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Ribosomes, the "translation factories" of the cell, are cellular organelles that play a central role in protein synthesis, a vital process for all living organisms. These tiny structures themselves consist of ribonucleic acid (RNA) and proteins and are essential for the survival and normal functioning of the cell, as the proteins they produce are required for nearly all cellular processes, including structure, function, and regulation.

Research team redesigns phenoxyl radicals with improved oxidation capacity in the lab. Nature uses enzymes for various metabolic processes. These biological catalysts are extremely efficient. Biomimetic catalysts based on inexpensive starting materials from the laboratory that can reproduce the efficiency of the natural enzymes and can function at ambient conditions are therefore of great interest to research and industry.

Freiburg research team discovers mega-protein complex with surprising properties in mitochondria Mitochondria provide the majority of the body's energy supply and are considered the power plants of the cells. The energy comes from cellular respiration, in which metabolic products are burned in the inner mitochondrial membrane.

Every year, more than 20,000 people in Germany die from blood cancer. In children, blood cancer is even the most common type of cancer. Donations of stem cells from bone marrow or blood increase the chance of survival for people suffering from leukemia or other forms of blood cancer. However, it can take years between the registration of those willing to donate and their actual donation.

Team of researchers at Freie Universität Berlin develops new technique to release and study individual proteins in cells / Study published in "Nature Methods" A research team led by biochemist Professor Helge Ewers from Freie Universität Berlin has developed a new technique for the light-mediated release and investigation of proteins in live cells.

Chimpanzees that are unable to figure out a complex puzzle on their own, are capable of learning the solution from other chimps that were trained to solve it. This is the conclusion reached by an international research team from Utrecht University, the University of St Andrews and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology as part of a study conducted with groups of chimpanzees in Zambia.

Study shows multiple pathways connect early life adversity to later life health Early experiences in an animal's life can have a significant impact on its capacity to thrive, even years or decades later, and DNA methylation may help record their effects. In a study of 256 wild baboons, researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and Duke University found that resource limitation during early life was associated with many differences in DNA methylation, a small chemical mark on the DNA sequence that can affect gene activity.

Team involving the University of Freiburg has developed a new method for analyzing the basement membrane in the human lung Metastases are largely responsible for the mortality of patients with solid cancers; the prognosis of cancer patients is significantly reduced when metastases are diagnosed. To date, there are no methods that allow a reliable prediction of the probability of future metastases.

Researchers measure heat flow: from active metabolic forces inside cell to flickering cell membrane Entropy is often associated with disorder and chaos, but in biology it is related to energy efficiency and is closely linked to metabolism, the set of chemical reactions that sustain life. This research was led by the Universities of Barcelona and Padua, with the participation of Göttingen University and the Universities Complutense and Francisco de Vitoria in Madrid.

A diet based on resistant starch promotes a favorable composition of the gut microbiome in obese people. This leads to weight reduction and measurable positive health outcomes such as improved insulin sensitivity. These were the findings of an international research team led by Professor Weiping Jia from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Professor Aimin Xu from the University of Hong Kong and Professor Gianni Panagiotou from Friedrich Schiller University Jena.

Bonn researchers find connection between autobiographical memory and aphantasia When people lack visual imagination, this is known as aphantasia. Researchers from the University Hospital Bonn (UKB), the University of Bonn and the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) investigated how the lack of mental imagery affects long-term memory.

Scientific study on river habitats at the TUM Even modern and supposedly gentler hydropower plants cause considerable damage to river ecosystems. This is shown by a study by Prof. Jürgen Geist from the Chair of Aquatic Systems Biology at the TUM School of Life Sciences published in the "Journal of Applied Ecology".

Empathy can be transferred. This means that people can learn or unlearn empathy by observing their environment. This is shown by a new study by Würzburg neuroscientist Grit Hein . With her latest evaluations of empathy skills, Würzburg professor Grit Hein has once again disproved the old adage: "What goes around comes around".

Immune cells must learn not to attack the body itself. A team of researchers from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU) has discovered a previously unknown mechanism behind this: other immune cells, the B cells, contribute to the "training" of the T cells in the thymus gland.

Microbiologist Bodo Philipp on the adaptability of micro-organisms and the benefits and risks for humans A team headed by Prof. Bodo Philipp and Dr. Johannes Holert from the Institute of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology has found bacteria in Münster's wastewater which can completely decompose a substance called "TRIS" (tris hydroxymethyl aminomethane), and the researchers were able to throw light on the metabolic pathway.

Researchers at the University Hospitals of Dresden and Bonn of the DFG Transregio 237 and from the Cluster of Excellence ImmunoSensation2 at the University of Bonn have made progress clarifying why patients with myotonic dystrophy 2 have a higher tendency to develop autoimmune diseases. Their goal is to understand the development of the disease, and their research has provided new, potential therapeutic targets.

Klebsiella pneumoniae is one of the most common and most dangerous bacterial pathogens impacting humans, causing infections of the gastrointestinal tract, pneumonia, wound infections and even blood poisoning. With the aim of discovering therapeutically exploitable weaknesses in Klebsiella, a research team from the Balance of the Microverse Cluster of Excellence at the University of Jena has taken a close look at the molecular biology of the bacteria and was able to uncover the importance of a small, non-coding ribonucleic acid (sRNA for short) for the gene regulation of K. pneumoniae.

The conversion of rainforest into plantations erodes and restructures food webs and fundamentally changes the way these ecosystems function, according to a new study published in Nature. The findings provide the first insights into the processing of energy across soil and canopy animal communities in mega-biodiverse tropical ecosystems.

Burials show that children with Down Syndrome and Edwards Syndrome were recognized as members of their communities An international team of researchers has analysed the DNA from a world-wide sample of nearly 10,000 ancient individuals to search for cases of Down Syndrome, an uncommon genetic condition caused by the presence of an additional copy of Chromosome 21.

Research team investigates effects of changing land use on ecosystems in Sumatra . Every day, large areas of rainforest are converted into plantations. Biodiversity and the ecosystem are changing drastically as a result. However, knowledge about the consequences is patchy: previous studies have either focused on the diversity of species or the functioning of the ecosystem.