Plants From Plastics: Transforming Bio-Based Polymers Into Fertilizer
Plastics have taken the world by storm over the last century, finding applications in virtually every aspect of our lives. However, the rise of these…
Chemistry News
MIT’s New Carbon Nanotube-Based Sensor Can Detect COVID-19 or Other Emerging Pathogens
The technology could be developed as a rapid diagnostic for Covid-19 or other emerging pathogens. Using specialized carbon nanotubes, MIT engineers have designed a novel…
This Pyramid Scheme Could Be Helpful: Controlled Growth of Tetrahedron-Shaped Nanoparticles
Rice chemists discover mechanism in controlled growth of tetrahedron-shaped nanoparticles. Nature clearly likes symmetry. Look at your own hands, for example. But sometimes nature produces…
Surfside Champlain Towers South Condo Collapse & the Science of Concrete [Video]
Concrete buildings don’t just collapse out of the blue. Even earthquakes aren’t supposed to bring them down. So why did the Champlain Towers South building…
New Theories and Materials Aid the Transition To Clean Energy: Enzyme Catalysis, Electrocatalysis, and Photoelectrosynthesis
With each passing day, the dark side of our addiction to fossil fuels becomes more apparent. In addition to slashing emissions of carbon dioxide, society…
Ausome: Non-Toxic Technology Extracts More Gold From Ore
Study shows new chloride-based process recovers 84% of gold compared to the 64% recovered with traditional methods. Gold is one of the world’s most popular…
Molecular Information Storage: Storing Data As Mixtures of Fluorescent Dyes
As the world’s data storage needs grow, new strategies for preserving information over long periods with reduced energy consumption are needed. Now, researchers reporting in ACS…
Resurrecting Quasicrystals: Self-Healing Phenomenon Makes an Exotic Material Commercially Viable
Self-healing phenomenon could reduce defects that rendered quasicrystals impractical. A class of materials that once looked as if it might revolutionize everything from solar cells…
New Sensor Can Detect Valuable Rare Earth Element in Waste Sources
Low concentrations of terbium could be identified from acid mine drainage and other waste sources. A new luminescent sensor can detect terbium, a valuable rare…
We Used Science To Make Better Pizza: Small Chemistry Tweaks With Amazing Results
This week our host, Sam, chats with renowned baker Peter Reinhart and learns how a couple of small chemistry tweaks can transform a terrible pizza…
Unprecedented View of a Single Catalyst Nanoparticle at Work Under Reaction Conditions
X-rays reveal compositional changes on active surface under reaction conditions. A DESY-led research team has been using high-intensity X-rays to observe a single catalyst nanoparticle…
Researchers Record the Breaking of a Single Chemical Bond – “Amazing”
Using advanced microscopy techniques at Princeton University, researchers have recorded the breaking of a single chemical bond between a carbon atom and an iron atom…
Scientists Discover New Method From Nature for Installing Sulfur Into Complex Molecules
Advance provides new tools for synthetic chemists and biologists looking to probe and modify sulfur-based biochemistry. A group of highly reactive compounds called persulfides have…
Wildly Counterintuitive: Dissolved Salt Can Reassemble at Nanoscale
Any cook worth their salt knows that a dash of the stuff — which consists mostly of the compound sodium chloride — will dissolve when…
Modern Simulations Could Improve MRIs to More Efficiently Find Disease
Rice engineers find more efficient models to analyze contrast agents that find disease. Gadolinium-based contrast agents, the gold standard in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to determine the health…
Extremely Efficient New Method for Removing Heavy-Metal Contaminants From Drinking Water
Engineers have designed a relatively low-cost, energy-efficient approach to treating water contaminated with heavy metals. Engineers at MIT have developed a new approach to removing…
Carbon Dioxide Reactor Synthesizes Martian Fuel
A gas station on Mars? Chemical engineers envision the possibilities. Engineers at the University of Cincinnati are developing new ways to convert greenhouse gases to…
Blowing Up Over 20 Different Medieval Gunpowder Recipes
First used for battle in China in about 900 A.D., gunpowder spread throughout Eurasia by the end of the 13th century, eventually revolutionizing warfare as…