Latest News

• share
• favorite_border

Far from being a pipe dream years away from reality, practical technology for capturing carbon dioxide — the main greenhouse gas — from smokestacks is aiming for deployment at coal-fired electric power generating stations and other sources, scientists said here today. Their presentation at the 243rd National Meeting of the American Chemical Society was a potential advance toward dealing with the 30 billion tons of carbon dioxide released into the air each year through human activity.

• share
• favorite_border

Scientists, public safety and law enforcement officials will hold a special session here on Monday, March 26, to reveal the behind-the-scenes planning that culminated in the December 9, 2010, burning of the infamous “bomb house” in Escondido, Calif. The session, titled “How to ‘safely’ burn down a house,” is part of the 243rd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world’s largest scientific society. The presentation is among more than 11,700 that will be delivered at the meeting, being held here through Thursday.

• share
• favorite_border

A new genre of plastics that mimic the human skin’s ability to heal scratches and cuts offers the promise of endowing cell phones, laptops, cars and other products with self-repairing surfaces, scientists reported today. The team’s lead researcher described the plastics, which change color to warn of wounds and heal themselves when exposed to light, here today at the 243rd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world’s largest scientific society.

• share
• favorite_border

With an understanding of science and technology growing ever more important for full participation in a democratic society, the world’s largest scientific society today is holding a special symposium on how scientists can better communicate their work to the public. The American Chemical Society (ACS) will host the event, “Communicating Chemistry to the Public,” as part of its 243rd National Meeting & Exposition, being held here.

• share
• favorite_border

The American Chemical Society (ACS), the world’s largest scientific society, today documented significant progress toward conserving energy and water, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions and waste generation at its internationally known annual meetings during 2011.

• share
• favorite_border

A two-drug combination is one of the most promising advances in decades for the treatment of tuberculosis (TB) — a disease that kills 2 million people annually — a scientist reported today at the 243rd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS). The treatment, which combines two medications already approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), delivers a knockout punch to forms of TB that shrug off other antibiotics.

• share
• favorite_border

Butterfly wings may rank among the most delicate structures in nature, but they have given researchers powerful inspiration for new technology that doubles production of hydrogen gas — a green fuel of the future — from water and sunlight. The researchers presented their findings here today at the American Chemical Society’s (ACS’) 243rd National Meeting & Exposition.

• share
• favorite_border

A preservative in toothpastes, hand soaps, underarm deodorants and other everyday products is getting a second life, helping crime scene investigators preserve evidence of arson, scientists reported here today at the 243rd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS).

• share
• favorite_border

Just as authors often read numerous books before starting their own, scientists are using decades of knowledge from sequencing the genetic codes of thousands of living things to start writing new volumes in the library of life. J. Craig Venter, Ph.D., one of the most renowned of those scientists, described construction of the first synthetic cell and many new applications of this work at the 243rd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society.

• share
• favorite_border

Medicine’s recipe for keeping older people active and functioning in their homes and workplaces — and healing younger people injured in catastrophic accidents — may include “noodle gels” and other lab-made invisible filaments that resemble uncooked spaghetti with nanoscale dimensions, a scientist said here today at the 243rd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS).

• share
• favorite_border

The long-sought technology for enabling the fabled “hydrogen economy” — an era based on hydrogen fuel that replaces gasoline, diesel and other fossil fuels, easing concerns about foreign oil and air pollution — has been available for decades and could begin commercial production of hydrogen in this decade, a scientist reported here today at the 243rd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world’s largest scientific society.

• share
• favorite_border

Scientists are enlisting the living, self-propelled microbes found in pond scum — the pea-green surface slicks that form on ponds — in the development of a long-awaited new test to detect the cells that spread cancer through the bloodstream from the original tumor to new sites in the body. They presented the information here today at the 243rd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world’s largest scientific society.

• share
• favorite_border

Bassam Z. Shakhashiri, Ph.D., president of the American Chemical Society (ACS) — the world’s largest scientific society — today described initiatives on climate science, the education of future scientists and commemoration of a landmark federal law that engendered some of the nation’s greatest universities at the ACS’ 243rd National Meeting & Exposition. Those initiatives will be the theme of Shakhashiri’s presidential year.

• share
• favorite_border

Popcorn’s reputation as a snack food that’s actually good for health popped up a few notches today as scientists reported that it contains more of the healthful antioxidant substances called "polyphenols" than fruits and vegetables. They spoke at the 243rd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world’s largest scientific society, being held here this week.

• share
• favorite_border

Combining the secrets that enable water striders to walk on water and give wood its lightness and strength yielded an amazing material so buoyant that, in everyday terms, a boat made from 1 pound of it could carry five kitchen refrigerators, about 1,000 pounds. One of the lightest solid substances in the world, it was among the topics of a symposium here today at the 243rd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society.

• share
• favorite_border

Nationally renowned science journalist, author, broadcaster and blogger Paul Raeburn will receive the 2012 James T. Grady-James H. Stack Award for Interpreting Chemistry for the Public from the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society, here this week.

• share
• favorite_border

More than a dozen symposia and other events at the American Chemical Society (ACS) 243rd National Meeting & Exposition are being sponsored or recommended by noted science communicator and ACS President Bassam Z. Shakhashiri, Ph.D. They range from a science outreach event for children at PETCO Park to news from an emerging field of chemistry that promises to produce medicines inside patients’ bodies, as well as a symposium on communicating science to the public.

• share
• favorite_border

Almost 80 percent of current farmland in the U.S. would have to be devoted to raising corn for ethanol production in order to meet current biofuel production targets with existing technology, a new study has found. An alternative, according to a study in ACS’ journal Environmental Science & Technology, would be to convert 60 percent of existing rangeland to biofuels.

• share
• favorite_border

In a modern iteration of the great age of Antarctic exploration of the 19th and 20th centuries, three teams of scientists are rushing to reach not the South Pole like Roald Amundsen, Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton, but lakes deep below the surface of the Frozen Continent believed to hold scientific treasures. That quest by Russian, British and American scientific teams for water samples is the topic of an article in the current edition of Chemical & Engineering News, the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world’s largest scientific society.

• share
• favorite_border

Scientists have combined two new “designer” forms of aspirin into a hybrid substance that appears more effective than either of its forebears in controlling the growth of several forms of cancer in laboratory tests. Their report on the new NOSH-aspirin, so named because it releases nitric oxide (NO) and hydrogen sulfide (H2S), appears in the journal ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters.

• share
• favorite_border

An inexpensive device used by millions of people with diabetes could be adapted into a home DNA detector that enables individuals to perform home tests for viruses and bacteria in human body fluids, in food and in other substances, scientists are reporting in a new study. The report on this adaptation of the ubiquitous personal glucose monitor, typically used to test blood sugar levels, appears in ACS’ journal Analytical Chemistry.

• share
• favorite_border

At a time of increasing concern about low vitamin D levels in the world’s population and increased use of blood tests for the vitamin, scientists are reporting development of a much-needed reference material to assure that measurements of vitamin D levels are accurate.

• share
• favorite_border

Taking inspiration from the yellow fattail scorpion, which uses a bionic shield to protect itself against scratches from desert sandstorms, scientists have developed a new way to protect the moving parts of machinery from wear and tear.

• share
• favorite_border

The widely used farm practice of grafting watermelon and other melon plants onto squash or pumpkin rootstocks results in larger amounts of certain pesticides in the melon fruit, scientists are reporting in a new study.

• share
• favorite_border

Consumers who remember laundry detergents from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s are about to get that déjà vu feeling — and younger people quite a surprise — as detergent manufacturers once again try a major repackaging of their products. Laundry capsules that contain single doses of detergent and take up less space than conventional detergents are set to make a comeback.

• share
• favorite_border

The chemical industry, which touches 96 percent of all manufactured goods, is seeing some positive signs for 2012, although the overall outlook is not very rosy. Growing demand for chemicals used in agriculture, electronics, cars and airplanes will boost an industry that generates $674 billion in sales in the U.S. alone, but expiring patents and global economic woes will take a toll.

• share
• favorite_border

Nobel laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore once wrote, “Let your life lightly dance on the edges of time like dew on the tip of a leaf.” Now, a new study is finally offering an explanation for why small dew drops do as Tagore advised and form on the tips, rather than the flat surfaces, of leaves. It appears in ACS’ journal Langmuir.

• share
• favorite_border

Scientists are reporting development and initial laboratory tests of an imaging agent that shows promise for detecting the tell-tale signs of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in the brain — signs that now can’t confirm a diagnosis until after patients have died. Their report appears in the journal ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters.

• share
• favorite_border

Why do heavy coffee drinkers have a lower risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, a disease on the increase around the world that can lead to serious health problems? Scientists are offering a new solution to that long-standing mystery in a report in ACS’ Journal of Agricultural & Food Chemistry.

• share
• favorite_border

Scientists are reporting development of a first-of-its-kind technology that could help law enforcement officials trace the residues from terrorist attacks involving nerve gas and other chemical agents back to the companies or other sources where the perpetrators obtained ingredients for the agent.

• share
• favorite_border

Imagine jeans, sweats or socks that clean and de-odorize themselves when hung on a clothesline in the sun or draped on a balcony railing. Scientists are reporting development of a new cotton fabric that does clean itself of stains and bacteria when exposed to ordinary sunlight.

• share
• favorite_border

In pursuit of riches and energy over the last 5,000 years, humans have released into the environment 385,000 tons of mercury, the source of numerous health concerns, according to a new study that challenges the idea that releases of the metal are on the decline.

• share
• favorite_border

In an advance toward eliminating pockets of infection in the brain that help make HIV disease incurable, scientists report the development of new substances that first plug the biological vacuum cleaner that prevents anti-HIV drugs from reaching the brain and then revert to an active drug to treat HIV.

• share
• favorite_border

Motorists may be driving on the world’s first “green” tires within the next few years, as partnerships between tire companies and biotechnology firms make it possible to produce key raw materials for tires from sugar rather than petroleum or rubber trees.

• share
• favorite_border

With citizens’ groups seeking government regulation of foul-smelling ammonia emissions from large dairy farms, scientists today reported that adding natural plant extracts to cow feed can reduce levels of the gas by one-third while reducing the need to fortify cow feed with expensive protein supplements. They reported here at the 242nd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS).

• share
• favorite_border

American Chemical Society National Meeting Press Conference Schedule

• share
• favorite_border

With almost 100 million people in developing countries exposed to dangerously high levels of arsenic in their drinking water, and unable to afford complex purification technology, scientists today described a simple, inexpensive method for removing arsenic based on chopped up pieces of ordinary plastic beverage bottles coated with a nutrient found in many foods and dietary supplements.

• share
• favorite_border

The potato’s stereotype as a fattening food for health-conscious folks to avoid is getting another revision today as scientists report that just a couple servings of spuds a day reduces blood pressure almost as much as oatmeal without causing weight gain. Scientists reported on the research, done on a group of overweight people with high blood pressure, at the 242nd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), being held here this week.

• share
• favorite_border

A new study of dust-like particles of soot in the air — now emerging as the second most important — but previously overlooked — factor in global warming provides fresh evidence that reducing soot emissions from diesel engines and other sources could slow melting of sea ice in the Arctic faster and more economically than any other quick fix, a scientist reported here today.

• share
• favorite_border

A new saliva test can measure the amount of potential carcinogens stuck to a person’s DNA — interfering with the action of genes involved in health and disease — and could lead to a commercial test to help determine risks for cancer and other diseases, scientists reported here today during the 242nd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS).

• share
• favorite_border

The technology in “fire paint” used to protect steel beams in buildings and other structures has found a new life as a first-of-its-kind flame retardant for children’s cotton sleepwear, terrycloth bathrobes and other apparel, according to a report presented here today at the 242nd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS).

• share
• favorite_border

A new birth control vaccine for white-tailed deer — a growing nuisance in urban areas for gardens and landscaping — eliminates the dangerous reproductive behavior behind the annual autumn surge in automobile-deer collisions.

• share
• favorite_border

Scientists today reported development of much needed new tests to help cope with a wave of deaths, emergency room visits and other problems from a new genre of designer drugs sold legally in stores and online that mimic the effects of cocaine, ecstasy and marijuana.

• share
• favorite_border

The increasingly prevalent notion that expensive organic fruits and vegetables are safer because pesticides — used to protect traditional crops from insects, thus ensuring high crop yields and making them less expensive — are a risk for causing cancer has no good scientific support, an authority on the disease said here today. Such unfounded fears could have the unanticipated consequence of keeping healthful fruits and vegetables from those with low incomes.

• share
• favorite_border

Scientists are expressing confidence that questions about life on Mars, which have captured human imagination for centuries, finally may be answered, thanks in part to new life-detection tools up to 1,000 times more sensitive than previous instruments.

• share
• favorite_border

Amid ongoing concerns about scientific illiteracy — with studies indicating that many citizens lack a firm grasp of basic scientific concepts and facts — the world’s largest scientific society today is holding a special symposium on how scientists can better communicate their work to the public.

• share
• favorite_border

Even after many decades of studying ozone and its loss from our atmosphere miles above the Earth, plenty of mysteries and surprises remain, including an unexpected loss of ozone over the Arctic this past winter.

• share
• favorite_border

Scientists are reporting new evidence that a century-old food preservation technology, finding a new life amid 21st century concerns about food safety and nutrition, more than doubles the levels of certain healthful natural antioxidants in fruit.

• share
• favorite_border

Panda poop contains bacteria with potent effects in breaking down plant material in the way needed to tap biomass as a major new source of “biofuels” produced not from corn and other food sources, but from grass, wood chips and crop wastes, scientists reported today at the 242nd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS).

• share
• favorite_border

Billions of people owe their lives to nitrogen fertilizers — a pillar of the fabled Green Revolution in agriculture that averted global famine in the 20th century — but few are aware that nitrogen pollution from fertilizers and other sources has become a major environmental problem that threatens human health and welfare in multiple ways, a scientist said here today.