Feature Channels: Chemistry

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A lab accident produced a monster of a polymer brush, an emerging biocompatible material that staves off bacteria while coating and lubricating.

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A team of chemists at McMaster University has discovered an innovative way to break down and dissolve the rubber used in automobile tires, a process which could lead to new recycling methods that have so far proven to be expensive, difficult and largely inefficient.

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The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation announces the establishment of a new program for Machine Learning in the Chemical Sciences and Engineering. The goal of this program is to further the understanding and applications of machine learning throughout the chemical sciences.

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Lovers of gold watches and heavy jewellery will be thrilled. The objects of their desire may someday become much lighter, but without losing any of their glitter. Especially with watches, a small amount of weight can make all the difference.

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Chemists have found a new use for the waste product of nuclear power - transforming an unused stockpile into a versatile compound which could be used to create valuable commodity chemicals as well as new energy sources.

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Researchers have devised a straightforward technique for building a laboratory device known as an electroporator – which applies a jolt of electricity to temporarily open cell walls – from inexpensive components, including a piezoelectric crystal taken from a butane lighter.

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The nucleic acids of DNA encode genetic information, while the amino acids of proteins contain the code to turn that information into structures and functions. Together, they provide the two fundamental codes underlying all of life.

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Cardiff University scientists have shed new light on the Earth's climate behaviour during the last known period of global warming over 14 million years ago.

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An international team of researchers have, for the first time, glimpsed the ultrafast process of proton transfer following ionization of liquid water, shedding light on how radical cations separate from their electron partners, neutralize and subsequently drift about creating damage.

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A new study at the University of Georgia has found a way to attack cancer cells that is potentially less harmful to the patient.

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Thirty-three cases of the asbestos-related lung cancer mesothelioma draw attention to talcum powder as a non-occupational source of exposure to asbestos, according to a study in the January Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

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A study of seven wastewater treatment plants points to two treatment methods — granular activated carbon and ozonation — as being particularly promising for reducing the concentration of pharmaceuticals including certain antidepressants and antibiotics.

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Lithium ion batteries often grow needle-like structures between electrodes that can short out the batteries and sometimes cause fires. Now, an international team of researchers has found a way to grow and observe these structures to understand ways to stop or prevent their appearance.

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An isoelectric point is a common way to characterize viruses. However, it’s not easy. To improve manufacturing for vaccines and gene therapy, a Michigan Tech team uses surface charge to determine the isoelectric point of different viruses. Specifically, they use a single-particle method with atomic force microscopy (AFM).

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In 2019, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory dove deeper into proton spin, took a leap in quantum communication, and uncovered new details of plant biochemistry, battery cathodes, catalysts, superconductors, and more. Here, in no particular order, are the biggest advances of the year.

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Jan Halámek is proving that our own perspiration not only gives away how drunk we are – but if we are high, too.

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A new study offers a nanoscopic view of complex oxides, which have great potential for advanced microelectronics.

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– Researchers from the University of Maryland School of Medicine and their colleagues have identified the structure of the most lethal toxin produced by certain strains of Clostridium difficile bacteria, a potentially deadly infection associated with the use of antibiotics. The researchers mapped out the delivery and binding components of the toxin, which could pave the way for new drugs to neutralize it.

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Life as we know it requires phosphorus, which is scarce. How did the early Earth supply this key ingredient? A University of Washington study, published Dec. 30 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, finds answers in certain types of carbonate-rich lakes.

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Scientists at Tokyo Institute of Technology(Tokyo Tech) explore a new material combination that sets the stage for magnetic random access memories, which rely on spin--an intrinsic property of electrons-- and could outperform current storage devices.

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During the past years, artificial intelligence (AI) -- the capability of a machine to mimic human behavior -- has become a key player in high-techs like drug development projects.

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The new films combine exceptionally strong light absorption with good charge transport — two qualities that make them ideal for applications such as photovoltaics and light-emitting diodes (LEDs).

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Irvine, Calif., Dec. 23, 2019 — From probing the ocean depths to deciphering human health mysteries, researchers across scientific disciplines are increasingly including microbiomes in their work. The Microbiome Centers Consortium has been launched by two University of California, Irvine School of Bioscience faculty members to advance growth in this life science field, increasingly recognized as relevant to many other disciplines and industrial applications.

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From nanoparticles to algae ecology, the Office of Science supported a variety of research in 2019.

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This edition of Science Snapshots highlights the discovery of an investigational cancer drug that targets tumors caused by mutations in the KRAS gene, the development of a new library of artificial proteins that could accelerate the design of new materials, and new insight into the natural toughening mechanism behind adult tooth enamel.

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One of the challenges in using machine learning for drug development is to create a process for the computer to extract needed information from a pool of data points. Drug scientists must pull biological data and train the software to understand how a typical human body will interact with the combinations that come together to form a medication.

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Isotope “labeling” techniques replace specific atoms in a compound with an isotope that can be detected by its neutron count.

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Paul Davies’ newest book, The Demon in the Machine, takes aim at one of the great outstanding scientific enigmas –what is life, how and why does it emerge and what distinguishes the living from the non-living? The book, which was published this past October in the U.S. has now been named the top physics book of 2019 by Physics World, a publication of the UK Institute of Physics.

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Drawing inspiration from nature, University of Wisconsin–Madison chemists have discovered an efficient way to wrangle long, snaking molecules to form large rings — rings that form the backbone of many pharmaceuticals but are difficult to produce in the lab.

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A minuscule, counterintuitive chemical tweak is advancing an organic solar technology that was believed unviable.

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Yuantao Ding is a staff scientist at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.

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Students from Long Island, New York, high schools have collaborated across districts to decipher the atomic-level structures of two proteins involved in a variety of diseases. The students used very bright x-rays at the National Synchrotron Light Source II at Brookhaven National Laboratory to identify the 3-D arrangements of atoms that make up functional components of these proteins.

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Indiana University researchers have discovered that a chemical compound found in essential oils improves the healing process in mice when it is topically applied to a skin wound.

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Boyce Thompson Institute researchers discover 95 potential new human protein targets for salicylate compounds and provide a roadmap for future drug development against dozens of diseases.

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Why, only a few short weeks out, do most of our resolutions stick as egg on our face remembrances of our best intentions? You can blame it on your brain chemicals for they contain both the reasons for our failures as well as the potential keys to success. Resolutions are stressful in that they create uncomfortable internal conflicts of habit versus wish.

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A team of researchers at McMaster University has developed a self-cleaning surface that can repel all forms of bacteria, preventing the transfer of antibiotic-resistant superbugs and other dangerous bacteria in settings ranging from hospitals to kitchens.

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Researchers at UC San Diego and MIT linked theory and experiment to move closer to developing materials that address global water scarcity.

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Jason Dwyer, associate professor of chemistry at the University of Rhode Island, has won an internationally recognized Innovation Award for his advancements in single-molecule nanopore sensing from the Federation of Analytical Chemistry and Spectroscopy Societies at its annual SciX Conference in Palm Springs, California, in October.

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Jan Halámek and his team of researchers at the University at Albany, led by Department of Chemistry graduate student Mindy Hair, are developing a sensing strip that can detect a person’s blood alcohol content (BAC) based on ethanol levels in a small sweat sample.

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What could Azteca ants in coffee farms in Mexico have in common with leopards' spots and zebras' stripes?

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In a Dec. 10 briefing on Capitol Hill, a Washington University in St. Louis expert testified that steep price increases and “supply shocks” in helium threaten basic research in academic settings and also broader health and industry applications.“Helium is ubiquitous in our lives,” said Sophia E. Hayes, professor of chemistry in Arts & Sciences, in written remarks to a subcommittee of the U.

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A new study, published Nov. 21 in the Journal of Chemical Ecology, investigates how these pests find their target amid a sea of other plants in the landscape.

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Graphene, a two-dimensional structure made of carbon, is a material with excellent mechani-cal, electronic and optical properties. However, it did not seem suitable for magnetic applica-tions. Together with international partners, Empa researchers have now succeeded in synthesiz-ing a unique nanographene predicted in the 1970s, which conclusively demonstrates that car-bon in very specific forms has magnetic properties that could permit future spintronic applica-tions. The results have just been published in the renowned journal Nature Nanotechnology.

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Researchers develop protocells that better mimic living cells to help understand cell movement

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Microplastics are receiving a lot of attention lately due to its difficulty in removal from the environment.

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Scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory have discovered a new function in a plant enzyme that could inspire the design of new chemical catalysts. The enzyme catalyzes, or initiates, one of the cornerstone chemical reactions needed to synthesize a wide array of organic molecules, including those found in lubricants, cosmetics, and those used as raw materials for making plastics.

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Antonino Miceli is the group leader of the Detectors Group in the X-ray Science Division of the Advanced Photon Source at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory, a senior fellow at the Northwestern Argonne Institute of Science and Engineering, and a senior scientist at the University of Chicago Consortium for Advanced Science and Engineering.

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The Big Questions series features perspectives from the five recipients of the Department of Energy Office of Science’s 2019 Distinguished Scientists Fellows Award describing their research and what they plan to do with the award. José Rodriguez is a senior chemist at Brookhaven National Laboratory.

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Little bits of black carbon littering the ocean floor, separate and distinct from the organic carbon believed to come from the ocean’s surface. The source of that strange, and older, carbon has now been identified by UD researchers. The discovery is an important step in understanding the marine carbon cycle.