Terahertz Chip Identifies Short Strands of DNA | MIT Technology Review

Terahertz Chip Identifies Short Strands of DNA | MIT Technology Review: They say that the sequence of bases in an oligonucleotide determines the way in which the strand resonates at frequencies in the terahertz range...

...they have tested it using a device they call a silicon nanosandwich, a quantum well of p-type silicon surrounded by barriers doped with boron. This produces terahertz radiation inside the well where the oligonucleotide is deposited at a concentration that allows a single molecule to enter.

Transparent brains make neuroscience clearer

Transparent brains make neuroscience clearer: First, they remove the brain from a mouse and infuse it with a see-through gel that collects in the neurons' lipid membranes. As the gel solidifies, it takes the shape of the membranes and creates a matrix that holds the cells' proteins, DNA and RNA in place. Then the team adds a second chemical that dissolves the lipids, leaving a transparent brain made out of gel that retains the brain's proteins, DNA and RNA in their original positions.

The technique – which the researchers have named Clarity – makes it easy to see the structure of individual neurons, and preserves the fragile interconnections in near-perfect detail...

The team has successfully turned a 0.5-millimetre-thick section of human brain transparent, but working with larger chunks of human brain may be a challenge, as human neurons have a large amount of fatty protein surrounding their axons that must all be dissolved.

Physicist Derives Laws of Thermodynamics For Life Itself

Physicist Derives Laws of Thermodynamics For Life Itself:  His idea is to examine every combination of states that are possible in this box and to consult an omniscient microbiologist about whether each state represents a bacterium or not. In that way, it ought to be possible, at least in principle, to gain an idea of the statistical physics involved.

Next, he asks the microbiologist to take another look at the box after a period that is roughly equivalent to the time it takes for bacteria to divide...

This sets an important bound on what is thermodynamically possible in this system: in effect, England derives the second law of thermodynamics for the system...

First life: The search for the first replicator - New Scientist - New Scientist

First life: The search for the first replicator: Sutherland was being deliberately messy by including the phosphate from the start, but it gave the best results. That's encouraging: the primordial Earth was a messy place and it may have been ideal for making nucleotides. Sutherland now suspects there is a "Goldilocks chemistry" - not too simple, not too complex - that would produce many key compounds from the same melting pot.

"Sutherland had a real breakthrough," Holliger says. "Everyone else was barking up the wrong tree."