The best from the science journals: Asteroid analysis to decoding dinosaurs

Here are some of the most interesting research to have appeared in top science journals last week

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). The outer shell, called the capsid (yellow and purple) envelopes the viral RNA genome (blue). Illustration credit: Janet Iwasa (utah.edu)

Studying HIV up close

Published in Science

Scientists have for the first time have recreated the first steps of infection by HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) in a test tube. The team was able to monitor how the virus replicated its genetic material and inserted it into the target DNA. Understanding in detail about the early stages of the virus life cycle can help develop new treatments for AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome).

Is it a dinosaur feather?

Published in Scientific Reports

 

A 150-million-year-old feather which was found in a limestone quarry in Germany in 1861 has confused scientists for decades as they struggled to find whether it belonged to a bird or a dinosaur. This was the first ever discovered feather fossil and now advanced microscopic techniques found that it came from the left wing of a bird-like dinosaur called Archaeopteryx. It also found that the original color of the feather was not plain black or white as previously thought but a matte black.

That smells fishy

Published in Current Biology

Is the smell of a fish market unpleasant and stronger to you than your friend? Don’t worry. Your friend might be carrying a mutated gene. A mutation in a particular receptor gene called trace amine-associated receptor 5 (TAAR5) was found to make fish odour less intense. Scientists asked over 9,000 people from Iceland to take a sniff test and showed that though humans have fewer olfactory genes compared to other species, some genetic variations can make people more sensitive to certain smells.

When a physicist met a diamond

Published in New Journal of Physics

Though Marilyn Monroe said diamonds are a girl's best friend, it is now correct to say physicists love it. More than a decade ago, it was shown that diamonds can be superconductors when doped with high concentrations of boron. Another phenomenon called “triplet superconductivity” has now been reported in diamond. It is a more efficient form of superconductivity and has only been shown theoretically in diamonds. The researchers note that this has the potential to revolutionise the quantum materials industry.

Bennu and beyond

This Nov. 16, 2018, image provide by NASA shows the asteroid Bennu.

 

Three papers published in Science. Click here to read 1 , 2 , 3

On September 8, 2016, NASA launched the OSIRIS-REx with a mission to study a near-Earth asteroid named Bennu. It is expected to perform its Touch-And-Go sample collection attempt on October 20 and bring samples back to Earth by 2023. Three papers published this week discuss the colour, age, composition and distribution of materials on the asteroid. The team notes that minerals associated with the presence of water are scattered around Bennu's surface. Its boulders have diverse textures and colours which may offer clues about solar winds over time.

Read more at: www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/