New Catalyst Can Turn a Smelly Gas Byproduct Into a Cash Cow
A catalyst activated by light converts hydrogen sulfide into hydrogen energy in one step. Engineers and scientists at Rice University have developed a sweet way for…
Rice University News
Light-Powered Nanomaterial Catalyst Could Be Key for Hydrogen Economy
Inexpensive catalyst uses energy from light to turn ammonia into hydrogen fuel. A key light-activated nanomaterial for the hydrogen economy has been engineered by researchers…
Living Bioelectronic Sensors Send a Jolt of Electricity When Triggered
New bacterial sensors detect the presence of a variety of contaminants in water. When you hit your finger with a hammer, you feel the pain…
Breaking an Optical Rule – Engineers Manipulate Light at the Nanoscale
A formula developed by Rice engineers identifies materials for 3D displays and virtual reality. If you’re going to break a rule with style, make sure…
RNA-Editing Tool a Fast, Easy Test for COVID-19 and Other Diseases
Cas13 Engineered To Simplify the Identification of Coronavirus A new engineered CRISPR-based method accurately finds RNA from SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The highly…
A Biodiversity Crisis: Food Webs Worldwide Are Collapsing
The scale of the biodiversity crisis is shown by recreating 130,000 years of mammal food webs. A recent study, published in the journal Science, provides the clearest…
SU(N) Matter Is About 3 Billion Times Colder Than Deep Space – Opens Portal to High-Symmetry Quantum Realm
Universe’s coldest fermions open a portal to high-symmetry quantum realm. Physicists from Japan and the U.S. used atoms about 3 billion times colder than interstellar…
New Leukemia-Killing Compounds Discovered
New study highlights potential of mitochondria-targeted chemotherapies. Scientists have discovered promising new drugs that work in concert with other drugs to deliver a deadly one-two…
A Shortcut to Preventing Cancer
A new theory suggests that mutations have few straightforward ways to establish themselves in cells and cause tumors. For many researchers, the road to cancer…
Molecular Machines: Bacteria-Killing Drills Get an Upgrade
Molecular machines that kill infectious bacteria have been taught to see their mission in a new light. New nanoscale drills have been developed that are…
Turning Plastic Waste Into Carbon-Capture Master That Can Soak Up Excess Carbon Dioxide
Rice University lab turns hard-to-process trash into carbon-capture master. Here’s another thing to do with that mountain of used plastic: make it soak up excess…
Physicists Manipulate Electrons To Create “Synthetic Dimensions”
Rice University lab manipulates ultracold Rydberg atoms to mimic quantum interactions. Our spatial sense doesn’t extend beyond the familiar three dimensions, but that doesn’t stop…
Ancient African DNA Reveals Surprises About How Early Humans Lived, Traveled and Interacted
New research provides evidence of demographic shifts in sub-Saharan Africa. A new analysis of human remains that were buried in African archaeological sites has produced…
Why Lost Birds and Mammals Spell Doom for Some Plants
Animal-dispersed plants’ ability to keep pace with climate change reduced by 60%. In one of the first studies of its kind, researchers have gauged how…
Ancient Air Bubbles Trapped in Antarctic Ice Point to Cause of Oxygen Decline
Glacial erosion likely caused atmospheric oxygen levels to dip over past 800,000 years. An unknown culprit has been removing oxygen from our atmosphere for at…
Nanotube Fibers Stand Strong – But for How Long Under Stresses and Strains?
Rice scientists calculate how carbon nanotubes and their fibers experience fatigue. Up here in the macro world, we all feel fatigue now and then. It’s…
A-List Candidate for Fault-Free Quantum Computing Delivers Puzzling Surprise
Puzzling result forces physicists to rethink ‘spin-triplet’ superconductivity. A Rice University-led study is forcing physicists to rethink superconductivity in uranium ditelluride, an A-list material in…
Rice University Creates Effective Recipe To Decontaminate Disposable COVID Facemasks at Home
Heating PPE to the right degree kills 99.9% of SARS-CoV-2 virus without degrading material. Here’s the recipe to decontaminate a disposable facemask: Heat it at…