A Protein Has Been Caught Conducting Electricity, And Scientists Are Really Excited

Proteins, the building blocks in every cell, have usually been thought of as blobs of inert organic matter. Now scientists have caught one particular protein doing something incredible: conducting electricity.

If the findings can be replicated and used, we could have ourselves a powerful new diagnostic tool for medical use, capable of identifying single protein molecules with a little blip of electrical current.

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Tau.Neutrino said:

A Protein Has Been Caught Conducting Electricity, And Scientists Are Really Excited

Proteins, the building blocks in every cell, have usually been thought of as blobs of inert organic matter.

dafuq

Tau.Neutrino said:

A Protein Has Been Caught Conducting Electricity, And Scientists Are Really Excited

Proteins, the building blocks in every cell, have usually been thought of as blobs of inert organic matter. Now scientists have caught one particular protein doing something incredible: conducting electricity.

If the findings can be replicated and used, we could have ourselves a powerful new diagnostic tool for medical use, capable of identifying single protein molecules with a little blip of electrical current.

more…

I take it that what they mean to say is that proteins don’t have the aromatic structure typically associated with electrical conduction. They are chock full of unbalanced static charges and are chemically active so it’s not too much of a stretch to expect them to conduct electricity by ion transport.