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Articles by Luyi Cheng
Artificial Intelligence Lobbyists Descend on Washington DC
Technological advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) prompted an influx of lobbying activity in recent years on AI-related issues. The impacts of implementing AI-based technologies have rippled out across a broad spectrum of industries beyond just the technology sector. As the implementation of this technology grows increasingly widespread, stakeholders have ramped up their engagement with policymakers.
The Effect of Pseudoknot Base Pairing on Cotranscriptional Structural Switching of the Fluoride Riboswitch
Abstract A central question in biology is how RNA sequence changes influence dynamic conformational changes during cotranscriptional folding. Here we investigated this question through the study of transcriptional fluoride riboswitches, non-coding RNAs that sense the fluoride anion through the coordinated folding and rearrangement of a pseudoknotted aptamer domain and a downstream intrinsic terminator expression platform. Using a combination of E.
The Application of Radiolabeled Targeted Molecular Probes for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Prostate Cancer.
Radiopharmaceuticals targeting prostate-specific membrane antigens (PSMA) are essential for the diagnosis, evaluation, and treatment of prostate cancer (PCa), particularly metastatic castration-resistant PCa, for which conventional treatment is ineffective. These molecular probes include [Ga]PSMA, [F]PSMA, [AlF]PSMA, [Tc]PSMA, and [Zr]PSMA, which are widely used for diagnosis, and [Lu]PSMA and [Ac]PSMA, which are used for treatment. There are also new types of radiopharmaceuticals.
Cities Unprepared for More Intense and Frequent Heat Waves
The URL has been copied to your clipboard The code has been copied to your clipboard. The world is bracing for more intense heat waves fueled by climate change this summer, and urban centers across the world are unprepared to face these brutal natural disasters.
A Closer Look at Nearsightedness
Nearsightedness, also known as myopia, is one of the most common vision-related issues that people experience. The condition results when the light that shines through an eye focuses in front of the retina instead of on it, making faraway objects appear blurry.
Clearance of Tropical Mountain Forests in Southeast Asia Expanding, Accelerating, Says Study
New research has found that the tropical forests in the mountains of Southeast Asia are losing trees at an accelerated rate, deepening a wide range of ecological concerns. Southeast Asia is home to about 15% of the world’s tropical forests and help sustain plant and animal biodiversity. The trees also store carbon, keeping it out of the atmosphere where it would further contribute to warming global temperatures.
Gaps Persist in Global Coronavirus Vaccination Rates
The shortfall in America’s COVID-19 vaccination efforts — to reach 70% of the adult population by July 4 — pales in comparison to the international vaccine drive, which is on track to achieve just a fraction of the ambitious goal set last year. COVAX, a global COVID-19 vaccine-sharing program, set the goal of distributing 2 billion shots by the end of 2021 to help vaccinate at least 20% of eligible low- and middle-income countries against COVID-19.
Biden Pledges More Federal Help for Western States to Battle Wildfires
WHITE HOUSE - Western U.S. states vulnerable to wildfires and suffering from drought amid extreme heat are to receive more help from the federal government, President Joe Biden announced Wednesday during a virtual meeting with governors. "Climate change is driving the dangerous confluence of extreme heat and prolonged drought.
Antidepressants in Waterways Can Affect Crayfish Behavior, Food Chain, Study Finds
Antidepressants don’t just change people’s moods. They might also make crayfish act more outgoing when these drugs wind up in ponds or streams, according to a new study. Riskier crayfish behavior could get them snatched up as food by predators more often, the researchers noted. These common water critters play an important role in the food web by eating anything from insects and young fish to bacteria and algae.
Rocky Mountain Forest Fires More Frequent Than Ever, Study Finds
The current rate of forest fires burning through the Rocky Mountains in the United States is the highest it’s been in the past 2,000 years, a recent study found. Studying burn scars on tree rings and charcoal in lake sediments, researchers found that the region’s high-altitude forests burned at double the rate in the last two decades that they did in the past two millennia.
Ice Shelf Breakup Causes Antarctic Glacier to Melt Faster; Sea Levels at Risk
The recent breakup of an Antarctic ice shelf is speeding up the ocean-bound descent of a glacier holding back at least a meter of sea level rise, according to new research. The findings may have implications for predicting when collapsing glaciers will raise sea levels and flood coastal cities. Pine Island, the focus of the study, is already the fastest-melting glacier in Antarctica.
Computationally reconstructing cotranscriptional RNA folding from experimental data reveals rearrangement of non-native folding intermediates
Highlights • Computational modeling of cotranscriptional folding pathways from SHAPE-seq data • E. coli SRP RNA needs local structural fluctuations for toehold strand displacement • Point mutations can disrupt and rescue cotranscriptional RNA folding pathways • E. coli RNase P cleaves a cotranscriptional intermediate of the E. coli SRP RNA Summary The series of RNA folding events that occur during transcription can critically influence cellular RNA function.
Linking two enzymes turns plastic-eating bacteria into super-digesters
The US residential power supply system is messed up at all times, but Texas's power supply is particularly problematic right now. And worse, it's about to be crushing financially for millions of families impacted by winter weather, especially the families that are poor, or elderly, or not white (or all three). Because many states have deregulated their power markets, a lot of people get their power through retail energy suppliers. These companies are, essentially, energy arbitrage firms.
A survey of science writers compares institutional science communication practices
By Luyi Cheng Institutions who pour resources into conducting research and chasing new discoveries also have another important responsibility to consider – sharing their findings with the world. But various institutions, such as universities, professional societies and federal agencies, can approach public science communication quite differently.
A grape virus causes vineyards to lose $60,000 per hectare, and there's no defense against it
Alison Crowe knows there’s a problem. Crowe is a winemaker in California’s Napa Valley. “If you drove through my vineyards right now, you’d see these cute little fuzzy leaves and tiny little baby grape clusters,” she said in April, when everything in the vineyards looked fine. But around July and August, for some vineyards, red blotches appeared on grapevines' leaves.
The genes of 600-year-old ginkgo trees are just as active as their teenage counterparts
On the West Coast of the United States, the coastal redwoods in Northern California can live more than 2,000 years. Giant sequoias in central California routinely reach over 3,000 years in age. The oldest living organism in the world – old Methuselah, a bristlecone pine tree – has survived for over 4,700 years. Millenia-old trees have held their place on Earth long and steady, and scientists have been curious about how they’re able to survive for so long.
Meet Betty Hay, the scientist who saw how cells grow and limbs regenerate
Via Wikipedia Happy birthday to the trailblazing developmental biologist Luyi Cheng Molecular Biology and Structural Biology Northwestern University April 1, 2020 Limbs regenerate, embryos grow, and cancers invade. In each of these processes, cells change dramatically. Betty Hay studied fascinating biological phenomena, relentlessly asking questions with her students and colleagues to understand how cells behaved.
Spinning Cells to Their Limits
What effects can a force as strong as gravity have on the behavior of something as small as individual cells? The paper “Hypergravity affects cell traction forces of fibroblasts,” published in the March 2 issue of Biophysical Journal, tested how fibroblast cells—cells that form connective tissue—can physically change, adapting to forces as great as almost 20 times the force of Earth’s gravity.
"Wonder gases" of the 1920s are doing something unexpected today
One of the earliest climate model predictions of how human-made climate change would affect our planet showed that the Arctic would warm about two to three times more than the global average. Forty years later, this “Arctic amplification” has been observed firsthand. Record-breaking Arctic warming and the dramatic decline of sea ice are having severe consequences on sensitive ecosystems in the region. But why has the Arctic warmed more than the tropics and the mid-latitudes?
Did these scientists just create the first lab-grown human breastmilk?
Their press release was understated. “Two women may have made breastmilk — outside the body,” food scientist Michelle Egger and cell biologist Leila Strickland announced in a Medium post this past Thursday. The two founders of BIOMILQ presented the first evidence that they can grow breastmilk directly from isolated human mammary cells, housed in a sophisticated bioreactor. This may spell the beginning of the end for infant formula, and a new beginning for much other lactation research.
People without the smelling part of their brain can still smell - and it's puzzling scientists
Think about the last time you had a cold. Think how weird it felt to not be able to smell or taste anything just because your nose was clogged up. That is, to an extent, the life of people with anosmia: the term for not being able to smell. Some patients are born with it. For others, it is the result of neurological diseases, and for others still, it comes from a surgery that removed or damaged the olfactory bulb (OB).
Which houseplants purify air? A 1989 NASA study has the answers
Apartment gardeners rejoice: Going all-out at your local gardening store has science-backed approval. Houseplants add a pop of color and some (literal) life to a room, but they also have a hidden health benefit. According to a 1989 NASA study, several houseplant species are particularly adept at cleaning the air in your home, removing pollutants that either originate inside, or slip in from the outside world.
Why Zealandia is so different from other continents
Three years ago, the identification of Zealandia as a continent made global headlines. Now, newly published results from our scientific drilling expedition reveal the largely submerged Zealandia continent, which stretches across five million square kilometers beneath the southwest Pacific Ocean, was shaped by two tectonic events. First, it was ripped away from Australia and Antarctica, and then it was carved by forces that started the Pacific Ring of Fire.
Best houseplants for beginners — 7 resilient plants that survive neglect
What makes your house a home? For some it is a fur baby (or, indeed, an actual baby). For others, it is a fiddle leaf fig. But for those of us with a less-than-green thumb, getting into houseplants can feel daunting. Thankfully, science reveals which plants are the hardest to kill — and the best for beginners. Nothing is sadder than a withering houseplant, and it makes for an awkward time when guests are checking out the dying shrub in the corner.
Do drugs go off? What happens to medicines after their use-by dates
It is estimated that there is a staggering £300m worth of medicine unused in the UK every year. But is it safe to take these medicines if they are past their expiry date? Expiry dates are put in place after rigorous trialing and controlled experiments to ensure the safety and effectiveness of the drugs people take. In short, they guarantee the potency of the drug.
A new plasma reactor can eradicate airborne viruses
The big idea: It’s the enduring media image of infectious disease outbreaks, including the current coronavirus outbreak from Wuhan, China: people in public spaces with faces half-hidden by surgical masks. Filters have long been used to remove particles, including viruses and bacteria, from the air we breathe. Particle filters are key components of building and aircraft ventilation systems. Unfortunately, viruses are much smaller than the smallest particles those filters typically capture reliably.
Nano-packaging could keep your food fresh for a crucial amount of time
It’s Sunday night and you decide to make a quick run to the grocery store. You grab five bananas — one for each breakfast of the workweek. Then, at home, you immediately throw two of the bananas into the trash. "Who would buy fresh food and throw 40% of it away?" Americans, on average, every day. This is the overall rate of food waste in the United States.
American work culture is strong - but weak when it comes to calling out sick
The new coronavirus has spread rapidly around the globe since its discovery late last year in China. It has now infected more than 20,000 people worldwide and killed over 400, prompting travel bans, citywide quarantines, and mass hysteria.
When will there be a coronavirus vaccine? 5 timely questions & answers
The coronavirus that started in Wuhan has in China as of Jan. 30, 2020. Thailand and Hong Kong each have reported eight confirmed cases, and five people in the U.S. have been diagnosed with the illness. People are hoping for a vaccine to slow the spread of the disease. 5. Is there a vaccine under development for the coronavirus?
Water filters are bad at one incredibly important job, study shows
Buying a water filter for your fridge or tap might seem like the ultimate adult move: taking steps toward better health and safety, giving yourself more voluntary responsibility. But is your pitcher actually making any difference whatsoever to the quality of your water? New research suggests that home water filters do not work in one incredibly important way — they are completely inconsistent when it comes to filtering out toxic chemicals called per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS.
Sorry, your houseplants aren’t actually purifying your apartment’s air
House plant and musical instrument (Getty Images) Research shows you would need between 10 and 1000 plants per meter squared to gain any real air quality benefits Luyi Cheng February 3, 2020 1:00AM (UTC) In the United States, we spend an average of about 90 percent of our time indoors.
Sorry, your houseplants aren't actually purifying your apartment's air
Photo by Katya Austin on Unsplash New research finds that you would need between 10 and 1000 plants per meter squared to gain any real air quality benefits Luyi Cheng Molecular Biology and Structural Biology Northwestern University January 30, 2020 In the United States, we spend an average of about 90 percent of our time indoors.
We need to talk about our current global antimicrobial resistance crisis - in a more effective manner
It's easy to give thoughtless gifts. This year, give thoughtful gifts: science gifts! They're experimentally validated as wonderful*. This is Massive's 2019 holiday science shopping guide, with cool stuff from all around the science web, for Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Christmas, and beyond. Illustrated by Matteo Farinella, Designed by Allan Lasser Massive Science Oh wow, so weird to see us at the top here. The coolest thing on this list is definitely the Women of Science Tarot deck we made.
Gamers are one-upping nature and computers by designing whole new proteins
(Getty Images) Building elaborate structures from scratch is difficult for computers, but in the hands of a gamer... Luyi Cheng October 27, 2019 12:29PM (UTC) This story originally appeared on Massive Science, an editorial partner site that publishes science stories by scientists. Subscribe to their newsletter to get even more science sent straight to you. The idea of computer versus human has been intriguing.
Gamers are one-upping nature and computers by designing whole new proteins
Photo by Fredrick Tendong on Unsplash Building elaborate structures from scratch is difficult for computers, but in the hands of a gamer... Luyi Cheng Molecular Biology and Structural Biology Northwestern University October 22, 2019 The idea of computer versus human has been intriguing.
Open access publishing is gaining steam, and the National Cancer Institute is now on board
Get new Lab Notes sent to your inbox Submit a note Submit your own Lab Note Share an interesting science story or tell a short one of your own More than 84 million Americans are at an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes in adulthood. During recent years, low blood levels of vitamin D have surfaced as a potential risk factor for type 2 diabetes. However, until recently it was unclear whether vitamin D supplementation could help prevent type 2 diabetes.
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