molecular structure explains how cells hold an alarm-triggering protein captive during cell division, preventing cells from targeting their own DNA.