strands | Common News Update

Aug22019 by adminNo Comments

Male black widow spiders hijack silk strands of their rivals to find a mate

Science

Aug. 2 (UPI) -- To find mates, male black widow spiders follow the silk trails left by their rivals, according to a new study. The revelation, detailed this week in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, surprised scientists at the University of Toronto Scarborough. Scientists assumed males followed the scents, or pheromones, released by females and avoided those emitted by males. It is the pattern followed by most mate-seeking insects. "We expect males to use female cues to find a potential mate, and use those left by their rivals to avoid them," Catherine Scott, a doctoral candidate at UTSC, said in a news release. "We found male black widows follow rather than avoid rival males, using their silk trails as highways that rapidly lead them to a female's web, even if they can't s...

'Molecular hopper' can transport, manipulate single strands of DNA

Science

Aug. 31 (UPI) -- Scientists have designed a molecular machine -- a "molecular hopper" -- capable of moving single strands of DNA. The hopper moves along a nanoscale track. Its locomotion is made possible by the making and breaking of simple chemical bonds. In lab tests, the hopper successfully carried single strands of DNA through a protein nanotube. The breakthrough could inspire the next generation of gene editing technologies. "Being able to control molecular motion is the holy grail of building nanoscale machines," Hagan Bayley, a professor of chemistry at Oxford University, said in a news release. "Being able to process single molecules of DNA under precise chemical control may provide an alternative to the use of enzymes in DNA sequencing technologies, improving their speed and the ...

Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson airport power cut strands thousands

World

A power cut at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson international airport on Sunday led to a partial shut-down, affecting tens of thousands of people.The airport is the world's busiest, handling more than 250,000 passengers and almost 2,500 flights every day. Passengers were left in darkened terminals or on board planes.Power is now restored at the airport, but there have been more than 1,000 flight cancellations, with hundreds more scheduled for Monday.Many flights scheduled to arrive from other airports were being diverted elsewhere or held at their departure airport.In a statement, the airport confirmed they had suffered a power cut shortly after 13:00 (18:00 GMT) on Sunday. Flights are expected to resume at 06:00 on Monday (11:00 GMT).Georgia Power, which supplies the airport's electricity, sa...