Physical Sciences

Enzyme Complex Could be Key to New Cancer Treatments
Credit: Erin Sheets lab In these microscopic images of cells, the white areas indicate the presence of enzymes. The enzymes in images A and C are distributed throughout the cytoplasm because these cells were grown in the presence of purines. In contrast, the enzymes in images B and D occur in small clusters because these cells were grown in the absence of purines.
Superbright Explosion is Most Distant Object Ever Visible to the Naked Eye
Credit: Pi of the Sky GRB 080319B's optical afterglow appears in the center of this image from Pi of the Sky, a Polish group that monitors the sky for afterglows and other short-lived sources.
Scientists See Norwalk Virus' Achilles Heel
Single-Crystal Semiconductor Wire Built into an Optical Fiber
Samarth Earns Faculty Scholar Medal for 2008
Allergic Response Tied to Lipid Molecules in Cell Membrane
Image courtesy of Erin Sheets, Penn State Illustration of antigen-mediated cross-linking of IgE receptors on the cell membrane and their translocation into cholesterol-rich lipid domains.
Solar Cell Directly Splits Water for Hydrogen
Neutron Stars Join the Black-Hole Jet Set
X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison/S.Heintz et al.; Illustration: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss This artist's illustration depicts the jet of relativistic particles blasting out of Circinus X-1, a system where a neutron star is in orbit with a star several times the mass of the Sun.
Rapidly Whirling Black Holes Discovered Spinning at Near Maximum Speed
Results from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, combined with new theoretical calculations, provide one of the best pieces of evidence yet that many supermassive black holes are spinning extremely rapidly. The images on the left show 4 out of the 9 large galaxies included in the Chandra study, each containing a supermassive black hole in its center. Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC, Illustration: CXC/M. Weiss
Powerful New Sky Surveys to Explore Dark Energy, Milky Way Galaxy, and Giant Planets
Credit: T. Riecken Artist's rendition of planets orbiting a sun-like star. MARVELS will monitor more than 10,000 stars to detect the motions induced by giant, Jupiter-like planets, providing new constraints on the mechanisms of giant planet formation.
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