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What's the world's longest word?
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Titin is the largest known naturally occurring protein and is composed of 34,350 amino acids. It is also known as connectin and is abundant in striated muscle. Though it is 189,819 letters long, its status as the longest word in the English language is debatable, given that it is a technical word not found in the dictionary. ...
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7806 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Glow-in-the-dark ice cream
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And it's $235 a scoop! The ice cream was created by UK company Lick Me I'm Delicious in time for Halloween, and was inspired by glowing jellyfish. It's made using a synthetic, calcium-activated version of the protein that makes jellyfish luminescent, and lights up when you lick it. However, inventor Charlie Harry Francis didn't offer much reassurance on whether the product was safe to eat, writing on his blog: "Well I tried some and I don't seem to be glowing anywhere, so we'll go with a yes for now." ...
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3660 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Spider-man would be proud of this finding
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Researchers have uncovered the mechanism that allows spiders to build such strong webs. According to the study, both ends of the spider's silk grand have different pH levels, which helps these proteins become a solid fibre that can be spun into a solid web. The researchers also found that the pH level has different effects on the stability of the two regions at each end of the spidroin proteins. “While one of the ends tended to pair up with other molecules at the beginning of the duct (N-terminal) and became increasingly stable as the acidity increased along the duct, the other end (C-terminal) destabilised as the acidity increased, and gradually unfolded until it formed the structure characteristic of silk at the acidic pH of 5.5”, ex ...
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5199 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
Why do men with dark hair sometimes possess a reddish beard?
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It has to do with a single gene! More than a decade ago, researchers discovered that one gene (MC1R) on chromosome 16 plays an important role in giving people red hair. MC1R task is to make the protein melanocortin 1. This protein plays an important role in converting red pigment into black pigment. If you end up with only one mutated MC1R gene, red hair can appear in unwanted places, like your beard. When someone inherits two mutated versions of the MC1R-gene (one from each parent), less red pigment is converted into black pigment. ...
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14856 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
Stay away from the castor bean
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Some organisms, such as the castor bean plant ( Ricinus communis), produce substances that inhibit the synthesis of proteins (called translation) within a cell. (The plant, which is native to Africa, is not related to the species of bean plants with which you are likely more familiar.) A protein called ricin, produced within the castor seeds is an extremely potent inhibitor of protein synthesis. In fact, it is one of the strongest natural toxins produced. A single chewed seed can kill child! If the ricin were purified, it would take an amount equivalent to only a few grains of salt to kill an adult. Ricin kills cells by enzymatically cleaving covalent bonds within the large and small ribosomal subunits, rendering the protein-building factori ...
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20189 |
savio |
8 years ago |
First ever image taken of a single protein
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Proteins are subatomic biomolecules. They're produced by cells, so it's logical to assume that they are much tinier than cells, and of course, much tinier than the organelles that produce them. In a remarkable achievement, scientists have now obtained the first-ever photographs of single proteins. Using a "holography electron microscope," researchers tested on a range of protein samples, all just a few nanometers in size. Hemoglobin, the protein that transports oxygen in red blood cells, and cytochrome c, the protein that transfers electrons within the body, were just two examples. Source: arXiv ...
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8440 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
Here's why your hair will eventually turn gray
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As soon as we're born, we're destined to age. Some of us age gracefully - we enjoy years of youthfulness - while others experience hair loss, wrinkles, and greying earlier than expected. Found in the core of each hair, a pigment known as melanin gives rise to a person's hair color. This universal pigment is also found in our skin and eyes, giving use our unique physical traits. Dark and light versions of melanin - eumelanin and phaeomelanin, respectively - combine in various combinations to create all natural hair colors. Melanin itself is the product of a specialized cell, the melanocyte, which is found in each hair follicle, from which the hair grows. As hair grows, the melanocyte injects melanin into the hair cells, which contain the s ...
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9491 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
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