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Researchers have confirmed that microscopic fossils discovered in a nearly 3.5 billion-year-old piece of rock in Western Australia are the oldest fossils ever found and indeed the earliest direct evidence of life on Earth.

A spoonful of sugar may make the medicine go down, but understanding what happens to that sugar in the cell is far more complicated than simple digestion, according to researchers. For sugars to metabolize and provide energy to the cells, a series of enzymes must each, in turn, break down a reactant. Similar enzyme cascades are responsible for many metabolic processes in the body.

The most lethal form of breast cancer could have a new treatment option, according to new research out of the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

Researchers have designed new anti-viral nanoparticles that bind to a range of viruses. Unlike other broad-spectrum antivirals, which simply prevent viruses from infecting cells, the new nanoparticles destroy viruses.

A two-faced protein in a chain that regulates iron and other elements in cells could provide a new target to treat cancer, diabetes and other diseases.

Researchers are probing the deeper mysteries of glycan structure and function. To do this, they have assembled a library of the enzymes necessary to create, modify and degrade glycans. This work will help to advance a number of exciting areas of research, including genomics, proteomics, chemical synthesis, materials science, and engineering.

Copenhagen Center for Glycomics (CCG) and Desktop Genetics (DTG) announced a collaboration to develop the next-generation of CRISPR analysis.

Scientists have used sea water collected from Whitby in North Yorkshire, and scrap metal to develop a technology that could help capture more than 850 million tonnes of unwanted carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

The replicability of results from scientific studies has become a major source of concern in the research community, particularly in the social sciences and biomedical sciences. A new study that compared the results reported in thousands of papers published about the properties of metal organic framework (MOF) materials – which are prominent candidates for carbon dioxide adsorption and other separations – suggests the replicability problem should be a concern for materials researchers, too.

The interaction of protein shell and active centre in hydrogen-producing enzymes is crucial for the efficiency of biocatalysts. A team specifically analysed the role of hydrogen bonds in certain enzymes from green algae, the hydrogenases.