Week In Science

The EurekAlert article Studying component parts of living cells with carbon nanotube cellular probes aptly shows the link between scientific advances and advances in technology. Carbon nanotubes can serve as cellular probes enabling the insertion of drugs or solutions into cells or the organelles within cells. In doing so they also minimize cellular damage by virtue of their small diameters.

Carbon nanotubes are incorporated within Surface-enhanced Raman Spectroscopy to obtain information about biochemical reactions with single-molecule sensitivity.

Identification of eukaryotic promoter regulatory elements using nonhomologous random recombination by Jeffrey B. Doyon and David R. Liu (Nucleic Acids Research Advance Access originally published online on August 24, 2007 Nucleic Acids Research 2007 35(17):5851-5860; doi:10.1093/nar/gkm634) cites a new method of identifying regulatory genomic motifs within yeast promoters. Promoters are DNA sequences to which RNA polymerases bind in the process of initiating transcription. Nonhomologous random recombination is utilized, in addition to what is known as the unfolded protein response, in order to identify new upstream activating sequences in promoters. Find information about basal and upstream promoters here.

It is hoped that the new approach will help to define the regulatory logic of promoters.

Mathematicians defy gravity is the title of this counterintuitive item. Mathematicians from the University of Bristol make the case that small drops can travel up an incline as steep as 85 degrees when surface vibrations reach a threshhold level. In addition to gravity, there is a tendency for small sized droplets to stick to a surface. A capacity to utilize vibrations for movement could enable the manipulation of fluids which, in turn, could yield technological and research benefits.

The success in harnessing an ability to manipulate fluids would be linked to optimizing droplet size and fluid density. The breakage of droplets and very slow fluid movement are two consequences of conditions falling outside an idealized range.

Physical Review Letters is publishing the research paper.