biochemistry

Only recently appreciated as critical components of cellular functions, unstructured stretches of amino acids called SLiMs are key to viral-host interactions.

Researchers engineered strands of RNA that can link amino acids together, suggesting a way that RNA and proteins may have emerged together to create the earliest forms of life.

Researchers have long suspected that an ingredient in sunscreen called oxybenzone was harming corals, but no one knew how. A new study shows how corals turn oxybenzone into a sunlight-activated toxin.

The discovery could add weight to the hypothesis that the building blocks of life on Earth originally came from space, but some scientists note the possibility of contamination.

The biophysicist shared the 1989 Prize in Chemistry for discovering RNA’s catalytic properties.

The unique odor profiles of tumors can be used to develop diagnostic sensing tools.

Researchers who study the phenomenon in humans should incorporate subjective experiences into data on love.

In Chapter 1, “Survival,” author Anna Machin describes the health benefits of strong human bonds.

Percy Lavon Julian, a young, Black scientist working in Jim Crow America, gained international recognition after beating chemists at the University of Oxford in the race to synthesize the alkaloid physostigmine, used for decades as a treatment for glaucoma.

Researchers link a stretch of DNA to a peptide of interest and measure current changes as the molecule is pulled by a helicase through a nanopore.

Adapting DNA nanopore sequencing to peptides allows researchers to identify single amino acid differences.

Seeman is best known for establishing the field of DNA nanotechnology.

A thermodynamic analysis of more than 400 chemical reactions that likely took place in the ancestor of all life finds most would spontaneously occur at hydrothermal vents, thanks to the hydrogen these geological formations emit.

The Scientist Social Club sat down with the author.