A Chemical Thermometer for Tropical Forests
Department of Energy, Office of ScienceMonoterpene measures how certain forests respond to heat stress.
Monoterpene measures how certain forests respond to heat stress.
Whether carbon comes from leaves or needles affects how fast it decomposes, but where it ends up determines how long it's available.
Someday, left-over toner in discarded printer cartridges could have a second life as bridge or building components instead of as trash, wasting away in landfills and potentially harming the environment. One group reports in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering that they have devised a method to recycle the residual powder in “empty” cartridges into iron using temperatures that are compatible with existing industrial processes.
As any wine enthusiast knows, the “legs” that run down a glass after a gentle swirl of vinocan yield clues about alcohol content. Interestingly, the physical phenomenon that helps create these legs can be harnessed to propel tiny motors to carry out tasks on the surface of water. Scientists demonstrate the motors in a report in ACS’ journal Langmuir.
Sometimes during catalytic hydrogenation, the partially hydrogenated products become volatile, melting and evaporating away before they can bind to more hydrogen atoms. Now, researchers have explored how and why this volatility varies during hydrogenation, suggesting that a previously underappreciated effect from carbon-hydrogen bonds in the molecule is the main culprit. The new analysis, published in The Journal of Chemical Physics, can help chemists identify the ideal conditions needed for catalytic hydrogenation so they can better remove excess hydrogen.
It takes less than one-tenth of a second — a fraction of the time previously thought — for the sense of smell to distinguish between one odor and another, new experiments in mice show.
In 2012, LJI researcher Toshiaki Kawakami, M.D., Ph.D., reported that a small protein aptly named histamine-releasing factor (HRF) played a pro-inflammatory role in asthma. The current paper reports a novel biochemical mechanism governing HRF activity, paves the way for blood tests to predict which patients will respond to allergy therapy, and strongly supports the idea that drugs designed to block HRF could prevent food allergy attacks.
A UW–Madison lab has made a molecule that gains magnetic strength through an unusual way of controlling those spins, which could lead to a breakthrough in quantam computing.
An international researcher team used neutron analysis at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, x-ray crystallography and other techniques to study chlorite dismutase, an enzyme that breaks down the environmental pollutant chlorite into harmless byproducts. The results shed light on the catalytic process and open possibilities for bioremediation.
New research from the University of Michigan Life Sciences Institute is building a bridge from nature's chemistry to greener, more efficient synthetic chemistry.
Researchers at SBP have identified a peptide that could lead to the early detection of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The discovery, published in Nature Communications, may also provide a means of homing drugs to diseased areas of the brain to treat AD, Parkinson’s disease, as well as glioblastoma, brain injuries and stroke.
A Sandia National Laboratories-led team has demonstrated faster, more efficient ways to turn discarded plant matter into chemicals worth billions. The team’s findings could help transform the economics of making fuels and other products from domestically grown renewable sources.
Editor's Highlights include papers on aryl hydrocarbon receptor activation and neutrophil function; transcriptomic analysis of TCE and PCE in the liver and kidney; functional genomics of TCE metabolites genotoxicity; and increased aflatoxin b1 damage in pregnant mice.
The first Northwest Theoretical Chemistry Conference was a success. The event offered ~50 early career theorists and students opportunities to present talks in a nurturing environment that developed and advanced collaborations.
A transfer technique based on thin sacrificial layers of boron nitride could allow high-performance gallium nitride gas sensors to be grown on sapphire substrates and then transferred to metallic or flexible polymer support materials. The technique could facilitate the production of low-cost wearable, mobile and disposable sensing devices for a wide range of environmental applications.
Computer modeling has helped a team of scientists, including several scholars from the University of Chicago, to decode previously unknown details about the "budding" process by which HIV forces cells to spread the virus to other cells. The findings, published Nov. 7 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, may offer a new avenue for drugs to combat the virus.
Rural counties continue to rank lowest among counties across the U.S., in terms of health outcomes. A group of national organizations including the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the National 4-H Council are leading the way to close the rural health gap.
Scientists aren’t normally treated to fireworks when they discover something about the universe. But a team of University of Chicago researchers found a show waiting for them at the atomic level—along with a new form of quantum behavior that may someday be useful in quantum technology applications.
Israeli and German scientists have uncovered some clues about the abilities of some marine creatures to form glass structures in cold water. The findings could lead to nature-inspired recipes for creating novel glass technologies at room temperature.
Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and their collaborators discovered that a workhorse catalyst of vehicle exhaust systems—an “oxygen sponge” that can soak up oxygen from air and store it for later use in oxidation reactions—may also be a “hydrogen sponge.”
The University of Notre Dame will lead a National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Actinide Center of Excellence (ACE) to conduct research in actinide and nuclear chemistry.
Study findings highlight need for manufacturing and testing standards and federal government oversight.
Northwestern University molecular bioscientists have discovered that a little stress can be good for cellular health. The findings will help researchers better understand the molecular mechanisms that drive aging and risk for age-associated degenerative diseases.
A University of Washington team wants to simplify the process for discovering detrimental water leaks by developing “smart” paper that can sense the presence of water.
Chemists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have found a compound that may have been a crucial factor in the origins of life on Earth.
The arrangement of electrons in an exotic human-made element shows that certain properties of heavy elements cannot be predicted using lighter ones.
A breakthrough patent – the polymer that enabled the development of the world’s first fully resorbable and x-ray visible coronary stent – invented by a Rutgers University researcher received the 2017 Edison Patent Award from the Research & Development Council of New Jersey. The award memorializes the state’s most prolific inventor, Thomas Alva Edison, and highlights the Garden State’s continuous pipeline of exceptional innovation work.
Nanosensors are incredible information-gathering tools for myriad applications, including molecular targets such as the brain. Neurotransmitter molecules govern brain function through chemistry found deep within the brain, so University of California, Berkeley researchers are developing nanosensors to gain a better understanding of exactly how this all plays out, and will discuss their work at the AVS 64th International Symposium & Exhibition, Oct. 29-Nov. 3, 2017, in Tampa, Florida.
The ruddy flakes of a rusted nail are a sure sign that an undesirable chemical reaction has occurred at the surface. Understanding how molecules and atoms behave with each other, especially at surfaces, is central to managing both desirable chemical reactions, such as catalysis, and undesirable reactions, like a nail’s corrosion. Yet the field of surface chemistry has been challenged for nearly 100 years to develop predictive theories for these reactions. Now there’s progress, thanks to some new approaches.
Exploiting reversible solubility allows for direct, optical patterning of unprecedentedly small features.
Electronic-skin technologies for prosthetics and robots can detect the slightest touch or breeze.But oddly, the sensors that make this possible do not respond effectively to a harmful blow. Now researchers report in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces the development of a jellyfish-inspired electronic skin that glows when the pressure against it is high enough to potentially cause an injury.
Cancer cells can be targeted and destroyed with the metal from the asteroid that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs, according to new research by an international collaboration between the University of Warwick and Sun Yat-Sen University in China.
Dazzling dragonfly wings may send poets rhapsodizing, but scientists yearn for a better understanding. In particular, they want to know the chemistry of the different layers giving rise to natural photonic crystals that help create color. Now, a collaboration of Brazilian researchers have teamed up with Minnesota experts to puzzle out the color mechanism of the male Amazonian glitterwing dragonfly.
A new ranking shows the research strength of the University of Michigan in the natural sciences, placing it in the top 10 of American institutions for producing articles in the most selective science publications. Among publicly funded institutions, U-M placed fourth.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory has developed a 3D printing process that creates a chemically active catalytic object in a single step, opening the door to more efficient ways to produce catalysts for complex chemical reactions in a wide scope of industries.
A new SLAS Discovery article available for free ahead-of-print enables researchers to derive more clinically-relevant information from 3D cell culture models.
Seeking a better way to capture radioactive iodides in spent nuclear reactor fuel, Rutgers–New Brunswick scientists have developed an extremely efficient “molecular trap” that can be recycled and reused. The trap is like a tiny, porous super-sponge. The internal surface area of just one gram of this material could stretch out to cover five 94-by-50-foot basketball courts, or 23,500 square feet. And, once caught inside, radioactive iodides will remain trapped for eons.
Two researchers from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have been elected fellows of the American Nuclear Society, a professional society that promotes the advancement and awareness of nuclear science and technology.
Rhythmic patterns and precise motions are key elements of proper swimming, and comparable demonstrations of this pattern repetition and power usage can be seen in a microscopic swimmer -- the amoeboid cell. The cell swimming shapes are now predictable to new levels of precision, thanks to advanced 3-D modeling. Researchers generated a 3-D model of an amoeba practicing pseudopod-driven swimming; they discuss their work in a cover article in this month’s Physics of Fluids.
A research project that began 20 years ago with an interest in how lithium treats mood disorders has yielded insights into the progression of blood cancers such as leukemia. The research, which centers on a protein called GSK-3, will be published in the Nov. 3 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
Researchers discover the secret behind the third way living organisms extract energy from their environment.
Novel spin-polarized surface states may guide the search for materials that host Majorana fermions, unusual particles that act as their own antimatter, and could revolutionize quantum computers.
Karen Mulfort, a chemist at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, was named a 2017 Rising Star by the Women Chemists Committee (WCC) of the American Chemical Society.
UNC and NC State researchers have developed artificial beta cells that automatically release insulin into the bloodstream when glucose levels rise. This work was done in lab experiments but could lead to a much more patient-friendly treatment than injections.
In 2014, the Rosetta probe became the first spacecraft to orbit the nucleus of a comet and later land on its surface. The mission ended in 2016 with the probe’s dive into the comet but its close-up studies of the comet continue to yield scientific insights. In a presentation at the AVS 64th annual International Symposium and Exhibition, researchers will describe findings from Rosetta’s ROSINA instrument, which obtained the first detailed, in situ measurements of the chemical composition of a comet’s atmosphere, or coma.
A collaborative group of researchers including Petr Kral, professor of chemistry at the University of Illinois at Chicago, describe a new technique for creating novel nanoporous materials with unique properties that can be used to filter molecules or light.
In September, a ban on triclosan in over-the-counter antiseptic soaps, gels and wipes went into effect in the U.S. But the antibacterial ingredient is still allowed in toothpastes for its reported ability to reduce gum inflammation, plaque and cavities. Now a study in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology has found that triclosan accumulates in toothbrush bristles and elastomer parts, and is readily released when users switch toothpastes, potentially prolonging users’ exposure to the compound.
A new class of drugs for blood cancers such as leukemia and multiple myeloma is showing promise. But it is hobbled by a problem that also plagues other cancer drugs: targeted cells can develop resistance. Now scientists, reporting in ACS Central Science, have found that insights into a rare genetic disease known as NGLY1 deficiency could help scientists understand how that resistance works — and potentially how drugs can outsmart it.
Eating large amounts of certain fish can expose consumers to methylmercury, which can potentially cause health problems. But recent research has shown that rice grown in polluted conditions can also have raised levels. Now, a study appearing in ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry reports that some types of infant rice cereal could also contain amounts of methylmercury that could potentially pose a health risk.
Using data from blood and brain tissue, a team led by researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that they could gain insights into mechanisms that might help explain autism by analyzing the interplay between genes and chemical tags that control whether genes are used to make a protein, called epigenetic marks.