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Water and the Hydrogeology of Watersheds
Published in Daniel T. Rogers, Urban Watersheds, 2020
The importance of water on Earth cannot be overstated. Water, along with energy and organic molecules were the prerequisites for the origin of life here billions of years ago. Today, water plays a central role in maintaining our survival as a species, preservation of the natural environment, and therefore achieving a sustainable planet (United Nations 2003). Yet, there are immense challenges facing humans with respect to securing water for their basic needs and long-term quality of life. Although almost three-fourths of Earth’s surface is covered by water, most of this water is not potable, and more than 95% of fresh water is either frozen, underground, or in a gaseous phase.
Dialectics of Nature: Inspiration for Computing
Published in Nazmul Siddique, Hojjat Adeli, Nature-Inspired Computing, 2017
The most fundamental question and the least understood problem hitherto in science is the origin of life. Life introduces a degree of order, organization, and diversity on the earth which is not yet found elsewhere in the universe. There are many hypotheses on the origin of life. Many scientists and philosophers believed that the origin of life was a result of a supernatural event. Many believed that life arose spontaneously from nonliving matter in short periods of time.
Luminescent DNA-origami nano-rods dispersed in a lyotropic chromonic liquid crystal
Published in Liquid Crystals, 2023
Bingru Zhang, Linh Nguyen, Kevin Martens, Amelie Heuer-Jungemann, Julian Philipp, Susanne Kempter, Joachim O. Rädler, Tim Liedl, Heinz-S. Kitzerow
Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), the carrier molecule of genetic information, is one of the most versatile liquid crystal (LC) components, since it can appear in any major class of LCs. Lyotropic LCs can be formed by aqueous solutions of DNA [1,2], thermotropic LCs by DNA and DNA-surfactant complexes [3], and colloidal LCs by DNA nanoparticles fabricated using the tailored folding of DNA (‘DNA origami’) [4]. The self-assembly of short DNA strands to larger aggregates may have even played an important role in the origin of life [5]. The unique versatility of DNA has also triggered research at the borders between thermotropic, lyotropic and colloidal LCs. For example, the mutual aligning effects of lyotropic and thermotropic LCs [6,7], the influence of anisometric colloidal DNA nanoparticles on a lyotropic chromonic liquid crystal (LCLC) [8–10] and the optical properties of a lyotropic liquid crystal containing plasmonic DNA nanoparticles with switchable chirality [11] were investigated. In this work, DNA nanoparticles fabricated by DNA origami, stabilised with silica, and subsequently suspended in a LCLC, are described.
Vibrational recognition of pyramidal formamide molecules in selected salt solutions
Published in Molecular Physics, 2021
Arthur A. Machado, Wagner A. Alves
Formamide (FA) has been regarded as a promising molecule to address questions related with the origin of life because it contains carbon (C), hydrogen (H), oxygen (O) and nitrogen (N), which are the basic elements for every single living. Its amide functional group (OCNH) is the simplest unsubstituted unit present in the peptide linkage, which is needed to build up proteins [1]. Furthermore, it promotes the synthesis of adenine, guanine, cytosine and uracil, which are the four nucleobases of RNA, and is also a precursor of amino acids and sugars [2,3]. Its identification in space may also help us understand why life thrives easily on Earth while it appears to be a challenge elsewhere [4,5]. Among several reasons to study such a prototype, it is worth emphasising that FA is liquid under typical terrestrial surface temperature and pressure conditions, thus making it an alternative solvent since water can hydrolyze nucleic acids and proteins [6,7].
‘Borono-lectin’ based engineering as a versatile platform for biomedical applications
Published in Science and Technology of Advanced Materials, 2018
Akira Matsumoto, Yuji Miyahara
Boronic acid (BA) derivatives can readily interact with cis-diols, a commonly found motif in biomolecules including sugars [1–4] and ribose [5–10], through reversible boronate ester formation in an aqueous solution (Scheme 1). For its carbohydrate-binding capability, BA can be regarded as a synthetic mimic of lectins (carbohydrate-binding proteins), termed ‘borono-lectin’ [11–15]. BA is also known for its vital roles in homeostasis of plants and arguably even in the origin of life; recent studies have described its effect to optimally stabilize RNA through interaction with the ribose functionality as proposed mechanism for the ‘RNA world’ persistence under prebiotic conditions [16–18]. These and the fact that a variety of BA chemistry today prevails as chemotherapeutics and other remedies [19–21] may support inherent compatibility of these compounds with life. The strength of interaction observed for monomeric state BA is essentially weak as compared to proteins, e.g. the binding stability of BA-sugar interactions is 3 to 4 orders of magnitude smaller than those typically observed for lectins. Furthermore, furnishing BA with an ability to distinguish glycoconjugate-scale structural complexity, which is commonly present with natural lectins [22], is quite challenging unless it is carefully engineered [23]. Nonetheless, such ‘weak’ and ‘vague’ interactions can be dramatically improved once they are polymerized taking advantage of the polyvalent effect, making itself a unique class of bio-application platform [24–30]. That is to say, such dynamic interaction can be exploited to address otherwise difficult challenges such as continuous monitoring, environment-sensitive and bio-interactive applications, in which temporal, reversible or oscillatory patterns of biomolecules are matter of interest. One can also tailor the ‘borono-lectin’ to elicit a divergent profile of binding strength and specificity on the basis of stereochemistry and controlled electronic effect [31,32]. Moreover, thanks to recent advancement of Suzuki-Miyaura coupling chemistry [33], there is an ever-increasing lineup of BA derivatives that are accessible for reasonable price. Besides the versatility, also noteworthy is that some groups of BA can undergo a sharp inversion in the state of hydration in synchronization with the molecular recognition; typically, being hydrophilic when charged in the presence of the binding targets and vice versa. This feature, especially when combined with amphiphilic type of polymeric backbone, further widen the utility of BA in materials engineering, as it leads to many creative principles for fine-tuning or switching the hydration and more complex molecular assemblies in a way interactive with biology. With a special focus on these unique features of BA, among others, herein we aim to provide a brief summary of recent efforts of materials engineering, including our own contributions, that are relevant to the field of biomaterials and drug delivery applications.