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posted by Fnord666 on Friday November 25 2016, @07:42AM   Printer-friendly
from the who-said-noise-was-always-a-bad-thing dept.

Researchers are using specialized atomic force microscopes to gain a much greater understanding of how molecules move and join together.

In extreme slow-motion, a molecule of medicine entering a cell receptor would look a little like a Soyuz space capsule docking at the International Space Station. It would brake here, boost there; rotate, translate and then, with a light jolt, lock into place.

In real time, large molecules interact in nanosecond speed, practically instantaneously, making them nearly impossible to watch. But scientists are a step closer to being able to observe their moves -- play-by-play -- thanks to novel fine-tuning of an atomic scale instrument by engineers at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

The advancement could someday help researchers figure out why some drugs work well and others less so, and measure details about the workings of life at their root.


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  • (Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 25 2016, @10:16AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 25 2016, @10:16AM (#432813)

    niggers work in no-motion.

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