[Inter-Korea] :
The South Korean military has dismissed North Korea’s claims that a drone invaded its airspace earlier this month after taking off from the South’s Baengnyeong Island near the western de facto maritime border. At a press briefing Monday, spokesperson Lee Sung-joon from Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of ...

[more...]

[Science] :
Two U.S. experts who inspected North Korea’s uranium enrichment facility at the Yongbyon nuclear complex in 2010 have analyzed recent images of a similar facility in the North and pointed out differences.  Stanford University professor emeritus Siegfried Hecker and Robert Carlin, a scholar at the ...

[more...]

Looking for a career change, or just trying to make some extra cash on the side? You may be able to leverage talents that you already have and put them into your own hustle, or maybe you're simply on the hunt for the easiest business to start.

When you're choosing a place to live, the cost of living matters — a lot. While some states offer an affordable lifestyle, others place serious pressure on people's wallets year in and year out. So, which is the most expensive state to live in? And which other states should you avoid if you're worried about your budget?

If you found a bag full of cash, which currency would you prefer it to be? The quick answer might not be the best one; while a suitcase full of U.S. dollars would mean you could start spending immediately (provided you were in the U.S., or in a country that accepted the U.S. dollar as an official currency), there are actually more valuable currencies out there.

[International] :
Microsoft-backed OpenAI's popular chatbot ChatGPT was restored after a brief connection failure that affected thousands of users worldwide on Friday. In a statement on its website, OpenAI said that issues with ChapGPT have now been resolved. It said most users regained access by 4:34 p.m. Pacific ...

[more...]

Former countries that start with "O" include Orange Free State and Oldenburg but these states have since dissolved. There is now one remaining holdout between Asia and Africa: the Sultanate of Oman.

Ever wondered how many countries start with "W"? Well, spoiler alert: You won't need many fingers to count them.

A carburetor regulates the flow of air and gasoline into the engine cylinders. Learn about carburetors and find out how a carburetor works.

Catalytic converters are one of the most important parts of a car's emissions control system. Learn about catalytic converters and catalytic converter laws.

How does a hybrid car improve your gas mileage? And more importantly, does it pollute less just because it gets better gas mileage? Learn how hybrids work, plus get tips on how to drive a hybrid car for maximum efficiency.

The radiator of your car is composed of tubes that carry the coolant fluid, a protective cap that’s actually a pressure valve, and a tank on each side to catch the coolant overflow. Learn more about how a radiator cap works from this article.

Left-side or left-hand traffic may seem backwards for most U.S. drivers, but it's nothing new; in the 17th and 18th centuries, it helped control the flow of horse-drawn carriages on London Bridge. These laws set the trend for many of the world's countries that drive on the left side of the road.

If you've had a grocery store California roll or mixed seafood salad, you've probably eaten imitation crab meat. But what is imitation crab, exactly?

Liquor and liqueur are spelled so similarly, it's easy to confuse them for being the same. But they're not. So how are they different?

"Watch it wiggle, see it jiggle" Remember that jingle? We're talking about Jell-O, or gelatin. But just how does how does it do that? And what is this stuff made of?

You're not alone if you've ever found yourself wondering, "What is boba?" This food trend has taken the drink market by storm, enchanting tea enthusiasts and curious foodies alike.

You've probably seen people and recipes use the terms "scallions" and "green onions" interchangeably — and for once, the conflation is correct. When it comes to distinguishing scallions vs. green onions, these terms describe the same vegetable.

We've all been there: Spooky season has arrived, and you don't have any costume ideas for Halloween. Whether you're a casual fan of the holiday who is looking for a good Halloween costume, or a long time devotee of All Hallow's Eve who wants to top last year's effort, we've got you covered with some great Halloween costume ideas.

We rely on our washing machine to wash our dirty laundry, but what if it's the cause of dirty clothes? Is there any recourse when our washing machine leaves stains on our clothes?

On this week's episode of I Feel You, DJ Hyerim and NVee dive into their fitness routines, sharing the secrets behind staying in shape and the complicated relationships with personal trainers....

[more...]

In Xander's first Good Vibes Only episode, YouTuber Joel Bennett joins to share his love for his new home Seoul, a city halfway across the globe. Watch as they hit it off instantly over their...

[more...]

If you need a faster computer, adding more RAM may help. Learn about the benefits and drawbacks of making your computer faster with RAM memory.

Most of us use the CC function in our email accounts all the time, but do you know what CC actually means and how it works?

After years of hard work and loyalty, some computers must finally retire. But since they can't take a pension and move to Florida, where do old computers end up?

Whether you're streaming your favorite shows, participating in virtual meetings or just browsing the internet, the quality of your WiFi network plays a crucial role in your overall online experience. WiFi signal issues can be frustrating — but luckily, there are multiple tools you can use to improve WiFi coverage.

The technological singularity happens when computers develop their own intelligence. Learn about the technological singularity.

Discover how the 7th House in astrology shapes love, partnerships, and marriage dynamics, revealing deep insights into relationship compatibility and commitment.

Explore Virgo men's traits, compatibility, and relationship dynamics. Learn what makes a Virgo man unique in love and if he's the right zodiac match for you.

Explore Aquarius Season's unique energy, from innovation to social connection. Learn how this zodiac period influences creativity, relationships, and self-expression.

Discover the spiritual meaning of angel number 911. Learn how 911 symbolizes growth, change, and guidance from the universe in life, love, and personal journeys.

Is Gemini and Capricorn compatibility strong? Discover the unique dynamics, strengths, and challenges that Gemini and Capricorn face in love, friendship, and beyond.

Explore reversed Pisces and Cancer compatibility! Learn how these water signs bond emotionally, support each other deeply, and thrive together in relationships.

Is Ace of Cups Reversed" reveals insights into blocked emotions and self-reflection in tarot readings, offering guidance on relationships and personal growth.

What is geothermal energy?  British Geological Survey

What is citizen science?  British Geological Survey

What lies beneath Liverpool?  British Geological Survey

In the title compound, the symmetric phosphate derived from para-chloro­phenol and phospho­ric acid, two of the three aromatic moieties adopt syn-orientation towards the P&z-dbnd;O bond while the last chloro­phenol ring is pointing away from this bond. In the extended structure, C—H⋯O bonds connect the individual mol­ecules into sheets lying perpendicular to the crystallographic b axis.

Protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B) plays important roles in cellular homeostasis and is a highly validated therapeutic target for multiple human ailments, including diabetes, obesity and breast cancer. However, much remains to be learned about how conformational changes may convey information through the structure of PTP1B to enable allosteric regulation by ligands or functional responses to mutations. High-resolution X-ray crystallography can offer unique windows into protein conformational ensembles, but comparison of even high-resolution structures is often complicated by differences between data sets, including non-isomorphism. Here, the highest resolution crystal structure of apo wild-type (WT) PTP1B to date is presented out of a total of ∼350 PTP1B structures in the PDB. This structure is in a crystal form that is rare for PTP1B, with two unique copies of the protein that exhibit distinct patterns of conformational heterogeneity, allowing a controlled comparison of local disorder across the two chains within the same asymmetric unit. The conformational differences between these chains are interrogated in the apo structure and between several recently reported high-resolution ligand-bound structures. Electron-density maps in a high-resolution structure of a recently reported activating double mutant are also examined, and unmodeled alternate conformations in the mutant structure are discovered that coincide with regions of enhanced conformational heterogeneity in the new WT structure. These results validate the notion that these mutations operate by enhancing local dynamics, and suggest a latent susceptibility to such changes in the WT enzyme. Together, these new data and analysis provide a detailed view of the conformational ensemble of PTP1B and highlight the utility of high-resolution crystallography for elucidating conformational heterogeneity with potential relevance for function.

Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) is the first enzyme in the pentose phosphate pathway. It has been extensively studied by biochemical and structural techniques. 13 X-ray crystal structures and five electron cryo-microscopy structures in the PDB are focused on in this topical review. Two F420-dependent glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (FGD) structures are also reported. The significant differences between human and parasite G6PDs can be exploited to find selective drugs against infections such as malaria and leishmaniasis. Furthermore, G6PD is a prognostic marker in several cancer types and is also considered to be a tumour target. On the other hand, FGD is considered to be a target against Mycobacterium tuberculosis and possesses a high biotechnological potential in biocatalysis and bioremediation.

Guanosine 5'-monophosphate (GMP) synthetase (GuaA) catalyzes the last step of GMP synthesis in the purine nucleotide biosynthetic pathway. This enzyme catalyzes a reaction in which xanthine 5'-monophosphate (XMP) is converted to GMP in the presence of Gln and ATP through an adenyl-XMP intermediate. A structure of an XMP-bound form of GuaA from the domain Bacteria has not yet been determined. In this study, the crystal structure of an XMP-bound form of GuaA from the thermophilic bacterium Thermus thermophilus HB8 (TtGuaA) was determined at a resolution of 2.20 Å and that of an apo form of TtGuaA was determined at 2.10 Å resolution. TtGuaA forms a homodimer, and the monomer is composed of three domains, which is a typical structure for GuaA. Disordered regions in the crystal structure were obtained from the AlphaFold2-predicted model structure, and a model with substrates (Gln, XMP and ATP) was constructed for molecular-dynamics (MD) simulations. The structural fluctuations of the TtGuaA dimer as well as the interactions between the active-site residues were analyzed by MD simulations.

Structures of tetra­pyridine­silver(I) hexa­fluoro­phosphate and tetra­pyridine silver(I) hexa­fluoro­anti­monate are reported from data collected at 300 K and 100 K.

The title compound, [Ru(C19H13N5)2](PF6)2·3C4H10O, was obtained from the reaction of Ru(bimpy)Cl3 [bimpy is 2,6-bis­(1H-benzimidazol-2-yl)pyridine] and bimpy in refluxing ethanol followed by recrystallization from diethyl ether/aceto­nitrile. At 125 K the complex has ortho­rhom­bic (Pca21) symmetry. It is remarkable that the structure is almost centrosymmetric. However, refinement in space group Pbcn leads to disorder and definitely worse results. It is of inter­est with respect to potential catalytic reduction of CO2. The structure displays N—H⋯O, N—H⋯F hydrogen bonding and significant π–π stacking and C—H⋯π stacking inter­actions.

The title compound, [Ir(C15H10N)2(C19H12N4)]PF6·CH3OH, crystallizes in the C2/c space group with one monocationic iridium complex, one hexa­fluorido­phosphate anion, and one methanol solvent mol­ecule of crystallization in the asymmetric unit, all in general positions. The anion and solvent are linked to the iridium complex cation via hydrogen bonding. All bond lengths and angles fall into expected ranges compared to similar compounds.

The title compound, [Ru(C12H14NO2)2(C12H8N2)]PF6 crystallizes in the tetra­gonal Sohnke space group P41212. The two bidentate chiral salicyloxazoline ligands and the phenanthroline co-ligand coordinate to the central RuIII atom through N,O and N,N atom pairs to form bite angles of 89.76 (15) and 79.0 (2)°, respectively. The octa­hedral coordination of the bidentate ligands leads to a propeller-like shape, which induces metal-centered chirality onto the complex, with a right-handed (Δ) absolute configuration [the Flack parameter value is −0.003 (14)]. Both the complex cation and the disordered PF6− counter-anion are located on twofold rotation axes. Apart from Coulombic forces, the crystal cohesion is ensured by non-classical C—H⋯O and C—H⋯F inter­actions.

The title compound, C18H12Cl3O4P, is the symmetric phosphate derived from para-chloro­phenol and phospho­ric acid. Two of the three aromatic moieties adopt syn-orientation towards the P=O bond while the last chloro­phenol ring is pointing away from this bond. In the extended structure, C—H⋯O bonds connect the individual mol­ecules into sheets lying perpendicular to the crystallographic b axis.

The detection of specific biological macromolecules in cryogenic electron tomography data is frequently approached by applying cross-correlation-based 3D template matching. To reduce computational cost and noise, high binning is used to aggregate voxels before template matching. This remains a prevalent practice in both practical applications and methods development. Here, the relation between template size, shape and angular sampling is systematically evaluated to identify ribosomes in a ground-truth annotated data set. It is shown that at the commonly used binning, a detailed subtomogram average, a sphere and a heart emoji result in near-identical performance. These findings indicate that with current template-matching practices macromolecules can only be detected with high precision if their shape and size are sufficiently different from the background. Using theoretical considerations, the experimental results are rationalized and it is discussed why primarily low-frequency information remains at high binning and that template matching fails to be accurate because similarly shaped and sized macromolecules have similar low-frequency spectra. These challenges are discussed and potential enhancements for future template-matching methodologies are proposed.

Serial crystallography, born from groundbreaking experiments at the Linac Coherent Light Source in 2009, has evolved into a pivotal technique in structural biology. Initially pioneered at X-ray free-electron laser facilities, it has now expanded to synchrotron-radiation facilities globally, with dedicated experimental stations enhancing its accessibility. This review gives an overview of current developments in serial crystallography, emphasizing recent results in time-resolved crystallography, and discussing challenges and shortcomings.

Pollution from plastics is a global problem that threatens the biosphere for a host of reasons, including the time scale that it takes for most plastics to degrade. Biodegradation is an ideal solution for remediating bioplastic waste as it does not require the high temperatures necessary for thermal degradation and does not introduce additional pollutants into the environment. Numerous organisms can scavenge for bioplastics, such as polylactic acid (PLA) or poly-(R)-hydroxybutyrate (PHB), which they can use as an energy source. Recently, a promiscuous PHBase from the thermophilic soil bacterium Lihuaxuella thermophila (LtPHBase) was identified. LtPHBase can accommodate many substrates, including PHB granules and films and PHB block copolymers, as well as the unrelated polymers polylactic acid (PLA) and polycaprolactone (PCL). LtPHBase uses the expected Ser–His–Asp catalytic triad for hydrolysis at an optimal enzyme activity near 70°C. Here, the 1.75 Å resolution crystal structure of apo LtPHBase is presented and its chemical stability is profiled. Knowledge of its substrate preferences was extended to different-sized PHB granules. It is shown that LtPHBase is highly resistant to unfolding, with barriers typical for thermophilic enzymes, and shows a preference for low-molecular-mass PHB granules. These insights have implications for the long-term potential of LtPHBase as an industrial PHB hydrolase and shed light on the evolutionary role that this enzyme plays in bacterial metabolism.

Fatty acid-derivative prodrugs have been utilized extensively to improve the physicochemical, biopharmaceutical and pharmacokinetic properties of active pharmaceutical ingredients. However, to our knowledge, the crystallization behavior of prodrugs modified with different fatty acids has not been explored. In the present work, a series of paliperidone aliphatic prodrugs with alkyl chain lengths ranging from C4 to C16 was investigated with respect to crystal structure, crystal morphology and crystallization kinetics. The paliperidone derivatives exhibited isostructural crystal packing, despite the different alkyl chain lengths, and crystallized with the dominant (100) face in both melt and solution. The rate of crystallization for paliperidone derivatives in the melt increases with alkyl chain length owing to greater molecular mobility. In contrast, the longer chains prolong the nucleation induction time and reduce the crystal growth kinetics in solution. The results show a correlation between difficulty of nucleation in solution and the interfacial energy. This work provides insight into the crystallization behavior of paliperidone aliphatic prodrugs and reveals that the role of alkyl chain length in the crystallization behavior has a strong dependence on the crystallization method.