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Science News

Latest science news, discoveries and scientific developments.

Breaking through AlphaFold's limits to predict how proteins change shape
Science News

Breaking through AlphaFold's limits to predict how proteins change shape

Conformational changes in proteins are vital to their function yet remain challenging for state-of-the-art artificial intelligence, such as AlphaFold3, to predict. Researchers at the Institute for Molecular Science (IMS), and the Graduate University for Advanced Studies, SOKENDAI introduced a repulsive force between predicted structures, allowing AlphaFold3 to sample the multiple conformational states that its default settings rarely capture.

📅 2026-09-05 21:00:05    •    Phys.org
Compound in blueberries may help muscle cells burn excess fat
Science News

Compound in blueberries may help muscle cells burn excess fat

Scientists in Japan have identified a natural compound found in blueberries, grapes, and other berries that may help muscle cells burn excess fat instead of storing it. The compound, pterostilbene, reduced abnormal fat buildup in cultured mouse muscle cells by boosting fat breakdown and helping stabilize a key protein involved in fatty acid metabolism.

📅 2026-09-05 19:30:40    •    ScienceDaily
Life uses 4 DNA letters. Scientists just made 8 work
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Life uses 4 DNA letters. Scientists just made 8 work

Researchers at UC San Diego have demonstrated that a key cellular enzyme can accurately read an eight-letter genetic alphabet, doubling the four letters used by all known life on Earth. Detailed imaging revealed that RNA polymerase handles synthetic DNA letters in surprisingly similar ways to natural ones. The finding brings scientists closer to building expanded genetic systems that could perform entirely new biological functions.

📅 2026-09-05 05:25:54    •    ScienceDaily
Quantum oscillations defy expectations in this exotic material
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Quantum oscillations defy expectations in this exotic material

Scientists have uncovered an unusual form of electron behavior in zirconium pentatelluride, a quantum material that can act as both an insulator and a conductor. Under temperatures near absolute zero and magnetic fields reaching 60 tesla, electrons produced quantum oscillations that continued even after conventional physics predicted they should disappear.

📅 2026-09-05 04:18:12    •    ScienceDaily
Scientists overturn a theory about this shark’s strange head
Science News

Scientists overturn a theory about this shark’s strange head

Scientists have overturned a leading explanation for why male and female bonnethead sharks have differently shaped heads. Instead of males developing a pointed snout at maturity, both sexes actually begin with more pointed heads that become rounder with age, particularly in females.

📅 2026-09-04 22:24:32    •    ScienceDaily
Harvard scientists turn knitting into shape-shifting smart fabric
Science News

Harvard scientists turn knitting into shape-shifting smart fabric

Harvard researchers have transformed ordinary knitting into a platform for creating fabrics that can snap between different shapes and perform useful functions. Using elastic yarns and industrial knitting techniques, the team engineered thick textiles that naturally curve and lock into multiple stable configurations, much like a light switch flipping between on and off. By adding conductive yarn, they turned these shape-shifting fabrics into soft electronic switches capable of controlling lights, counting steps, and responding to movement.

📅 2026-09-04 21:43:31    •    ScienceDaily
Geometry Reveals the Tricks behind Gerrymandering
Science News

Geometry Reveals the Tricks behind Gerrymandering

Some voting districts are tilted intentionally toward one party or another—a factor in the midterms. Geometry plays a critical role in gerrymandering

📅 2026-09-04 17:00:00    •    Scientific American