Feature Channels: Chemistry

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Nobel laureate Harold Kroto said that humanity’s age-old quest to understand what’s going on millions and billions of miles across the galaxy are having enormous and unexpected payoffs here on Earth, including the birth of a new, multibillion-dollar-per-year nanotechnology industry. His talk is part of a special symposium on the chemistry of natural resources during the 241st American Chemical Society (ACS) National Meeting.

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Scientists are reporting on a new material containing an ingredient used to make bricks that shows promise as a transparent coating for improving the strength and performance of plastic food packaging. Called “nano-bricks,” the coating could help foods and beverages stay fresh and flavorful longer and may replace some foil packaging currently in use, they said. Scientists will describe the new, eco-friendly material at the 241st National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Anaheim.

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Those raging fires that destroy homes, ships, planes other structures could be suppressed in faster and more efficiently using technology now in development that uses an unusual source: Blasts of electrical waves. Scientists will describe the promising “flame-tamer” technology at the 241st National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Anaheim.

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Scientists are reporting that walnuts have a combination of more healthful antioxidants and higher quality antioxidants than any other nut. They will describe their study on heart-healthy walnuts at the 241st National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Anaheim.

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In a finding that could help meet the growing energy demands of billions of people worldwide in a simpler, more efficient and less-costly way, a noted scientist is reporting long-awaited development of the first practical “artificial leaf.” The solar-powered device mimics the chemical process, called photosynthesis, that plants use to convert sunlight into fuel, said chemist Daniel Nocera. He will describe the device at the 241st National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Anaheim.

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Scientists are reporting for the first time that nicotine is the main culprit in diabetes complications among smokers. The tobacco chemical appears to cause elevated levels of a blood protein that increases the risk of diabetes complications, including heart attack, stroke, and blindness, the scientists say. Scientists will describe the finding at the 241st National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Anaheim.

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Organizers of the technical program at the American Chemical Society’s 241st National Meeting & Exposition have identified these highlights from their own division or committee’s presentations. The technical program is a journalistic treasure trove for spot news, features, story ideas, background, and sources for future coverage. It includes almost 9,400 papers that span scientific topics from astronomy to zoology. Journalists can access abstracts of all the presentations, with time and location, via the searchable online program or on a disc available from the ACS Office of Public Affairs contacts.

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A patent was issued for an adhesive peptide that becomes stronger as more moisture is removed. This property could allow it to be used in a low-moisture environment like outer space. Also, the adhesion is mechanical rather than chemical. It develops nanoscale fibrils that become entangled, similar to Velcro.

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J. Scott Smith, Kansas State University professor of food chemistry, and a K-State research team have found that ready-to-eat meat products -- such as hot dogs, pepperoni and deli meats -- are relatively free of carcinogenic compounds.

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Using a light-triggered chemical tool, Johns Hopkins scientists report that they have refined a means of moving individual molecules around inside living cells and sending them to exact locations at precise times.

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Researchers at Cornell University have uncovered a chemical ballet between mosquitoes during sex. The study found that more than 100 proteins in male sperm permanently alter a female’s tendencies to feed and mate – a possible key to controlling diseases such West Nile virus and dengue fever.

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Vikas Berry, assistant professor of chemical engineering at Kansas State University, and his research team are wrapping bacteria with graphene to address current challenges with imaging bacteria under electron microscopes. Berry's method creates a carbon cloak that protects the bacteria, allowing them to be imaged at their natural size and increasing the image's resolution.

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Researchers at Missouri University of Science and Technology are trying to get proteins to create the sticky plaque often associated with neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and even Mad Cow. If successful, the study would better equip researchers to prevent or find a cure for these diseases.

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A new research study dramatically increases knowledge of how taste cells detect sugars, a key step in developing strategies to limit overconsumption. Scientists from the Monell Center and collaborators have discovered that taste cells have several additional sugar detectors other than the previously known sweet receptor.

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Researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine have discovered that a natural product isolated from a traditional Chinese medicinal plant commonly known as thunder god vine, or lei gong teng, and used for hundreds of years to treat many conditions including rheumatoid arthritis works by blocking gene control machinery in the cell. The report, published as a cover story of the March issue of Nature Chemical Biology, suggests that the natural product could be a starting point for developing new anticancer drugs.

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Compound useful for studying birth defects may also have anti-tumor properties, according to researchers at North Carolina State University.

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Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, led by Jeffrey D. Esko, PhD, professor in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, describe the build-up of a novel secondary metabolite in Sanfilippo disease, a discovery that could improve understanding of the pathology of Sanfilippo disease and refine diagnostic techniques.

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Christine Aikens, K-State assistant professor of chemistry, has received the Sloan Research Fellowship for her success as a promising young scholar, particularly in the research areas of sustainable energy and gold nanoparticles.

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For a week in March, the permanent home of Disneyland becomes the world capital of science as more than 13,000 scientists and others gather here for the 241st National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS). Press registration for onsite coverage of the meeting is open.

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Chemistry researchers at McGill University have taken a key step towards making a cheap, portable, paper-based filter coated with silver nanoparticles to be used in emergency situations such as floods, tsunamis and earthquakes.

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Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have discovered a signaling mechanism in the bacterial ribosome that detects proteins that activate genes for antibiotic resistance.

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A group of chemical compounds used by a species of tropical seaweed to ward off fungus attacks may have promising antimalarial properties for humans. The compounds are part of a unique chemical signaling system that seaweeds use to battle enemies – and that may provide a wealth of potential new pharmaceutical compounds.

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Introductory college science classes need to improve their coverage of issues related to sustainability, a noted chemistry educator told the American Association for the Advancement of Science today.

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Rising carbon dioxide levels associated with global warming may affect interactions between plants and the insects that eat them, altering the course of plant evolution, research at the University of Michigan suggests.

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A new analysis of sulfur emissions shows that after declining for a decade, worldwide emissions rose again in 2000 due largely to international shipping and a growing Chinese economy. An accurate read on sulfur emissions will help researchers predict future changes in climate and determine present day effects on the atmosphere, health and the environment.

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Scientists have discovered a molecular assistant called Spy that helps bacteria excel at producing proteins for medical and industrial purposes.

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AUTM President Ashley Stevens, D. Phil. (Oxon), CLP is the lead author of The Role of Public Sector Research in the Discovery of Drugs and Vaccines, a paper published in the Feb. 10 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

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With cholera on the rampage in Haiti and almost 40 other countries, scientists are reporting the development of a key advance that could provide a fast, simple test to detect the toxin that causes the disease.

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The enzyme that makes fireflies glow is lighting up the scientific path toward a long-sought new medical imaging agent to better monitor treatment with heparin, the blood thinner that millions of people take to prevent or treat blood clots, scientists are reporting.

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Scientists are reporting discovery of an environmentally friendly way to make a key industrial material — used in products ranging from paints to diapers — from a renewable raw material without touching the traditional pricey and increasingly scarce petroleum-based starting material.

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In time for the chocolate-giving and chocolate-eating fest on Valentine’s Day, scientists are reporting discovery of how this treat boosts the body’s production of the “good” form of cholesterol that protects against heart disease. Polyphenols in chocolate rev up the activity of certain proteins, including proteins that attach to the genetic material DNA in ways that boost “good” cholesterol levels. Their report appears in the American Chemical Society’s Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

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Danish scientists, in a study published in American Chemical Society’s journal, Chemical Research in Toxicology, found that the invisible particles inhaled into the lungs from breathing wood smoke from fireplaces have multiple adverse effects.

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A pair of studies published Feb. 3 in Nature, detail a new method developed to determine structures of biomolecules based on diffraction from protein nanocrystals. The international team of nearly 90 researchers included 10 from Arizona State University, whose contributions included a protein beam injector and nanocrystals.

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Scientists have found that specific changes in cell membrane voltage and ion flow are key in determining if an organism regenerates a head or a tail. It was known that bioelectric signals can trigger the regeneration process, but no one had shown that these signals determine which part regenerates. This technique uses pharmacology to change voltage and does not rely on gene therapy.

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DNA, that marvelous, twisty molecule of life, has an alter ego, research at the University of Michigan and the University of California, Irvine reveals.

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To combat last year’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill, nearly 800,000 gallons of chemical dispersant were injected directly into the oil and gas flow coming out of the wellhead nearly one mile deep in the Gulf of Mexico. Now, as scientists begin to assess how well the strategy worked at breaking up oil droplets, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) chemist Elizabeth B. Kujawinski and her colleagues report that a major component of the dispersant itself was contained within an oil-gas-laden plume in the deep ocean and had still not degraded some three months after it was applied.

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The American Chemical Society (ACS) entertainingly explores this unsettling premise of a world without chemistry in a new high-definition video released before the official launch of the International Year of Chemistry (IYC). A Day without Chemistry follows a person who sees more and more of his everyday necessities and conveniences disappear.

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The American Chemical Society (ACS) is offering students, teachers and others the chance to win monthly cash cards and grand prizes of an iPad, iPod Touch or iPod Nano in its “365: Chemistry for Life Contest,” celebrating the International Year of Chemistry (IYC).

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At the Weizmann Institute, an interdisciplinary team of scientists have used “natural selection” in a test tube to modify the PON1 enzyme so that it provides protection against nerve agents. This ability to tailor enzymes could be used to develop defensive treatments against all known nerve agents.

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Researchers from UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School have discovered a novel peptide that can act as a potent inducer of cancer cell death, which may have significant implications for therapeutic agents used to treat cancer. Their study indicates that the amphipathic tail-anchoring peptide, or ATAP, may provide more successful outcomes in cancer treatment than the BH3 peptide-based therapy currently used. The study was released online December 28, 2010, as a Paper of the Week in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

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The latest episode in the American Chemical Society’s (ACS) award-winning podcast series, “Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions,” focuses on development of a new ultra-light biodegradable foam plastic material made from two unlikely ingredients: The protein in milk and ordinary clay.

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UNC researchers have created synthetic particles that closely mirror some of the key properties of red blood cells. The particles, which mimic the size, shape and flexibility of natural red blood cells, could potentially help pave the way for the development of synthetic blood and lead to more effective treatments for diseases such as cancer.

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News media now can apply for registration for the American Chemical Society’s (ACS’) 241st National Meeting & Exposition March 27-31, 2011, in Anaheim, Calif., one of the largest scientific conferences of the New Year. The meeting, held during the International Year of Chemistry, will take place at the Anaheim Convention and Exhibition Center and at area hotels.

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Artistry from science: Cornell University researchers have unveiled striking, atomic-resolution details of what graphene “quilts” look like at the boundaries between patches, and have uncovered key insights into graphene’s electrical and mechanical properties.

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The American Chemical Society (ACS) today launched the International Year of Chemistry’s IYC 365: Chemistry for Life, a vibrant science calendar for 2011 highlighting the great intellects and epic events that have shaped modern society through the magic of chemistry.