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- June 3, 2011
- 10:02 PM
- 566 views
DNA logic gates calculate a square root!
by Olexandr Isayev in olexandrisayev.com
To construct sophisticated biochemical circuits from scratch, one needs to understand how simple the building blocks can be and how robustly such circuits can scale up. Using a simple DNA reaction mechanism based on a reversible strand displacement process, two Caltech scientists experimentally demonstrated several digital logic circuits, culminating in a four-bit square-root circuit that comprises 130 DNA strands. ... Read more »
Lulu Qian, Erik Winfree. (2011) Scaling Up Digital Circuit Computation with DNA Strand Displacement Cascades. Science, 332(6034), 1196-1201. DOI: 10.1126/science.1200520
- May 9, 2011
- 05:10 PM
- 522 views
Nature Outlook: Cancer Prevention
by Olexandr Isayev in olexandrisayev.com
Despite decades of research, cancer in all its guises still kills millions of people each year. The good news is that the more we understand about cancer, the more it appears to be avoidable — not just through smarter eating and healthier lifestyle choices but also with vaccines and chemopreventive drugs. However, a formidable set of scientific, institutional and cultural obstacles stands in the way. Recently Nature published very interesting outlook “Cancer Prevention“.... Read more »
Willyard, C. (2011) Lifestyle: Breaking the cancer habit. Nature, 471(7339). DOI: 10.1038/471S16a
DeWeerdt, S. (2011) Food: The omnivore's labyrinth. Nature, 471(7339). DOI: 10.1038/471S22a
- March 2, 2011
- 12:50 PM
- 636 views
Give postdocs a career, not empty promises
by Olexandr Isayev in olexandrisayev.com
Very interesting column at Nature News: The career structure for scientific research in universities is broken... we should professionalize the postdoc role and turn it into a career rather than a scientific stepping stone.... Read more »
Jennifer Rohn. (2011) Give postdocs a career, not empty promises. Nature. info:/
- October 26, 2010
- 05:23 PM
- 822 views
Groundbreaking method for computer simulation: Car-Parrinello Molecular Dynamics turns 25
by Olexandr Isayev in olexandrisayev.com
Twenty five years ago two budding scientists, Roberto Car and Michele Parrinello, used their expert knowledge, coupled with enthusiasm and a healthy dose of naivety, to develop a groundbreaking method for computer simulation. ... Read more »
Car, R., & Parrinello, M. (1985) Unified Approach for Molecular Dynamics and Density-Functional Theory. Physical Review Letters, 55(22), 2471-2474. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.55.2471
Editorial. (2010) A model approach to modelling. Nature Materials, 9(9), 687-687. DOI: 10.1038/nmat2852
Hafner, J. (2010) A joint effort with lasting impact. Nature Materials, 9(9), 690-692. DOI: 10.1038/nmat2838
- October 5, 2010
- 01:05 PM
- 630 views
Two Russian-born scientists will share the Physics Nobel Prize for their work on graphene
by Olexandr Isayev in olexandrisayev.com
Two Russian-born scientists Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov shared the Nobel Prize in Physics this Tuesday for "for groundbreaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material graphene", a new material expected to play a large role in electronics.... Read more »
Novoselov, K. (2004) Electric Field Effect in Atomically Thin Carbon Films. Science, 306(5696), 666-669. DOI: 10.1126/science.1102896
- September 28, 2010
- 05:37 PM
- 590 views
K: Japan's Next-Generation Supercomputer
by Olexandr Isayev in olexandrisayev.com
Fujitsu announced that today it began shipping the computing units for Japan's Next-Generation Supercomputer, nicknamed the "K" computer.... Read more »
Ajima, Y., Sumimoto, S., & Shimizu, T. (2009) Tofu: A 6D Mesh/Torus Interconnect for Exascale Computers. Computer, 42(11), 36-40. DOI: 10.1109/MC.2009.370
- September 28, 2010
- 05:37 PM
- 242 views
K: Japan’s Next-Generation Supercomputer
by Olexandr Isayev in olexandrisayev.com
Fujitsu announced that today it began shipping the computing units for Japan's Next-Generation Supercomputer, nicknamed the "K" computer.... Read more »
Ajima, Y., Sumimoto, S., & Shimizu, T. (2009) Tofu: A 6D Mesh/Torus Interconnect for Exascale Computers. Computer, 42(11), 36-40. DOI: 10.1109/MC.2009.370
- September 26, 2010
- 08:14 PM
- 564 views
Cold start of Life: Ice as a protocellular medium for RNA replication
by Olexandr Isayev in olexandrisayev.com
The hot spot for life on early Earth may have been a very cold place. Tiny pockets and channels that form inside ice can contain and protect replicating molecules, researchers report September 21 in Nature Communications. The paper suggests that life could have sprung from icy slush covering a freshwater lake, rather than a broiling [...]... Read more »
Attwater, J., Wochner, A., Pinheiro, V., Coulson, A., & Holliger, P. (2010) Ice as a protocellular medium for RNA replication. Nature Communications, 1(6), 1-8. DOI: 10.1038/ncomms1076
- August 30, 2010
- 03:44 PM
- 751 views
Hacking Commercial Quantum Cryptography Systems by Illumination
by Olexandr Isayev in olexandrisayev.com
Quantum hackers have performed the first 'invisible' attack on two commercial quantum cryptographic systems. By using lasers on the systems — which use quantum states of light to encrypt information for transmission — they have fully cracked their encryption keys, yet left no trace of the hack.... Read more »
Lydersen, L., Wiechers, C., Wittmann, C., Elser, D., Skaar, J., & Makarov, V. (2010) Hacking commercial quantum cryptography systems by tailored bright illumination. Nature Photonics. DOI: 10.1038/NPHOTON.2010.214
Feihu Xu, Bing Qi, & Hoi-Kwong Lo. (2010) Experimental demonstration of phase-remapping attack in a practical quantum key distribution system. Preprint. arXiv: 1005.2376v1
- August 25, 2010
- 11:50 PM
- 757 views
Solid-state lighting: may not be magic bullet for energy savings
by Olexandr Isayev in olexandrisayev.com
The importance of artificial light to society has long been recognized with the utilization of fire thought of as the quintessential human invention. Now scientists have found that emerging, more energy efficient lighting technologies could be the key to a better quality of life. New research published on August 19 , in a special issue [...]... Read more »
Tsao, J., Saunders, H., Creighton, J., Coltrin, M., & Simmons, J. (2010) Solid-state lighting: an energy-economics perspective. Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, 43(35), 354001. DOI: 10.1088/0022-3727/43/35/354001
- June 3, 2010
- 12:28 PM
- 641 views
Mathematician Vladimir Arnold dies in France
by Olexandr Isayev in olexandrisayev.com
Mathematician Vladimir Arnold, perhaps one of the best known and highly cited Russian scientist, has died yesterday today at the age of 72. He was receiving treatment in France, but his disease was stronger, reports lenta.ru, citing a source close to the family. Arnold was one of the greatest mathematicians of the XX century [...]... Read more »
Tabachnikov, S. (2007) Arnold’s Problem. The Mathematical Intelligencer, 29(1), 49-52. DOI: 10.1007/BF02984760
- May 6, 2010
- 05:19 PM
- 895 views
A Draft Sequence of the Neandertal Genome
by Olexandr Isayev in olexandrisayev.com
After extracting ancient DNA from the 40,000-year-old bones of Neanderthals, scientists have obtained a draft sequence of the Neanderthal genome, yielding important new insights into the evolution of modern humans.[1] Among the findings, published in the May 7 issue of Science, is evidence that shortly after early modern humans migrated out of Africa, some of [...]... Read more »
Green, R., Krause, J., Briggs, A., Maricic, T., Stenzel, U., Kircher, M., Patterson, N., Li, H., Zhai, W., Fritz, M.... (2010) A Draft Sequence of the Neandertal Genome. Science, 328(5979), 710-722. DOI: 10.1126/science.1188021
Burbano, H., Hodges, E., Green, R., Briggs, A., Krause, J., Meyer, M., Good, J., Maricic, T., Johnson, P., Xuan, Z.... (2010) Targeted Investigation of the Neandertal Genome by Array-Based Sequence Capture. Science, 328(5979), 723-725. DOI: 10.1126/science.1188046
Dalton, R. (2010) Neanderthals may have interbred with humans. Nature. DOI: 10.1038/news.2010.194
- April 18, 2010
- 02:46 PM
- 1,031 views
New online-only NPG journal – Nature Communications
by Olexandr Isayev in olexandrisayev.com
Nature Publishing Group (NGP), perhaps, has a tradition every year in April to produce a new magazine. This year this is Nature Communications — a multidisciplinary online-only journal. Moreover, this is second NPG multidisciplinary journal, 140 years after the first issue of Nature.
Science is now more multidisciplinary than ever – new fields are emerging from [...]... Read more »
Editorial. (2010) Open for business. Nature Communications, 1(1), 1-1. DOI: 10.1038/ncomms1011
- March 11, 2010
- 01:42 PM
- 803 views
Science in Russia
by Olexandr Isayev in olexandrisayev.com
Ever since the Soviet Union fell apart in 1991, Russian leaders have been vowing to transform their old-line, industrial society into a modern, knowledge-based economy driven by innovative science and technology. The current Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, has repeated that ambition frequently — not least as a way to overcome Russia’s dependence on oil and [...]... Read more »
Editorial. (2010) Scientific glasnost. Nature, 464(7286), 141-142. DOI: 10.1038/464141b
News. (2007) Russian science: What the scientists say. Nature, 449(7162), 528-530. DOI: 10.1038/449528a
- March 6, 2010
- 05:33 PM
- 994 views
From Conducting Polimers to First Organic Superconductors
by Olexandr Isayev in olexandrisayev.com
This week, I returned from the historic 50th Sanibel Symposium. Over 350 chemists and physicists gathered together to celebrate half-centennial success of quantum and computational chemistry. One lecture that caught my attention was a plenary talk “Conducting Polymers: a saga of more than 50 years” by professor Jean-Marie Andre. Professor Andre emphasized a role [...]... Read more »
Pople, J., & Walmsley, S. (1962) Bond alternation defects in long polyene molecules. Molecular Physics, 5(1), 15-20. DOI: 10.1080/00268976200100021
Su, W., Schrieffer, J., & Heeger, A. (1980) Soliton excitations in polyacetylene. Physical Review B, 22(4), 2099-2111. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.22.2099
Mitsuhashi, R., Suzuki, Y., Yamanari, Y., Mitamura, H., Kambe, T., Ikeda, N., Okamoto, H., Fujiwara, A., Yamaji, M., Kawasaki, N.... (2010) Superconductivity in alkali-metal-doped picene. Nature, 464(7285), 76-79. DOI: 10.1038/nature08859
- December 22, 2009
- 10:00 PM
- 888 views
Switchable DNA nanostructures for Energy and Data Storage
by Olexandr Isayev in olexandrisayev.com
The Brookhaven team, has been refining techniques to use strands of artificial DNA as a highly specific kind of Velcro or glue to link up nanoparticles. Such DNA-based self-assembly holds promise for the rational design of a range of new materials for applications in molecular separation, electronics, energy conversion, and other fields. But none of these structures has had the ability to change in a programmable manner in response to molecular stimuli — until now. “Now we’re u........ Read more »
Maye, M., Kumara, M., Nykypanchuk, D., Sherman, W., & Gang, O. (2009) Switching binary states of nanoparticle superlattices and dimer clusters by DNA strands. Nature Nanotechnology. DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2009.378
- December 2, 2009
- 02:28 PM
- 1,023 views
Simulation a Cat-Like Brain
by Olexandr Isayev in olexandrisayev.com
IBM’s Almaden Research Center announced in November that it had produced a “cortical simulation” of the scale and complexity of a cat brain. This simulation ran on one of IBM’s Blue Gene supercomputers, in this case at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL):
Scientists, at IBM Research – Almaden, in collaboration with colleagues from Lawrence Berkeley [...]... Read more »
R. Ananthanarayanan, S. K. Esser, H. D. Simon, & D. S. Modha. (2009) The Cat is Out of the Bag: Cortical Simulations with 109 Neurons, 1013 Synapses. Proceedings of the Conference on High Performance Computing Networking, Storage and Analysis , 1-12. DOI: 10.1145/1654059.1654124
- April 20, 2009
- 01:03 PM
- 515 views
The Textbook of the Future
by Olexandr Isayev in olexandrisayev.com
College textbooks are going digital! Declan Butler, a senior reporter at Nature asks how this will shake up student reading habits and the multi-billion-dollar print textbook market:
The rumble of textbooks thumping on to the desks of a university lecture theatre, the rustle of turning pages, the groan of backpack straps hoisting 10 kilograms of textbooks [...]... Read more »
Butler, D. (2009) Technology: The textbook of the future. Nature, 458(7238), 568-570. DOI: 10.1038/458568a
- April 15, 2009
- 02:44 PM
- 1,040 views
Rapid charge transfer through DNA: a step closer to molecular electonics
by Olexandr Isayev in olexandrisayev.com
For decades DNA has been regarded as a potential building block for molecular electronics, but random sequences of DNA vary in their conductivity — charge transfer through G–C (guanine–cytosine) pairs is much faster than through A–T (adenine–thymine) pairs. Charge can migrate along an A–T rich sequence by ‘hopping’ between G–C pairs, but this decreases [...]... Read more »
Kawai, K., Kodera, H., Osakada, Y., & Majima, T. (2009) Sequence-independent and rapid long-range charge transfer through DNA. Nature Chemistry. DOI: 10.1038/nchem.171
- October 14, 2008
- 09:53 PM
- 1,050 views
October 14: Open Access Day
by Olexandr Isayev in olexandrisayev.com
October 14, 2008 was the world’s first Open Access Day!
SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition), the Public Library of Science (PLoS), and Students for FreeCulture have jointly announced the first international Open Access Day. Building on the worldwide momentum toward Open Access (OA) to publicly funded research, Open Access Day will create a [...]... Read more »
Heather A. Piwowar, Michael J. Becich, Howard Bilofsky, & Rebecca S. Crowley. (2008) Towards a Data Sharing Culture: Recommendations for Leadership from Academic Health Centers. PLoS Medicine, 5(9). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.0050183
Jonathan A. Eisen. (2008) PLoS Biology 2.0. PLoS Biology, 6(2). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.0060048
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