For the first time scientists observe the creation of matter from light

One of the most fascinating implications of Einstein’s famous equation E=mc2 is that matter and energy are interchangeable. In other words, it should be possible to create matter from pure energy, such as light. This process, known as matter creation or pair production, was first proposed by physicists Gregory Breit and John Wheeler in 1934. … Read more

Narrow Wavelength of UV Light Safely Kills Drug-Resistant Bacteria

Narrow Wavelength of UV Light Safely Kills Drug-Resistant Bacteria

Potential to greatly reduce surgical site infections Scientists from the Center for Radiological Research at Columbia University Medical Center have shown that a narrow wavelength of ultraviolet (UV) light safely killed drug-resistant MRSA bacteria in mice, demonstrating a potentially safe and cost-effective way to reduce surgical site infections, a major public health concern. A paper just … Read more

Chinese scientists change sheep color by gene editing

Coloured sheep

Consumers may be about to get more options for the color natural wool products as Chinese scientists have used gene editing to alter the coat colors of sheep. The researchers in Urumqi, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, have bred five sheep with different colors with the technique, known as CRISPR-Cas9. At the Xinjiang Academy of Zootechnical … Read more

Gene Behind Black Peppered Moth’s Color Change Identified

Black peppered moth - Biston betularia: light phenotype (left), dark phenotype (right)

A transposon underlies this classic story of evolutionary adaptation. Scientists have finally identified the genetic change that enabled the black peppered moth (Biston betularia) to change shades—from a light, speckled color to a dark brown hue—to camouflage itself against Britain’s soot-blackened trees during the Industrial Revolution: a mutation in a gene calledcortex, according to a … Read more

Colours squeezed from microscopic marbles

color changing marbles

A new method for stacking microscopic marbles into regular layers, producing intriguing materials which scatter light into intense colours and which change colour when twisted or stretched were devised by a team of researchers. The team, led by the University of Cambridge, used a new method called Bend-Induced-Oscillatory-Shearing (BIOS) to produce hundreds of metres of … Read more