ENG: At the scale of a bacterium, water is not a light, easy medium but a thick and resistant world, almost like tar, so an early single-celled organism that needed food had to solve the problem of movement before it could search, escape, or survive. Over immense periods of evolution, bacteria developed the flagellar motor, a tiny molecular machine that spins a tail-like flagellum hundreds of times per second and allows the cell to move through water many times its own length in a single second. When the motor turns in one direction, the bacterium swims forward, and when it reverses, the cell tumbles, changes orientation, and begins moving again along a new path.
Category: Medicine
A Key Protein Behind Brain Aging
ENG: Researchers at UC San Francisco identified FTL1, or ferritin light chain 1, a protein involved in cellular iron storage and regulation, as a possible key driver of brain aging. The study focused on the hippocampus, a brain region essential for learning and memory. In older mice, neuronal FTL1 levels in the hippocampus were higher, and this increase was linked to fewer neural connections and poorer cognitive performance.
Stabilizing Thyme Extract with Microscopic Capsules
ENG: Scientists have developed a way to turn thyme extract into tiny, consistent doses that are easier to store and safer to use. Thyme contains compounds such as thymol, carvacrol, rosmarinic acid, and caffeic acid, which are linked to antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant effects. However, the extract can evaporate quickly and, in larger amounts, may irritate the skin or digestive system, so controlling the dose is important.
A Paper-Thin Brain Implant That Brings the Brain and Computers Closer Than Ever
ENG: Researchers from Columbia University, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, Stanford University, and the University of Pennsylvania have unveiled a new brain–computer interface platform known as the Biological Interface System to Cortex (BISC). The work brings together advances in semiconductor engineering, neuroscience, and clinical neurosurgery to address long-standing limitations of implantable brain interfaces. The team set out to replace bulky, invasive implants with a system that is dramatically smaller, safer to implant, and capable of handling the massive data volumes required for modern AI-based neural decoding.