Researchers unlock secrets of cell division, define role for protein elevated in cancer
Researchers at Princeton University have successfully recreated a key process involved in cell division in a test tube. Continue Reading →
Category: National Science Foundation
Motion-capture technology assists in neuroscience studies
A new technology can automatically track animals’ body parts in video to measure the behavior of animals. Continue Reading →
The left panel shows a type of single-celled algae known as Chlamydomonas reinhardtii with its chloroplast (purple) containing only a single pyrenoid (green). The SAGA1 mutant shown on the right displays several extra pyrenoids. Image credit: Alan Itakura
Princeton researchers explore how a carbon-fixing organelle forms via phase separation
A new study yields insights into how an organelle called the pyrenoid, which helps algae remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, forms inside the cell via a process similar to how oil separates from water. Continue Reading →
Mysterious Majorana quasiparticle is now closer to being controlled for quantum computing
As mysterious as the Italian scientist for which it is named, the Majorana particle is one of the most compelling quests in physics. Its fame stems from its strange properties – it is the only Continue Reading →
Artist's rendering, Shutterstock
For infection-fighting cells, a guideline for expanding the troops
T cells are like the special ops forces of the immune system, detecting and killing infected cells. When a new threat is detected, the cells ramp up from just a few sentry cells to a Continue Reading →
Controllable electron flow in quantum wires
Princeton University researchers have demonstrated a new way of making controllable “quantum wires” in the presence of a magnetic field, according to a new study published online today in the journal Nature. The researchers detected channels Continue Reading →
Turning up the heat on the search for better plastics
By Scott Lyon If you have ever poured hot coffee into a cheap plastic cup, you may recall that sinking feeling as the cup seems to wilt. Not quite solid, not quite liquid, the cup Continue Reading →
Finding meaning among the junk
By Kevin McElwee Only about 10 percent of the human genome are actually genes. The other 90 percent? Once called “junk DNA,” researchers now know that this genetic material contains on-off switches that can activate Continue Reading →
Fact-checking Immigration: Professor Leah Boustan uses big data to explore myths about the past
By Kevin McElwee “When the horns started to blow and we saw the Statue of Liberty, I thought I was in heaven. Really. She’s up there and saying, ‘Come on in. From now on you Continue Reading →
Going green: What we can learn from a little alga
By Yasemin Saplakoglu WE ARE CONCERNED, rightly so, about the amount of carbon dioxide accumulating in the Earth’s atmosphere. But to most plants, which use carbon for photosynthesis, the amount we have is not enough. Continue Reading →
John Pardon on math’s power to distract and divert
By Yasemin Saplakoglu GETTING A TIRED and hungry 12-year-old to hike another mile up a steep mountain is a daunting task. But John Pardon’s parents quickly figured out a simple solution that saved many of Continue Reading →
Diamonds’ flaws hold promise for new technologies
By Yasemin Saplakoglu DESPITE THEIR CHARM AND ALLURE, diamonds are rarely perfect. They have tiny defects that, to assistant professor Nathalie de Leon, make them ever so appealing. These atom-sized mistakes have enormous potential in Continue Reading →
Self-powered system makes smart windows smarter
By Sharon Adarlo A new solar cell technology could make it inexpensive to create and install smart windows that automatically vary their tint to augment lighting, heating and cooling systems in buildings. The new transparent Continue Reading →
Probing the genetic basis for dog-human relationships
By Pooja Makhijani A new study has identified genetic changes that are linked to dogs’ human-directed social behaviors and suggests there is a common underlying genetic basis for hyper-social behavior in both dogs and humans. Continue Reading →
Better decision-making for the planet
By Yasemin Saplakoglu We might think we have control of the mix of decisions we make during the day. But it turns out that our brain gives us subconscious nudges, preferring some choices over others. Continue Reading →
Atom catcher: With lasers and magnets, Waseem Bakr traps atoms for study under the microscope
By Bennett McIntosh THE COLDEST SPOT on the Princeton campus is a cluster of a few thousand atoms suspended above a table in Waseem Bakr’s laboratory. When trapped in a lattice of intersecting lasers at Continue Reading →
Exploring collective interactions of matter and antimatter
STRIP AWAY ELECTRONS FROM THEIR ATOMS and you get a plasma — a collection of negatively charged electrons and positively charged ions. But at high energies around compact cosmic objects such as black holes, quasars Continue Reading →
Researcher probes the secret life of electrons
ELECTRONS DART within and between atoms far too quickly for current imaging techniques to observe their motion. To capture fast-moving objects without a blur, a photographer can use a camera flash to light up a Continue Reading →
Of swords, stars and superconductors
Robert Cava weaves physicists’ dreams into exotic new materials By Bennett McIntosh ROBERT CAVA PULLS A LONG CURVED steel blade from its ornate sheath, revealing a rippling pattern of light and dark metal. The sword Continue Reading →
CITIES: Resilient • Adaptable • Livable • Smart
Innovations in building materials, design, water systems and power grids are helping to make cities more livable, say researchers in Princeton’s School of Engineering and Applied Science By Bennett McIntosh Cities. They sprawl and tangle, Continue Reading →
Better living through behavioral science
How the psychology of human behavior is helping tackle society’s biggest problems By Wendy Plump SUPPOSE someone approaches you on the street with the following proposition: You can receive either cash on the spot or Continue Reading →
Tiny delivery capsules for new drugs
Some drugs cannot be delivered via a normal pill or injection because they cannot readily dissolve in water. About 40 percent of new pharmaceuticals have this hydrophobic (water-fearing) character, and like a globule of oil Continue Reading →
Cosmic background: 51 years ago, an accidental discovery sparked a big bang in astrophysics
ON NEW YEAR’S DAY 2015, A BALLOON-BORNE SPACECRAFT ascended above Antarctica and snapped crisp photos of space, unobscured by the humidity of Earth’s atmosphere. Meanwhile, a telescope located 4,000 miles to the north, in the Continue Reading →
New chemistry aids drug development
DRUG DEVELOPMENT OFTEN INVOLVES modifying the chemical structure to get the right combination of properties, such as stability and activity. Working in the laboratory of John Groves, the Hugh Stott Taylor Chair of Chemistry, undergraduate Continue Reading →
Son-o-MERMAID takes to the waters
SEISMIC WAVES CAUSED BY EARTHQUAKES can tell us a lot about the makeup of the Earth’s crust and mantle. Yet we lack seismic readings from the regions under the world’s oceans, which cover 70 percent Continue Reading →
Elusive particles found
IN THE PAST YEAR, PRINCETON PHYSICISTS have detected two particles that were predicted decades ago to exist but had not been found until now. Both particles were detected using a scanning-tunneling microscope to image the Continue Reading →
Bioengineering: Unlocking the secrets of human health
By Takim Williams RED-HOT RIVERS OF MOLTEN COPPER and aluminum alloys streamed from one receptacle to another. As an undergraduate watching the demonstration in a materials science class, Clifford Brangwynne was reminded of cells migrating Continue Reading →
Beautiful minds
By Catherine Zandonella TOWERING ABOVE THE ARCHES AND IVY, 13-story Fine Hall is home to the Department of Mathematics and to some of the deepest thinkers on campus. “Our goal as a department is to Continue Reading →
COMPUTER SCIENCE: Internet traffic moves smoothly with Pyretic
AT 60 HUDSON ST. IN LOWER MANHATTAN, a fortress-like building houses one of the Internet’s busiest exchange points. Packets of data zip into the building, are routed to their next destination, and zip out again, Continue Reading →
COMPUTER SCIENCE: Security check: A strategy for verifying software that could prevent bugs
IN APRIL 2014, INTERNET USERS WERE SHOCKED to learn of the Heartbleed bug, a vulnerability in the open-source software used to encrypt Internet content and passwords. The bug existed for two years before it was Continue Reading →
Computer visions: A selection of research projects in Computer Science
Princeton’s Department of Computer Science has strong groups in theory, networks/systems, graphics/vision, programming languages, security/policy, machine learning, and computational biology. Find out what the researchers have been up to lately in these stories: Armchair victory: Computers Continue Reading →
Wetlands provide solutions for agricultural runoff
A PATCHWORK OF SMALL LAKES, forests and marshes surrounded by farms and suburbs, the Assunpink Wildlife Management Area in central New Jersey is an ideal place to track the effects of agricultural nitrogen runoff on Continue Reading →
Striking resemblance: A physical law may govern very different biological activities
FLOCKS OF BIRDS FLY ACROSS THE SKY in shifting configurations. In the retina of an eye, millions of neurons ignite in ever-changing combinations, translating light into meaningful images. Yet both of these seemingly random behaviors Continue Reading →
Africa’s poison ‘apple’ provides common ground for elephants and livestock
AFRICAN WILDLIFE OFTEN RUN AFOUL of ranchers securing food and water resources for their animals, but the interests of fauna and farmer might finally be unified by the “Sodom apple,” a toxic invasive plant that Continue Reading →
No more mirrors: a new way of making molecules for tracking disease
RADIOACTIVITY IS USUALLY ASSOCIATED with nuclear fallout or comic-book spider bites, but in very small amounts it can be a useful tool for diagnosing diseases. Small molecules containing a radioactive isotope of fluorine, called 18F, Continue Reading →
Light-splitting crystals from inexpensive ingredients
HIGHLY PURIFIED CRYSTALS that split light with uncanny precision are key parts of high-powered lenses, specialized optics and, potentially, computers that manipulate light instead of electricity. But producing these crystals by current techniques, such as Continue Reading →
Laser device may end pin pricks, improve health for diabetics
PRINCETON RESEARCHERS have developed a way to use a laser to measure people’s blood sugar, and, with more work to shrink the laser system to a portable size, the technique could allow diabetics to check Continue Reading →
Star formation, black holes focus of new research
TWO NEW RESEARCH NETWORKS IN ASTROPHYSICS got off the ground this year, one to explore how stars form and the other to study how black holes accumulate matter, with the goal of answering fundamental questions Continue Reading →
Princeton-born play makes off-Broadway debut
A MUSICAL ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE that was born at Princeton made its New York City debut in April 2014. Both entertaining and informative, The Great Immensity focuses on the quintessential question of our time: How Continue Reading →
Secrets of the Southern Ocean
Marine geochemistry specialist Robert Key doesn’t consider himself particularly prone to depression. Yet emails to his wife from a research vessel on the freezing waters of the Southern Ocean depicted an emotional slump amid harsh Continue Reading →
Telescopes take the universe’s temperature
Two telescopes on a Chilean mountaintop are poised to tell us much about the universe in its infancy. They are surveying the faint temperature fluctuations left over from the explosive birth of the universe, with Continue Reading →
Collective behavior could help animals survive a changing environment
For social animals such as schooling fish, the loss of their numbers to human activity could eventually threaten entire populations, according to a finding that such animals rely heavily on grouping to effectively navigate their Continue Reading →
