How do you destroy a forever chemical?
3M offers $10.3 billion settlement over PFAS contamination in water systems. What's next? Enlarge (credit: Andrew Brookes) PFAS chemicals seemed like a good idea at first. As Teflon, they made pots easier to clean starti.....»»
River sampling study shows impact of COVID-19 pandemic on London"s waterways
The most detailed study of a city's waterways anywhere in the world has revealed how chemical pollutants in London's rivers changed over the pandemic......»»
Scientists unravel the chemical mechanism behind silica-coated nanodiamonds
Coating something rare—tiny shards of diamond—with the main ingredient in sand might sound unusual, but the end result turns out to have a number of valuable applications. The trick is, nobody knows for sure how the two materials bond......»»
High-energy-density chemical fuel powers bug-sized robots to leap, lift and race
Cornell researchers combined soft microactuators with high-energy-density chemical fuel to create an insect-scale quadrupedal robot that is powered by combustion and can outrace, outlift, outflex and outleap its electric-driven competitors......»»
The secret world of rhododendrons: A plant more ancient than the Himalayas
If you have a rhododendron in your garden or pass one by on an afternoon walk perhaps you think of it as just a colorful and pretty shrub. You may have heard that they come from the Himalayas, and that they are invasive plants that destroy ecosystems.....»»
New recipes for origin of life may point way to distant, inhabited planets
Life on a faraway planet—if it's out there—might not look anything like life on Earth. But there are only so many chemical ingredients in the universe's pantry, and only so many ways to mix them. A team led by scientists at the University of Wisc.....»»
Molecular properties are only weakly correlated, study finds
The number of molecules thought to exist is unfathomably large—somewhere between 1050 and 1060 (for comparison, there are only 1022 to 1024 stars in the observable universe). The chemical and pharmaceutical sciences have sought a comprehensive unde.....»»
Team develops novel ligands for transition-metal catalysis of photoreactions
Transition metals form catalytic complexes that can speed up various chemical processes, especially in the production of pharmaceuticals as well as various pigments, dyes, and laboratory reagents like sulfuric acid. The use of light emitting diodes (.....»»
Researchers study the formation of cardenolides in plants
Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena are investigating the previously largely unknown biosynthetic pathway that leads to the formation of cardenolides in plants......»»
Possible hints of life found on distant planet. How excited should we be?
Data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has shown that an exoplanet around a star in the constellation Leo has some of the chemical markers that, on Earth, are associated with living organisms. But these are vague indications. So how likely i.....»»
Supermassive black holes affect the chemical composition of their host galaxies, research shows
New research shows that the supermassive black hole at the center of a galaxy can have a direct impact on the chemical distribution of the host galaxy. This provides another piece of the puzzle for understanding how galaxies evolve......»»
Scientists probe the source of key hydrocarbons on Earth—and in space
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a type of organic molecule that carry fused rings made of the chemical benzene. Scientists believe that PAHs are responsible for chemical processes that eventually lead to soot and other carbonaceous nanopa.....»»
Team develops technique for building DNA-based programmable gate arrays
A team of chemists and chemical engineers at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, working with a colleague from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, both in China, has built a DNA-based programmable gate array for use in general-purpose DNA computing. In their.....»»
A novel method to obtain acetone in slow-cost, simple manner
Acetone is an essential chemical industry input and is used in the manufacturing of a wide array of products, such as adhesives, antibiotics, electronic components, solvents and removers, inks and vitamins, among others. Its production is complex an.....»»
Scientists create process to upcycle plastics into energy-storage liquids using light-emitting diodes
Scientists from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have created a process that can upcycle most plastics into chemical ingredients useful for energy storage, using light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and a commercially available cat.....»»
Using lasers to choose and export single-cell cultures: An efficient upgrade to static droplet array tool
Static droplet array (SDA) is a necessary and integral tool when it comes to high-capacity screening tests, or assays, for identifying and targeting specific cells or analytes (substances whose chemical composition is the target of identification). H.....»»
Researchers make a significant step towards reliably processing quantum information
Using laser light, researchers have developed the most robust method currently known to control individual qubits made of the chemical element barium. The ability to reliably control a qubit is an important achievement for realizing future functional.....»»
Pigment production adapted to cultural changes and availability of mineral resources 40,000 years ago in Ethiopia
An international research team from Spain and France has carried out the chemical and technological analysis of the largest known collection of red and yellow mineral pigments, commonly called ochre, dated to the Middle Stone Age, between 300,000 and.....»»
Novel membrane could reduce energy expenditure in separating molecules for desalination, drug development
Separating molecules is critical to producing many essential products. For example, in petroleum refining, the hydrocarbons—chemical compounds composed of hydrogens and carbons—in crude oil are separated into gasoline, diesel and lubricants by so.....»»
Synthesis of nanoparticles by microorganisms: Exploring the green power of fungi
They are used as medicines, drug carriers and to combat microbes in hospitals, destroy plant pathogens and reduce the amount of traditional fertilizers used in agriculture—nanoparticles are taking over medicine and the agri-food industry......»»
RNA modification: Mechanisms and therapeutic targets
RNA modifications are dynamic and reversible chemical modifications on substrate RNA that regulate mRNA stability, translation, and localization. This review is designed by Dr. Junhong Han and written by his postdoctoral researcher Dr. Lei Qiu and P.....»»