Quantum chemistry may be a shortcut to life-changing compounds

MOLECULAR PURSUITS  Quantum chemistry could launch a manufacturing revolution, helping to identify materials for improved solar cells, better batteries or more effective medicines.

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A. ASPURU-GUZIK/HARVARD UNIV., ADAPTED BY E. OTWELL 

When Alán Aspuru-Guzik was in college, he really got into SETI@home, the project that uses home computers to speed the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. He was less interested in finding aliens in outer space, however, than in using fleets of computers to search molecular space. He wanted to find chemical compounds that could do intelligent things here on Earth.
SETI@home is a well-known distributed computing project that allows regular people to volunteer their idle computers to sift through reams of data — in this case, radio signals. Aspuru-Guzik, now a theoretical chemist at Harvard University, hopes to harness thousands of home computers to comb through almost every possible combination of atoms.

No-pain gene discovered

HOW IT HURTS  Rare mutations in the gene PRDM12 prevent proper development of pain-sensing fibers that carry pain signals from the skin to the brain, rendering people impervious to pain, a new study suggests. 

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E. OTWELL

Mutations in a previously unscrutinized gene can leave people dangerously indifferent to harm,researchers report May 25 in Nature Genetics.
Certain changes to this gene, PRDM12, rob people of the ability to feel pain, leading to unintentional injuries such as scarred tongues, scratched corneas and missing digits. A deeper understanding of how pain is blocked in these rare cases could ultimately lead to better treatments for people who suffer from pain.