Feature Channels: Chemistry

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4-May-2017 11:05 AM EDT
New Plutonium Discovery Lights Way for FSU Chemistry Professor’s Work to Clean Up Nuclear Waste
Florida State University

New research by a Florida State University professor reveals that plutonium's electronic properties are more complex than previously thought and that the element operates more like lighter elements such as iron or nickel.

Released: 5-May-2017 2:05 PM EDT
Brookhaven Lab Chemist Etsuko Fujita to Be Honored at Asian American and Pacific Islander Celebration
Brookhaven National Laboratory

Etsuko Fujita, a senior chemist at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, will be recognized as a “highly accomplished Asian American professional” at the ninth annual Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month Celebration. The event will take place Saturday, May 13 at Stony Brook University.

Released: 5-May-2017 11:05 AM EDT
Brookhaven's John Shanklin Named a Battelle 'Inventor of the Year'
Brookhaven National Laboratory

John Shanklin, a biochemist investigating the fundamental processes that underlie the production of plant oils at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, is being honored as an "Inventor of the Year" by Battelle—the global science and technology organization that, together with Stony Brook University, manages Brookhaven Lab through the company Brookhaven Science Associates.

Released: 5-May-2017 8:30 AM EDT
Researchers Shed New Light on Influenza Detection
University of Notre Dame

Notre Dame Researchers have discovered a way to make influenza visible to the naked eye, by engineering dye molecules to target a specific enzyme of the virus.

Released: 4-May-2017 1:00 PM EDT
Video: New Fabric Coating Protects Your Clothes, and the Environment
Cornell University

ITHACA, N.Y. – When you spill pasta sauce on your favorite shirt but there is no trace of it after being washed, you can thank oleophobicity, a resistance to oil commonly applied to textiles. That resistance, however, comes at a price. The coating that makes textiles oil resistant is fluorine-based and breaks down into chlorofluorocarbon gas, a greenhouse gas harmful to the environment.

Released: 4-May-2017 10:00 AM EDT
High Temperature Step-by-Step Process Makes Graphene From Ethene
Georgia Institute of Technology

An international team of scientists has developed a new way to produce single-layer graphene from a simple precursor: ethene – also known as ethylene – the smallest alkene molecule, which contains just two atoms of carbon.

Released: 3-May-2017 12:05 PM EDT
Researchers Develop a New Catalyst for Water Splitting
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Water-splitting systems require a very efficient catalyst to speed up the chemical reaction that splits water into hydrogen and oxygen, while preventing the gases from recombining back into water. Now an international research team, including scientists at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, has developed a new catalyst with a molybdenum coating that prevents this problematic back reaction and works well in realistic operating conditions.

Released: 3-May-2017 6:05 AM EDT
Researchers Unlock the Mysteries of Fabric Softener Science
American Cleaning Institute

Millions of consumers love the “softness” of their clothing after using liquid fabric softeners. Scientists from the Kao Corporation in Japan have unlocked the mechanism describing how these products work effectively on cloths and yarns, which could pave the way to more effective softening products. Their research was honored with the American Cleaning Institute (ACI) Distinguished Paper Award, recognizing the most outstanding research to appear in 2016 in the Journal of Surfactants and Detergents.

Released: 2-May-2017 2:05 PM EDT
Casting a Wide Net
Department of Energy, Office of Science

Designed molecules will provide positive impacts in energy production by selectively removing unwanted ions from complex solutions.

Released: 2-May-2017 11:05 AM EDT
Finding the Correct Path
Department of Energy, Office of Science

A new computational technique greatly simplifies the complex reaction networks common to catalysis and combustion fields.

Released: 2-May-2017 10:05 AM EDT
Researchers Create Shape-Memory Aerogels with Rubber-Like Elasticity
Missouri University of Science and Technology

Chemists from Missouri University of Science and Technology have made aerogels that have rubber-like elasticity and can “remember” their original shapes.

Released: 2-May-2017 7:05 AM EDT
Greener Chemistry Through Glycerine
American Cleaning Institute

Research focused on converting crude glycerine, a key chemical feedstock in over-supply – into greener, more value-added products on developing alternative, greener technologies and processes – is being honored with the 2017 Glycerine Innovation Award. The award is sponsored by the American Cleaning Institute® (ACI) and the National Biodiesel Board (NBB).

26-Apr-2017 2:00 PM EDT
For First Time, Researchers Measure Forces That Align Crystals and Help Them Snap Together
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

For the first time, researchers have measured the force that draws tiny crystals together and visualized how they swivel and align. Called van der Waals forces, the attraction provides insights into how crystals self-assemble, an activity that occurs in a wide range of cases in nature, from rocks to shells to bones.

17-Apr-2017 8:00 AM EDT
Can Aromatherapy Calm Competition Horses?
Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB)

Although studies suggest that inhaling certain scents may reduce stress in humans, aromatherapy is relatively unexplored in veterinary medicine. But new research presented today at the American Physiological Society (APS) annual meeting at Experimental Biology 2017 in Chicago raises the question of whether aromatherapy may be beneficial to horses as well.

Released: 26-Apr-2017 11:00 AM EDT
‘Ageless’ Silicon Throughout Milky Way May Indicate a Well-Mixed Galaxy
Green Bank Observatory

New surveys with the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Green Bank Telescope (GBT) in West Virginia, of the element silicon may mean that the Milky Way is more efficient at mixing its contents than previously thought, thereby masking the telltale signs of chemical aging.

25-Apr-2017 9:30 AM EDT
Common Pesticide Damages Honey Bee’sAbility to Fly
University of California San Diego

Biologists at UC San Diego have provided the first evidence that a widely used pesticide can significantly impair the ability of otherwise healthy honey bees to fly. The study, which employed a bee “flight mill,” raises concerns about how pesticides affect honey bee pollination and long-term effects on the health of honey bee colonies.

Released: 24-Apr-2017 4:05 PM EDT
Researchers Invent Process to Make Sustainable Rubber, Plastics
University of Delaware

Materials used to make synthetic rubber and plastics could get a lot greener soon, thanks to a team of scientists from three U.S. research universities, including the University of Delaware. The team has invented a process to make butadiene from renewable sources.

Released: 24-Apr-2017 12:05 PM EDT
Machine Learning Dramatically Streamlines Search for More Efficient Chemical Reactions
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

A catalytic reaction may follow thousands of possible paths, and it can take years to identify which one it actually takes so scientists can tweak it and make it more efficient. Now researchers at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University have taken a big step toward cutting through this thicket of possibilities.

17-Apr-2017 8:00 AM EDT
In Experiments on Earth, Testing Possible Building Blocks of Alien Life
Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB)

Extraterrestrial life, if it exists, could use different amino acid building blocks than living things here on Earth. To better understand what alien life might look like, researchers are studying which amino acids stand up to the types of extreme conditions found on other planets and moons.

Released: 21-Apr-2017 3:05 PM EDT
Atomic-Level Motion May Drive Bacteria’s Ability to Evade Immune System Defenses, Finds Study
Indiana University

A study from Indiana University published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has found evidence that extremely small changes in how atoms move in bacterial proteins can play a big role in how these microorganisms function and evolve.

Released: 21-Apr-2017 2:05 PM EDT
Beyond Femtoseconds
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Hopefully you've discovered this week how femtosecond science provides revolutionary views of some of nature’s fastest phenomena. You now know how mind-bogglingly fast a femtosecond passes, and you might be thinking things couldn't get much faster. Well, let’s talk about the attosecond.

Released: 21-Apr-2017 10:05 AM EDT
Report Recommends Ways to Improve Response to Toxic Inhalation Disasters
American Thoracic Society (ATS)

Better medical responses to the accidental or intentional release of inhaled toxic chemicals are being developed, but the field faces considerable challenges, according to a new report by an international panel of experts. The report, “Chemical Inhalation Disasters: Biology of Lung Injury, Development of Novel Therapeutics, and Medical Preparedness,” has been published online in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society.

   
17-Apr-2017 11:05 AM EDT
Naked Mole-Rats Turn Into Plants When Oxygen Is Low
University of Illinois Chicago

Deprived of oxygen, naked mole-rats can survive by metabolizing fructose just as plants do, researchers report this week in the journal Science – a finding that could lead to treatments for heart attacks and strokes.

Released: 20-Apr-2017 1:05 PM EDT
What Can You Study in Femtoseconds? Biology & Chemistry
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

It all started when a high school chemistry teacher encouraged Amy Cordones-Hahn to leapfrog her regular classroom assignments and do experiments in his lab.

Released: 20-Apr-2017 10:05 AM EDT
Pioneering Researchers to Be Honored at Upcoming ECS Meeting
The Electrochemical Society

The Electrochemical Society (ECS) is pleased to announce the 11 award winners for the Society’s spring biannual meeting.

Released: 20-Apr-2017 7:05 AM EDT
Looping the Genome: How Cohesin Does the Trick
IMP - Research Institute of Molecular Pathology

DNA molecules in the cells‘ nuclei are neatly folded into loops. This serves to wrap them up tightly, but also to bring distant gene regulatory sequences into close contact. In a paper published this week by NATURE, scientists at the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP) in Vienna describe how cohesin might do the trick.

14-Apr-2017 12:30 PM EDT
150-Year-Old Drug May Provide ‘Off’ Time Relief for People with Advanced Parkinson’s Disease
American Academy of Neurology (AAN)

New research provides evidence that an old drug may provide relief for people with advanced Parkinson’s, according to a study released today that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 69th Annual Meeting in Boston, April 22 to 28, 2017.

Released: 19-Apr-2017 1:05 PM EDT
Broad Advance from TSRI Chemists Dramatically Simplifies Olefin Synthesis
Scripps Research Institute

Chemists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have discovered a new method that greatly simplifies, and in many cases enables for the first time, the making of a vast range of organic molecules.

Released: 18-Apr-2017 1:05 PM EDT
New Method Can Model Chemistry in Extreme Magnetic Fields of White Dwarfs
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

Approximately 10-20 percent of white dwarfs exhibit strong magnetic fields, some of which can reach up to 100,000 tesla. In comparison, on Earth, the strongest magnetic fields that can be generated using nondestructive magnets are about 100 tesla. Therefore, studying the chemistry in such extreme conditions is only possible using theory and until now has not provided much insight to the spectra accompanying white dwarfs. Researchers in Germany describe their work modeling these systems this week in The Journal of Chemical Physics.

Released: 17-Apr-2017 3:05 PM EDT
Promising New Drug Development Could Help Treat Cachexia
University of Missouri Health

According to the National Cancer Institute, nearly one-third of cancer deaths can be attributed to a wasting syndrome known as cachexia. Cachexia, an indicator of the advanced stages of disease, is a debilitating disorder that causes loss of appetite, lean body mass and can lead to multi-organ failure. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri in partnership with Tensive Controls, Inc. have developed a drug that could reverse cachexia. The team currently is seeking canine candidates for a pilot study to test the new drug.

Released: 14-Apr-2017 2:05 PM EDT
Thomas Allison’s “Molecular Movies” Concept Takes Home the $200K Discovery Prize
Stony Brook University

Thomas Allison, PhD, Assistant Professor in the Departments of Chemistry and Physics, and a developer of a technology at Stony Brook that will record the movement of molecules that may lead to the development of better high-tech devices, is the winner of the 2017 Discovery Prize.

Released: 14-Apr-2017 1:05 PM EDT
TSRI Chemists Devise Simple Method for Making Sought-After Boronic Acid-Based Drugs and Other Products
Scripps Research Institute

Chemists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have developed a broad and strikingly easy method for synthesizing a class of molecules that have demonstrated value as pharmaceuticals.

   
Released: 14-Apr-2017 7:05 AM EDT
Q&A with CFN Scientist Qin Wu
Brookhaven National Laboratory

Wu, a theoretical chemist at Brookhaven Lab’s Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN), performs calculations and simulations and constructs models that provide a fundamental understanding of the structures, dynamics, and properties of chemical systems.

Released: 13-Apr-2017 6:05 PM EDT
SLAC Celebrates Femtosecond Week
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Got a millionth of a billionth of a second? There’s science that actually happens on this timescale. Join us online for a week of ultrafast science from April 17 to 21. Learn more about how scientists and engineers use electron beams and bright pulses of light from the Linac Coherent Light Source X-ray laser and other advanced lasers to capture some of nature’s speediest processes that occur in just femtoseconds, or quadrillionths of a second.

Released: 12-Apr-2017 12:05 PM EDT
New Imaging Technique Shows Effectiveness of Cystic Fibrosis Drug
University of Missouri Health

According to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, more than 30,000 Americans are living with the disorder. It currently has no cure, though a drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration treats the underlying cause of the disease. However, the drug’s effectiveness for each individual is unknown. Researchers from the University of Missouri School of Medicine have developed an imaging technique using a specific form of helium to measure the drug’s effectiveness. Researchers hope the finding could lead to improved therapies for cystic fibrosis and other lung conditions.

Released: 11-Apr-2017 2:05 PM EDT
Discovering How Insulin-Producing Cells Show Their Age
Joslin Diabetes Center

Diabetes researchers have puzzled for decades about why insulin-producing beta cells in one pancreatic islet often look and behave quite differently than their counterparts in the same islet or in nearby islets. Using newly identified cellular markers of aging, Joslin Diabetes Center scientists now have shown that this diversity may be driven at least in part by differently aged beta cell populations within the pancreas.

Released: 11-Apr-2017 1:05 PM EDT
Brookhaven Lab-Led Research Aims to Develop Protections Against Chemical Warfare Agents
Brookhaven National Laboratory

Scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory are participating in a collaborative effort to study how the use of zirconium-based metal organic frameworks and niobium-based polyoxometalates may be effectively used in gas masks to capture and decompose dangerous chemical agents like Sarin.

Released: 7-Apr-2017 2:05 PM EDT
Scientists Watch a Molecule Protect Itself From Radiation Damage
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

When DNA is hit with ultraviolet light, it can lose excess energy from radiation by ejecting the core of a hydrogen atom — a single proton — to keep other chemical bonds in the system from breaking. To gain insight into this process, researchers used X-ray laser pulses from the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory to investigate how energy from light transforms a relatively simple molecule, 2-thiopyridone.

Released: 6-Apr-2017 3:05 PM EDT
Experiments Test How Easy Life Itself Might Be
University of Wisconsin–Madison

Combining theory with experiment, University of Wisconsin–Madison scientists are trying to understand how life can arise from non-life. Researchers at the UW–Madison Wisconsin Institute for Discovery are conducting experiments to test the idea that lifelike chemical reactions might develop readily under the right conditions. The work addresses some of the deepest mysteries in biology, and has implications for understanding how common life might be in the universe.

4-Apr-2017 3:05 PM EDT
Coming to a Lab Bench Near You: Femtosecond X-Ray Spectroscopy
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Berkeley Lab researchers have, for the first time, captured the ephemeral electron movements in a transient state of a chemical reaction using ultrafast, tabletop X-ray spectroscopy. The researchers used femtosecond pulses of X-ray light to catch the unraveling of a ring molecule that is important in biochemical and optoelectronic processes.

4-Apr-2017 6:00 PM EDT
Biologists Discover Timesharing Strategy in Bacteria
University of California San Diego

Biologists have discovered that communities of bacteria have been employing a social timesharing strategy for millions of years. Bacteria facing limited nutrients enter an elegant timesharing strategy--a concept used for vacation homes and social applications--in which communities alternate feeding periods to maximize efficiency.

Released: 5-Apr-2017 3:05 PM EDT
Newly Discovered Chemical Reaction in Eye May Improve Vision
Case Western Reserve University

A light-sensing pigment found in everything from bacteria to vertebrates can be biochemically manipulated to reset itself, an important therapeutic advantage, according to new research out of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

Released: 5-Apr-2017 1:05 PM EDT
Coming Together, Falling Apart, and Starting Over, Battery Style
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Scientists built a new device that shows what happens when electrode, electrolyte, and active materials meet in energy storage technologies.

20-Mar-2017 8:00 AM EDT
Seaweed: From Superfood to Superconductor
American Chemical Society (ACS)

Seaweed, the edible algae with a long history in some Asian cuisines, and which has also become part of the Western foodie culture, could turn out to be an essential ingredient in another trend: the development of more sustainable ways to power our devices. Researchers have made a seaweed-derived material to help boost the performance of superconductors, lithium-ion batteries and fuel cells.

20-Mar-2017 8:00 AM EDT
Green Laser Light Probes Metals for Hidden Damage (Animation)
American Chemical Society (ACS)

Imagine being able to check the structural integrity of an airplane, ship or bridge, without having to dismantle it or remove any material for testing, which could further compromise the structure. That’s the promise of a new laser-based technique that chemists are developing to reveal hidden damage in metals.

20-Mar-2017 8:00 AM EDT
Addictive Nut’s Derivatives Could Help Smokers Break the Nicotine Habit
American Chemical Society (ACS)

As many as 600 million people in Southeast Asia chew areca nuts with betel leaves, sometimes adding tobacco leaves. Many users are addicted to this harmful “betel quid” preparation, which can create a sense of euphoria and alertness. Yet researchers have now discovered that compounds derived from the nut could help cigarette smokers — as well as betel quid chewers — kick their habits.

Released: 4-Apr-2017 5:05 PM EDT
New Lab Helps Scientists Study the Earth’s Oldest Fossils, Minerals, Rocks
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville

A new facility at the University of Arkansas combines laser ablation and mass spectrometry for quick, efficient analysis of trace elements and radiogenic isotopes.

Released: 4-Apr-2017 2:05 PM EDT
Chemistry Team Works to Make Medicines Go Viral with New NSF Grant
University of Texas at Dallas

Over time, viruses have evolved very efficient methods for making us sick, but a UT Dallas researcher thinks that same efficiency could be exploited to improve human health.

Released: 4-Apr-2017 1:05 PM EDT
Modeling Protein Interactions Critical to Understanding Disease Now Simplified with Computer Server
Stony Brook University

Stony Brook University-led research team through the Laufer Center for Physical and Quantitative Biology has created a user-friendly automated computer server that calculates complex computations of modeling protein interactions with a handful of clicks from a home computer.

31-Mar-2017 9:05 AM EDT
The Inner Lives of Molecules
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

Researchers from Canada, the U.K. and Germany have developed a new experimental technique to take 3-D images of molecules in action. This tool can help scientists better understand the quantum mechanics underlying bigger and more complex molecules. They describe their work in this week’s The Journal of Chemical Physics.



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