Here, we uncover the load and fault-tolerant backbones of the trans-European gas pipeline network. Combining topological data with information on intercountry flows, we estimate the global load of the network and its tolerance to failures. To do this, we apply two complementary methods generalized from the betweenness centrality and the maximum flow. We find that the gas pipeline network has gr...

Large-area tunneling junctions using eutectic Ga-In (EGaIn) as a top contact have proven to be a robust, reproducible, and technologically relevant platform for molecular electronics. Thus far, the majority of studies have focused on saturated molecules with backbones consisting mainly of alkanes in which the frontier orbitals are either highly localized or energetically inaccessible. We show t...

As adult-generated neurons integrate into hippocampal circuits, they compete with mature neurons for inputs from the entorhinal cortex. By reducing spines on mature granule cells, McAvoy et al. (2016) find that new neurons integrate more efficiently, and this facilitates learning.

Trichomyia pintoi sp. nov. is described and illustrated from male specimens collected from the Atlantic Forest, southeastern Brazil. T. pintoi is grouped with the globally distributed Trichomyia that have 3 palpus segments. It is easily distinguished by the 8 strong spines inserted in the distal third of the gonocoxite. A checklist of described Western Hemisphere Trichomyia species is provided.

By combining quantum-mechanical analysis of small model peptides and statistical surveys of high-resolution protein structures, a systematic conformational dependence of bond lengths in polypeptide backbones has been unveiled which involves both the peptide bond (C-O and C-N) and those bonds centred on the C(α) atom. All of these bond lengths indeed display a systematic variability in the ψ ang...

Advances in the foldamer field in recent years are as diverse as the backbones of which they are composed. Applications have ranged from cellular penetration and membrane disruption to discrete molecular recognition, while efforts to control the complex geometric shape of foldamers has entered the realm of tertiary and quaternary structure. This review will provide recent examples of progress i...

The ab initio folding problem can be divided into two sequential tasks of approximately equal computational complexity: the generation of native-like backbone folds and the positioning of side chains upon these backbones. The prediction of side-chain conformation in this context is challenging, because at best only the near-native global fold of the protein is known. To test the effect of displ...

How conserved is sub-cellular compartmentalization across species and does it play a similar role? Here, two studies now demonstrate that buds in yeast and spines in mammalian neurons share many properties and suggest unexpected commonalities between simple and complex organisms.

Danforth'sshort-tail (Sd) mouse is a semi-dominant mutation affecting the development of the vertebral column. Although the notochord degenerates completely by embryonic day 9.5, the vertebral column exists up to the lumber region, suggesting that the floor plate can substitute for notochord function. We previously established the mutant mouse line, Skt(Gt), through gene trap mutagenesis and id...

We define and study branched shadows of 4-manifolds as a combination of branched spines of 3-manifolds and of Turaev’s shadows. We use these objects to combinatorially represent 4-manifolds equipped with Spinc-structures and homotopy classes of almost complex structures. We then use branched shadows to study complex 4-manifolds and prove that each almost complex structure on a 4-dimensional han...