Lifeboat Foundation

Observations of Exoplanet WASP-39b show fingerprints of atoms and molecules, as well as signs of active chemistry and clouds.

WASP-39 b is a planet unlike any in our solar system – a Saturn.

Saturn is the sixth planet from the sun and has the second-largest mass in the Solar System. It has a much lower density than Earth but has a much greater volume. Saturn’s name comes from the Roman god of wealth and agriculture.

Magnetic fields are all around us. They exist whenever there is electric current and have been used in various aspects of medicine for decades. Today, magnetic fields are used in applications including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), bone fracture repair, wound healing and pain reduction.

Taking things a step further, US startup EMulate Therapeutics has developed a unique magnetic field technology that has been shown to replicate the effect of drugs in humans and animal models – all without the presence of chemicals. Having spun-out companies in cancer, pain management and beyond, the company is seeking partners for longevity applications of its technology.

Longevity. Technology: The concept behind EMulate’s approach is mind-boggling. The company “records” the electromagnetic signature of specific molecules and is then able to use those recordings to effect changes in cellular behaviour, without using chemicals. In its most advanced programme, EMulate’s technology has completed feasibility clinical trials for adults and children with terminal brain cancer, using a recording derived from chemotherapy drug paclitaxel. We caught up with EMulate’s CEO Chris Rivera to find out more.

A chemical called kynurenic acid may play a role in diseases characterised by cognitive impairments or psychosis, including schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s disease and bipolar disorder. Newly developed drugs that reduce this acid in the brain show promise in reducing symptoms of these conditions.

The James Webb Space Telescope has captured a detailed molecular and chemical portrait of a faraway planet’s skies, scoring another first for the exoplanet science community.

WASP-39b, otherwise known as Bocaprins, can be found orbiting a star some 700 light-years away. It is an exoplanet — a planet outside our solar system — as massive as Saturn but much closer to its host star, making for an estimated temperature of 1,600 degrees Fahrenheit (871 degrees Celsius) emitting from its gases, according to NASA. This “hot Saturn” was one of the first exoplanets that the Webb telescope examined when it first began its regular science operations.

The new readings provide a full breakdown of Bocaprins’ atmosphere, including atoms, molecules, cloud formations (which appear to be broken up, rather than a single, uniform blanket as scientists previously expected) and even signs of photochemistry caused by its host star.

The finding could have implications on drug development beyond neuroscience.

A new study conducted by researchers at the University of Copenhagen has found that V-ATPase, an enzyme thought to be a key component of brain function, switches off randomly, even for hours at a time. This discovery has the potential to change our understanding of how our brain functions, according to a press release.

V-ATPase is an enzyme that can break down ATP molecules, the cell’s energy currency, as they pump protons across cellular membranes.

Continue reading “A key enzyme in brain function shuts off randomly, study reveals” »

It is easier to form more substituted carbocations because of destabilisation in the parent substrate, rather than stabilisation in the reactive intermediate, new research shows.¹

Many organic transformations involve carbocations as reactive intermediates. These are usually formed via a heterolytic C–X bond dissociation to give a carbocation C⁺ and an anion X^-. Current understanding is that the bond dissociation energy decreases with increased methyl substitution because of the stabilising effect of the methyl groups, as well as relief due to steric repulsion: going from substrate to carbocation gives the substituents proportionally more room in a more substituted system. However, a team in the Netherlands, led by Matthias Bickelhaupt at VU Amsterdam, has investigated this from a different angle.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has just scored another first: a detailed molecular and chemical portrait of a distant world’s skies.

The telescope’s array of highly sensitive instruments was trained on the atmosphere of a “hot Saturn”—a planet about as massive as Saturn orbiting a star some 700 light-years away—known as WASP-39 b. While JWST and other space telescopes, including Hubble and Spitzer, have previously revealed isolated ingredients of this broiling planet’s atmosphere, the new readings provide a full menu of atoms, molecules, and even signs of active chemistry and clouds.

Continue reading “James Webb Space Telescope reveals an exoplanet atmosphere as never seen before” »

“We are going to be able to see the big picture of exoplanet atmospheres.”

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has provided a detailed molecular and chemical profile of a distant exoplanet’s skies in a world first, a blog post from the space agency reveals.

However, the new observations from James Webb reveal the makeup of the exoplanet’s atmosphere like never before and reveal further details of active chemistry and clouds.

Continue reading “James Webb uncovers the mysteries of an alien world’s atmosphere 700 light-years away” »

Researchers have investigated the capability of known quantum computing algorithms for fault-tolerant quantum computing to simulate the laser-driven electron dynamics of excitation and ionization processes in small molecules. Their research is published in the Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation.

“These quantum computer algorithms were originally developed in a completely different context. We used them here for the first time to calculate electron densities of molecules, in particular their dynamic evolution after excitation by a light pulse,” says Annika Bande, who heads a group on theoretical chemistry at Helmholtz Association of German Research Centers (HZB). Bande and Fabian Langkabel, who is doing his doctorate with her, show in the study how well this works.

“We developed an algorithm for a fictitious, completely error-free quantum computer and ran it on a classical server simulating a quantum computer of ten qubits,” says Langkabel. The scientists limited their study to smaller molecules in order to be able to perform the calculations without a real quantum computer and to compare them with conventional calculations.