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Tag Archives: Overcoming
Overcoming the “Impossible” With DNA to Building Superconductor That Could Transform Technology
In DNA, scientists find a solution to building a superconductor that could transform technology.
Could let computers work at warp speed, save energy, and even make trains fly.
Scientists have used
One such superconductor was first proposed by Stanford physicist William A. Little more than 50 years ago. Scientists have spent decades trying to make it work. However, even after validating the feasibility of his idea, they were left with a challenge that appeared impossible to overcome. Until now.
Edward H. Egelman, PhD, of the University of Virginia School of Medicine’s Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, has been a leader in the field of cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), and he and his colleagues used cryo-EM imaging for this seemingly impossible project. “It demonstrates,” he said, “that the cryo-EM technique has great potential in materials research.” Credit: Dan Addison, UVA Communications
Edward H. Egelman, PhD, of UVA’s Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, has been a leader in the field of cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), and he and Leticia Beltran, a graduate student in his lab, used cryo-EM imaging for this seemingly impossible project. “It demonstrates,” he said, “that the cryo-EM technique has great potential in materials research.”
Engineering at the Atomic Level
One possible way to realize Little’s idea for a superconductor is to modify lattices of carbon nanotubes. These are hollow cylinders of carbon so tiny they must be measured in nanometers – billionths of a meter. However, there was a huge challenge: controlling chemical reactions along the nanotubes so that the lattice could be assembled as precisely as needed and function as intended.
Egelman and his colleagues found an answer in the very building blocks of life. They took DNA, the genetic material that tells living cells how to operate, and used it to guide a chemical reaction that would overcome the great barrier to Little’s superconductor. In short, they used chemistry to perform astonishingly precise structural engineering – construction at the level of individual molecules. The result was a lattice of carbon nanotubes assembled specifically as needed for Little’s room-temperature superconductor.
“This work demonstrates that ordered carbon nanotube modification can be achieved by taking advantage of DNA-sequence control over the spacing between adjacent reaction sites,” Egelman said.
For now, the lattice they built has not been tested for superconductivity. However, it offers proof of principle and has great potential for the future, the researchers say. “While cryo-EM has emerged as the main technique in biology for determining the atomic structures of protein assemblies, it has had much less impact thus far in materials science,” said Egelman, whose prior work led to his induction in the National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest honors a scientist can receive.
Egelman and his collaborators say their DNA-guided approach to lattice construction could have a wide variety of useful research applications, especially in physics. But it also validates the possibility of building Little’s room-temperature superconductor. The scientists’ work, combined with other breakthroughs in superconductors in recent years, could ultimately transform technology as we know it and lead to a much more “Star Trek” future.
“While we often think of biology using tools and techniques from physics, our work shows that the approaches being developed in biology can actually be applied to problems in physics and engineering,” Egelman said. “This is what is so exciting about science: not being able to predict where our work will lead.”
Findings Published
The researchers have published their findings in the journal Science. The team consisted of Zhiwei Lin, Leticia Beltran, Zeus A. De los Santos, Yinong Li, Tehseen Adel, Jeffrey A Fagan, Angela Hight Walker, Egelman and Ming Zheng.
Reference: “DNA-guided lattice remodeling of carbon nanotubes” by Zhiwei Lin, Leticia C. Beltran, Zeus A. De los Santos, Yinong Li, Tehseen Adel, Jeffrey A Fagan, Angela R. Hight Walker, Edward H. Egelman and Ming Zheng, 28 July 2022, Science.
DOI: 10.1126/science.abo4628
The work was supported by the Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology and by National Institutes of Health grant GM122510, as well as by an NRC postdoctoral fellowship.
Gwyneth Paltrow on overcoming body insecurities: ‘I’m always on a journey toward self-improvement’
Gwyneth Paltrow is opening up about the insecurities she has about her physical appearance and how she combats them.
The entrepreneur behind the goop beauty and wellness brand gets candid about tackling her self-doubt in the six-episode Netflix series “Sex, Love & goop.” The new series is aimed at improving the relationships and sex lives of six couples.
When some women on the show cited body image as an obstacle to sex, Paltrow shared her experience. She explained that after growing up in the public eye since she was 22, she was always trying to fit some ideal.
“I don’t think I’ve ever met a woman that feels completely great about her body, and that’s a real shame,” Paltrow said in a recent interview with The Associated Press.
NINE OF GWYNETH PALTROW’S MOST EYEBROW-RAISING COMMENTS
The Oscar winner admitted that all women struggle with body shame.
(Stefanie Keenan)
“That means that we’re holding ourselves to some other standard that’s been prescribed to us and it’s very external as opposed to internal. At this point in my life, I’m definitely not a perfect person, but I’m always on a journey toward self-improvement. I really like myself. I know my faults. I don’t think I have blind spots anymore, and I’m trying to sort of cultivate that same feeling about my body.”
Paltrow, 49, also points out that she wanted to “show up for vulnerability” since she was asking the couples to do the same. The six pairs include people of varying ages, races, and sexual orientations working with experts to learn new ways to see each other and increase intimacy, while using methods and tools to enhance their relationships through more pleasurable sex.
One of goop’s missions is to encourage curiosity and “eliminate the shame around female sexuality” through its content and products. Paltrow says there’s no better way to achieve that than by talking about sex and giving people permission to ask for what they want in the bedroom.
“Female pleasure is still considered a taboo and I think that if you look back throughout history and you understand how controlling women’s pleasure or lack thereof or, you know… separating pleasure from morality, it’s a way to make women not feel fully themselves,” she said.
GWYNETH PALTROW SHOWS OFF TONED BIKINI BODY WITH SAUNA SELFIE
The show’s experts — a Sexological Bodyworker, a Tantra and Sacred Intimacy coach, and an Erotic Wellness coach — help couples through deep discussions and physical exercises.
The entrepreneur behind the goop beauty and wellness brand gets candid about tackling her self-doubt in the six-episode Netflix series “Sex, Love & goop.” The new series is aimed at improving the relationships and sex lives of six couples.
(Craig Barritt/Getty Images for Fast Company)
Many couples volunteered to be on the show in hopes of working through disagreements or attitudes toward sex, which ranged from differing levels of desire to complaints of losing the physical spark in a relationship.
Michaela Boehm, an intimacy expert on the series who has worked with Paltrow personally, says she is excited about “Sex, Love & goop” because it will make her advice more accessible to people who might otherwise be reluctant about sex therapy.
“You are doing it in the privacy of your bedroom or your living room, where you are watching. There’s no stigma attached, and you are not having to expose yourself. You get to inch into the water, so to speak, one little toe at a time,” Boehm said.
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“People, because we don’t talk about these things, they think they are broken or the only one experiencing this,” Boehm said. “So seeing it and being presented with it as something that happens, that in itself takes so much pressure off and that opens a door and creates a belief that then can lead to a deeper relationship.”
Both Boehm and Paltrow said they were humbled by the courage the couples showed. “It requires a certain amount of bravery to submit yourself for something like that,” Paltrow said. “A lot of those couples really have almost that like, movie star thing that you just care and you want to watch them.”
Honoree Gwyneth Paltrow (L) and actress Kate Hudson pose with the Style Icon award during the InStyle Awards at Getty Center on October 26, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. In a new interview with the Associated Press, Paltrow explained that after growing up in the public eye since she was 22, she was always trying to fit some ideal.
(Charley Gallay)
The show — which starts streaming Thursday — has an onscreen note at the beginning saying it’s “designed to entertain and inform, not provide medical advice,” a disclaimer in anticipation of the criticism Paltrow and goop often receive. Some of the sessions showing couples experimenting with sex toys and accessories, including paddles, blindfolds and a metal “Wolverine claw,” are sure to get attention.
Goop has been scrutinized for promoting unconventional products and experiences in the effort to educate consumers, and Paltrow has been an easy target as the recognizable face leading the brand. “I have incredible admiration for her because she is willing to put herself in places that I personally, I don’t know if I had the fortitude to be criticized to that extent,” Boehm said.
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“When she decided to really go into being very conscious about the uncoupling and all of those things, everybody was rolling their eyes, everybody was ridiculing her. But now you look and people are actually more willing to accept that they could have co-parenting situations and blended families that are a lot more functional, and that is to a large extent because she put herself out there.”
Yes, goop wants to educate and empower, but it’s also a business after all, so as the series launches, the website is also highlighting two new tie-in products: a vibrator and a female libido supplement.
“I think largely women have been inculcated with this idea that we don’t deserve to ask for those things, and I think it really hinders us.” Paltrow said. The topic of sex is such a great way to kind of really take a bulldozer to try and bust through all of this because it’s something that we all do, and it’s something that really connects us to ourselves.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Mena Suvari Opens Up About Overcoming Meth Addiction & Abuse Trauma
Suvari also credited the #MeToo movement for inspiring the “permission that I learned I could give to myself” about discussing her assault at age 12.
As for Suvari’s Peace, she wrote the tell-all as much for herself as she did for other survivors.
“I felt so compelled to tell my story—I needed to, first and foremost,” Suvari continued. “It’s truly something that I had to do for myself and my relationship with the universe, but if anything, I always had the passion, the intention, that if I could shave off a summer of suffering for anyone, I want to do that.”
Suvari concluded, “I want to be that person that I needed. If anything, I hope it can inspire and shine light. I hope it can create more conversations that I think are important to keep having.”