From Symphony to Structure: Listening to Proteins Fold
From Symphony to Structure: Listening to Proteins Fold
By assigning sounds to the dynamic bonds within proteins, scientists gathered new insights on protein folding.
By assigning sounds to the dynamic bonds within proteins, scientists gathered new insights on protein folding.
sound
Regulating Insulin With Queen’s Greatest Hits
Kamal Nahas, PhD | Oct 2, 2023 | 4 min read
Pop music balanced blood sugar levels in mice, thanks to implanted human cells rigged to release insulin using a sound-sensitive bacterial protein.
Opinion: Listening to the Biosphere Is Key Step in Saving It
Karen Bakker | Dec 12, 2022 | 4 min read
New insights into the functionality of nonhuman sound may help us conserve nature and protect ourselves from excessive noise.
Embryonic Eavesdropping: How Animals Hear and Respond to Sound
Amanda Heidt | Nov 1, 2021 | 10+ min read
Recent findings buck the traditional idea that embryos are passive agents and instead suggest that by tuning into vibrations, organisms can better prepare to enter the outside world.
Spider Uses Its Web Like a Giant Engineered Ear
Dan Robitzski | Oct 29, 2021 | 4 min read
Bridge spiders “outsource” their hearing by building webs that double as acoustic arrays, allowing them to perceive sounds from great distances.
A Song of Spider Silk
Lisa Winter | Apr 15, 2021 | 2 min read
Scientists from MIT reveal the hidden music in spiderwebs.
Whale Song Echoes Help Scientists Map the Ocean Floor
Asher Jones | Feb 12, 2021 | 2 min read
By analyzing how fin whale calls bounce off the seafloor, scientists can recreate ocean crust layers.
This Ogre-Faced Spider Can Hear Prey Through Its Legs
Katarina Zimmer | Oct 29, 2020 | 5 min read
The tropical net-casting spider Deinopis spinosa joins several other arachnid species that can hear sounds from afar without the help of a web, or even ears—an ability that aids its unique hunting tactics.
Ecuadorian Cactus Absorbs Ultrasound, Enticing Bats to Flowers
Emily Makowski | Jan 17, 2020 | 4 min read
Many plants reflect ultrasonic waves, thereby attracting the pollinators, but one cactus takes a different approach.
Smells of Nature Lower Physiological Stress
Ashley Yeager | Jan 2, 2020 | 4 min read
In a virtual reality experiment, participants recovered faster from a small electric shock when they could smell natural scents than when they could smell urban odors.
Browsing Deer Affect How A Forest Sounds
Jef Akst | Jun 1, 2019 | 3 min read
Changes in the auditory environment as a result of herbivory could influence how animals communicate, and may have implications for sound-based monitoring of species.
Softer Diets Allowed Early Humans to Pronounce “F,” “V” Sounds
Katarina Zimmer | Mar 14, 2019 | 4 min read
Drastic dietary changes during the agricultural revolution altered the configuration of the human bite, paving the way for new sounds in spoken language, a new study finds.
Recording of “Sonic Attack” in Cuba Was Crickets: Scientists
Kerry Grens | Jan 7, 2019 | 2 min read
Biologists say a sound suspected to have caused headaches, nausea, and possible brain damage among diplomats is actually of insects chirping.
Researchers Identify Gene Variants Linked to Synesthesia
Catherine Offord | Mar 5, 2018 | 2 min read
A whole-genome analysis of people who experience color when they listen to sounds points to a handful of genes involved in neural development.
Neurons That Recognize Tone Identified
Shawna Williams | Aug 28, 2017 | 1 min read
The cells are crucial to detecting emphasis, sarcasm, and uptalk in human conversation.
Biologists Will Be Listening to the Eclipse
Kerry Grens | Aug 18, 2017 | 2 min read
At 100 sites around North America, field recorders are set to record natures’ response to the blotting out of the sun on Monday.