The synthesis, characterization and study of structures from a series of bi­phenyls substituted at positions 3, 3', 4 and 4' with groups connected to the bi­phenyl core through oxygen atoms are presented here. The molecular conformation is extensively studied both in the solid as well as in the liquid state, and the effect of different actors (such as packing and chain length) on the torsion angle between aromatic rings is analyzed.

This article reports conformational polymorphisms of the EF-hand protein MCFD2 which is involved in glycoprotein transport..

Recently, researchers from Boston University and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama have been taking a closer look at the vibrations that red-eyed treefrog embryos use as cues to trigger early hatching. They discovered that treefrog embryos can evaluate different features of vibrations.

The post Researchers discover treefrog embryos can evaluate different features of vibrations appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The new research reveals that from the period between 1100-1600 small agricultural settlements up and down the Delaware River Valley caused a 50-percent increase in sediment runoff into the Delaware River.

The post Study reveals environmental impact of American Indian farms centuries before Europeans arrived in North America appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Researchers at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and partnering organizations will build a frozen repository of Great Barrier Reef coral sperm and embryonic cells. Genetic banks composed of frozen biomaterials hold strong promise for basic and applied research and conservation of species and genetic variation.

The post Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute to help create frozen repository of sperm and embryonic cells for Great Barrier Reef corals appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

By compiling and comparing long-term data from stranding records and visual sighting records, both taken from nearly every ocean basin in the world, Pyenson verified that stranding records “faithfully reflect the number of species and the relative abundance” found in live surveys.

The post Stranding records are faithful reflection of live whale and dolphin populations, new study reveals appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The whole-genome analysis of two Tasmanian devils—one that died of a new contagious cancer known as Devil Facial Tumor Disease (DFTD) and one healthy animal—is at the center of a new management strategy to help prevent the extinction of this species.

The post Whole-genome analysis at center of effort to save Tasmanian devil appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A new study has revealed information about the way tungara frogs in the tropical rain forest hear, sort, and process sounds which is very similar to the way humans do. The knowledge could be applicable to communication disorders associated with hearing loss and attention deficits or difficulties.

The post Research on tungara frogs may be applicable to hearing loss/attention deficits in humans appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, more commonly known as the Jefferson bible, is a volume created by Thomas Jefferson containing passages he […]

The post Unlocking the mysteries of Jefferson’s bible with high-tech analysis and microscopic testing appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Depending on where the fish disperse from, the use of ‘stepping stones', flotsam or simply being an adult can help in the journey to find a new home.

The post Ability to raft with flotsam and use non-reef habitats helps tropical fish journey to new places, study finds appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A new study on the dodo’s island home of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, paints a picture of this unusual bird as an intrepid survivor on par with the giant tortoise for its resiliency.

The post Dodo bird a resilient island survivor before the arrival of humans, study reveals appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The first DNA barcoding survey of crustaceans living on samples of dead coral taken from the Indian, Pacific and Caribbean oceans suggests that the diversity of organisms living on the world’s coral reefs—one of the most endangered habitats on Earth—is seriously underestimated.

The post New DNA study suggests coral reef biodiversity is seriously underestimated appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Researchers who will study the microbial communities living on the skins of frogs that are surviving the fungal scourge of chytridiomycosis, deadly to the frogs.

The post Research team to explore how microbial diversity defends against disease appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Researchers from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology and other partnering organizations spent two weeks at the end of November collecting sperm and embryonic cells during spawning from two species of coral and have built the first frozen repository for the Great Barrier Reef.

The post Smithsonian scientists help build first frozen repository of Great Barrier Reef coral appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

  This photo shows developing embryonic cells of the coral species Acropora tenuis, from the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Researchers from the Smithsonian Conservation […]

The post Great Barrier Reef coral Acropora tenuis appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The same device used to detect early warning signs of heart disease in humans will now benefit two male sub-adult gorillas at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo.

The post Heart disease study to benefit lowland gorillas at the National Zoo appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Coral reefs worldwide are being destroyed by changes in ocean temperature and chemistry faster than at any time since the last reef crisis 55 million years ago, thousands of marine scientists warned from the International Coral Reef Symposium in Cairns, Australia.

The post Coral reef emergency: 2,600 scientists call for worldwide rescue appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A new study finds that since 1985, half of Australia's Great Barrier Reef coral has died.

The post Smithsonian marine biologist Nancy Knowlton discusses Great Barrier Reef coral dieoff on PBS NewsHour appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

One of the closest galaxies to the Milky Way almost got away with theft....

The post Galactic thief: “I would have gotten away with it but for those meddling astronomers!” appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Forget the deep forest, “today the highest densities of deer in the state of Virginia are in suburbia,” says William McShea, ecologist and research scientist at the Smithsonian’s Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Va.

The post Browsing suburbia: Virginia’s parceled-up farms and forests are ideal refuge for white-tailed deer appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Grow fast, die young is not a lifestyle normally associated with trees. But in the forests of the Northeastern United States the red maple follows […]

The post Effects of human impact are long lasting for forests in Northeast U.S. appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

In the wild, wide milk chocolate-brown stripes adorn the beautiful smooth, white shells of the chambered nautilus, a deep-diving mollusk from the Indo-Pacific Ocean. But […]

The post Nautilus shell deformity puzzles scientists appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Eaten raw and thinly sliced, the dark-red belly meat of the Pacific bluefin tuna is highly prized—and priced—for its rich oily flavor by sashimi and […]

The post Desire for Pacific bluefin puts fish on red list of threatened species appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Since researchers began surveys in the 1980s, coral reefs in the Caribbean have undergone widespread change following bleaching and disease epidemics that have reduced the […]

The post Study reveals Agriculture and Fishing Cause Coral Reef Decline appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

New fossils found in Northeastern China have revealed a remarkable evolutionary coincidence: an extinct group of insects known as Kalligrammatid lacewings (Order Neuroptera) share an […]

The post Remarkable butterfly look-alike lived 50 million years before butterflies appeared appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

According to a new study, eating sea turtle eggs increases the health risk of heavy metal exposure in local communities in Panama and may provide […]

The post Human health risks of eating sea turtle eggs could benefit species appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Amid efforts to restore native oyster populations on the West Coast, how are oysters expected to fare under climate change in the decades and centuries […]

The post Climate Change May Benefit Native Oysters, but There’s a Catch appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

This brief squid made a surprise appearance in a Smithsonian Environmental Research Center trawl survey at the mouth of Maryland’s Rhode River last Thursday—the first […]

The post Brief squid surprise appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Cats are notoriously fickle—purring in your lap one second, then swiping you with an indignant claw the next. One thing is certain however when it […]

The post Eons before viral kitten videos, ancient Egyptians adored cats appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

This Secret Smithsonian Adventures series follows four middle schoolers as they foil events by two dastardly doers who try to dangerously change the true course […]

The post Secret Adventures: “Claws and Effect” appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Hem Sapkota, Jonathan D. Wren, and Gary J. Gorbsky

Centrosomes focus microtubules to promote mitotic spindle bipolarity, a critical requirement for balanced chromosome segregation. Comprehensive understanding of centrosome function and regulation requires a complete inventory of components. While many centrosome components have been identified, others may yet remain undiscovered. We have used a bioinformatics approach, based on "guilt by association" expression to identify novel mitotic components among the large group of predicted human proteins that have yet to be functionally characterized. Here we identify Chondrosarcoma-Associated Gene 1 (CSAG1) in maintaining centrosome integrity during mitosis. Depletion of CSAG1 disrupts centrosomes and leads to multipolar spindles more effectively in cells with compromised p53 function. Thus, CSAG1 may reflect a class of "mitotic addiction" genes whose expression is more essential in transformed cells.

Ana Loncar, Sergio A. Rincon, Manuel Lera Ramirez, Anne Paoletti, and Phong T. Tran

To segregate the chromosomes faithfully during cell division, cells assemble a spindle that captures the kinetochores and pulls them towards opposite poles. Proper spindle function requires correct interplay between microtubule motors and non-motor proteins. Defects in spindle assembly or changes in spindle dynamics are associated with diseases like cancer or developmental disorders. Here we compared mitotic and meiotic spindles in fission yeast. We show that even though mitotic and meiotic spindles undergo the typical three phases of spindle elongation, they have distinct features. We found that the relative concentration of kinesin-14 Pkl1 is decreased in meiosis I compared to mitosis, while the concentration of kinesin-5 Cut7 remains constant. We identified the second kinesin-14 Klp2 and microtubule dynamics as factors necessary for proper meiotic spindle assembly. This work defines differences between mitotic and meiotic spindles in fission yeast, and provides prospect for future comparative studies.

Javad Fahanik-babaei, Bahareh Rezaee, Maryam Nazari, Nihad Torabi, Reza Saghiri, Remy Sauve, and Afsaneh Eliassi

We have determined the electropharmacological properties of a new potassium channel from brain mitochondrial membrane by planar lipid bilayer method. Our results showed the presence of a channel with a conductance of 150 pS at potentials between 0 and –60 mV in 200 cis/50 trans mM KCl solutions.

The channel was voltage-independent, with an open probability value ~0.6 at different voltages. ATP did not affect current amplitude and Po at positive and negative voltages. Notably, adding iberiotoxin, charybdotoxin, lidocaine, and margatoxin had no effect on the channel behavior. Similarly, no changes were observed by decreasing the cis-pH to 6. Interestingly, the channel was inhibited by adding sodium in a dose dependent manner. Our results also indicated a significant increase in mitochondrial complex IV activity and membrane potential and decrease in complex I activity and mitochondrial ROS production in the presence of sodium ions.

We propose that inhibition of mitochondrial K⁺ transport by Na ions on K⁺ channel opening may be important for cell protection and ATP synthesis.

Juan Martin D'Ambrosio, Veronique Albanese, Nicolas-Frederic Lipp, Lucile Fleuriot, Delphine Debayle, Guillaume Drin, and Alenka Copic

Osh6 and Osh7 are lipid transfer proteins (LTPs) that move phosphatidylserine (PS) from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) to the plasma membrane (PM). High PS level at the PM is key for many cellular functions. Intriguingly, Osh6/7 localize to ER-PM contact sites, although they lack membrane-targeting motifs, in contrast to multidomain LTPs that both bridge membranes and convey lipids. We show that Osh6 localization to contact sites depends on its interaction with the cytosolic tail of the ER-PM tether Ist2, a homologue of TMEM16 proteins. We identify a motif in the Ist2 tail, conserved in yeasts, as the Osh6-binding region, and we map an Ist2-binding surface on Osh6. Mutations in the Ist2 tail phenocopy osh6 osh7 deletion: they decrease cellular PS levels, and block PS transport to the PM. Our study unveils an unexpected partnership between a TMEM16-like protein and a soluble LTP, which together mediate lipid transport at contact sites.

Crystal structure identification of thin organic films entails a number of technical and methodological challenges. In particular, if molecular crystals are epitaxially grown on single-crystalline substrates a complex scenario of multiple preferred orientations of the adsorbate, several symmetry-related in-plane alignments and the occurrence of unknown polymorphs is frequently observed. In theory, the parameters of the reduced unit cell and its orientation can simply be obtained from the matrix of three linearly independent reciprocal-space vectors. However, if the sample exhibits unit cells in various orientations and/or with different lattice parameters, it is necessary to assign all experimentally obtained reflections to their associated individual origin. In the present work, an effective algorithm is described to accomplish this task in order to determine the unit-cell parameters of complex systems comprising different orientations and polymorphs. This method is applied to a polycrystalline thin film of the conjugated organic material 6,13-pentacene­quinone (PQ) epitaxially grown on an Ag(111) surface. All reciprocal vectors can be allocated to unit cells of the same lattice constants but grown in various orientations [sixfold rotational symmetry for the contact planes (102) and (102)]. The as-determined unit cell is identical to that reported in a previous study determined for a fibre-textured PQ film. Preliminary results further indicate that the algorithm is especially effective in analysing epitaxially grown crystallites not only for various orientations, but also if different polymorphs are present in the film.

The generalized Darwin–Hamilton equations [Wuttke (2014). Acta Cryst. A70, 429–440] describe multiple Bragg reflection from a thick, ideally imperfect crystal. These equations are simplified by making full use of energy conservation, and it is demonstrated that the conventional two-ray Darwin–Hamilton equations are obtained as a first-order approximation. Then an efficient numeric solution method is presented, based on a transfer matrix for discretized directional distribution functions and on spectral collocation in the depth coordinate. Example solutions illustrate the orientational spread of multiply reflected rays and the distortion of rocking curves, especially if the detector only covers a finite solid angle.

Smithsonian Tropical Research Center Botanist Stefan Schnitzer talks about his work studying lianas (woody vines) in the jungles of Panama. These hardy vines compete with trees for water and nutrients and also act as highways for jungle animals moving through the forest canopy.

The post Meet Our Scientist: Stefan Schnitzer – Tropical Vine Science appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Invasive plant species are threatening native species across the globe. Learn how scientists at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Center in Panama are trying to fight one species of grass in Panama that is wreaking havoc on the country's tropical biodiversity.

The post Meet Our Scientist: Jefferson Hall – Invasive Plant Science appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The three male cheetahs that left the Zoo's D.C. campus in 2009 returned in November and are now on exhibit. The five-and-a-half-year-old brothers―Draco, Granger, and Zabini, named after characters in the Harry Potter stories―have been living at the Zoo's Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute's Cheetah Science Facility in Front Royal, Virginia.

The post The three male cheetahs that left the National Zoo’s D.C. campus in 2009 returned in November and are now on exhibit appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The post After a bulldozer unearthed five statues in Ain Ghazal, Jordan in 1984, Smithsonian conservators carefully restore these otherworldy figures appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The post Conrad Labandiera, Smithsonian palentologist, studies fossils to learn how insects got along before flowering plants arrived appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The post Belize’s South Water Caye Marine Reserve protects biodiversity of Belizean Barrier Reef appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Jessica Lunt, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Smithsonian Marine Station in Fort Pierce, Fla., shows how her oyster sampling fieldwork looks at what lives on these […]

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Peter Sefton, D.C. Preservation League trustee, reflects on how Washington, D.C. has changed in recent years. (Anacostia Community Museum video series)  

The post Reflections on a changing Washington, D.C. appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The post Afghan Refugee inspires in solo flight around world appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute MarineGEO Postdoctoral Fellow Maggie Johnnson outlines her research studying the effects of ocean acidification on marine coral near Bocas del Toro, […]

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The Windows Defender Browser Protection tech support scam is a fake web site alert that states that Windows Defender Browser Extension detected someone to hack your bank account.

This article was published first at Remove the Windows Defender Browser Protection Tech Support Scam