Toughening Elastomers with Sacrificial Bonds and Watching Them Break

Watching Hydrogen Bonds Break: A Transient Absorption Study of Water.

Ultrafast infrared transient absorption measurements of the complete hydroxyl OD stretching mode spectrum of HOD in water, from 100 fs to tens of picoseconds, observe hydrogen bond breaking and monitor the equilibration of the hydrogen bond network in water. In addition, the vibrational lifetime, the time constant for hydrogen bond breaking, and the rate of orientational relaxation are determin...

Build them up and break them down

Tight junctions (TJs) of cells expressing simple epithelial polarity have been extensively studied, but less is known about TJs of cells expressing complex polarity. In this paper we analyzed, TJs of four different lines, that form bile canaliculi (BC) and express typical hepatocyte polarity; WIF-B9, 11-3, Can 3-1, Can 10. Striking differences were observed in claudin expression. None of the ce...

Viewpoint Filling a cavity with photons , and watching them leave

The harmonic oscillator is one of the most fundamental systems in quantum mechanics. Equipped with its solution—one of the first that every physics student learns to calculate exactly—it is possible to describe realistic problems, from phonons in a crystal to the interaction of light with an atom. It is perhaps ironic, then, how challenging it is to actually prepare a pure harmonic oscillator s...

Sacrificial bonds in the interfibrillar matrix of bone.

Make them, break them, and catch them: studying rare ubiquitin chains.

Two studies in this issue, Kristariyanto et al. (2015) and Michel et al. (2015), describe innovative ways to produce large quantities of atypical K29 and K33 ubiquitin chains and report structures and mechanisms of chain-specific recognition.