Lifeboat Foundation

STING (short for stimulator of interferon genes) is considered one of the major factors that triggers the immune response in the context of infection, autoimmunity, and cancer. The signaling protein turns on genes involved in cell defense. Now, a team of MIT and Harvard Medical School researchers has discovered that STING can also act as an ion channel that allows protons to leak out of an organelle known as the Golgi body. This makes it the first human immune sensor that can translate danger signals into ion flow.

The findings are published in the journal Science in an article titled, “Human STING is a proton channel.”

“Proton leakage from organelles is a common signal for noncanonical light chain 3B (LC3B) lipidation and inflammasome activation, processes induced upon stimulator of interferon genes (STING) activation,” wrote the researchers. “On the basis of structural analysis, we hypothesized that human STING is a proton channel. Indeed, we found that STING activation induced a pH increase in the Golgi and that STING reconstituted in liposomes enabled transmembrane proton transport.”

Macquarie University engineers have developed a new technique to make the manufacture of nanosensors far less carbon-intensive, much cheaper, more efficient, and more versatile, substantially improving a key process in this trillion-dollar global industry.

The team has found a way to treat each sensor using a single drop of ethanol instead of the conventional process that involves heating materials to high temperatures.

Their research, published in Advanced Functional Materials, is titled, ‘Capillary-driven self-assembled microclusters for highly performing UV detectors.’

As Meta Platforms Inc.’s META latest social media platform, Threads’ daily active user count continues to drop, Elon Musk has accused Mark Zuckerberg’s forum of committing a “cardinal sin.”

What Happened: Meta’s Threads entered the social media arena with much fanfare, quickly attracting over 100 million sign-ups in just five days.

However, the initial hype didn’t translate into long-term user retention, as the daily active user count witnessed a staggering 82% decline since its peak at 44 million users on launch day, reported CNN, citing data from Sensor Tower.

A new space weather sensor is heading to the International Space Station to help scientists understand how the sun’s outbursts alter Earth’s upper atmosphere.

The sensor’s data will help space weather forecasters predict how sudden eruptions of radiation and plasma from the star at the center of our solar system disrupt satellite communication links and affect signals from navigational satellites such as Europe’s Galileo.

In a ground-breaking experiment, researchers from the University of Groningen collaborated with their peers from Nijmegen and Twente universities in the Netherlands, and the Harbin Institute of Technology in China. Together, they confirmed the existence of a superconductive state that was first predicted in 2017.

Their findings, which demonstrate evidence for a unique form of the FFLO superconductive state, were recently published in the journal Nature. This breakthrough has the potential to be impactful, particularly within the field of superconducting electronics.

A small selection of volunteers who were completely color blind can now faintly detect a splash of color following retinal gene therapy.

Following the trial by researchers in Israel, three adults and one child who could only sense brightness of light found that after gene therapy they were able to tell a red object apart from its darker background.

Achromatopsia is caused by defects in genes that control cone cells, our eyes’ color-sensors. The approximately 1 in 30,000 people affected see all the vibrant colors of the world as blurry shades of gray.

The first comprehensive study of electric-field-induced polarization switching in wurtzites reveals an atomic-scale switching pathway with potential electronics applications.

In a recent article published in Nature communications*, researchers described a technique of capturing two-dimensional (2D) light patterns into deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and using high-throughput next-generation sequencing to retrieve recorded images.

Study: A biological camera that captures and stores images directly into DNA. Image Credit: BillionPhotos/Shutterstock.com.

New gadget can map electrical activity and deliver electrical stimuli to stop atrial fibrillation, before dissolving into the body.

Nearly 800K people fall victim to a heart attack in the US each year. A recent study undertaken by a team of researchers at Northwestern and George Washington (GW) universities has developed a new device to monitor and treat heart disease and dysfunctions in the aftermath of heart-related incidents.

The device seems to hold promise for providing critical support during the days, weeks, or months following heart problems. According to the researchers convey that the new technology harmlessly dissolves inside the body and skips the need for extraction.

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