Feature Channels: Chemistry

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Researchers have devised a plasma-based way to produce and separate oxygen within the Martian environment. It's a complementary approach to NASA's Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment and may deliver high rates of molecule production per kilogram of instrumentation sent to space. In the Journal of Applied Physics, the team presents the method for harnessing and processing local resources to generate products on Mars.

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A study shows that cancer cells don't want to waste glucose, they just consume it too quickly. The normal pathways for transporting fuel within the cell get saturated. The discovery was made possible with metabolomics, which allowed Gary Patti and his team at Washington University in St. Louis to observe the speed at which small molecules move through cells.

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If science and nature were to have a baby, it would surely be the zeolite. This special rock, with its porous structure that traps water inside, also traps atoms and molecules that can cause chemical reactions.

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Researchers from the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology (MIB) have developed a new enzyme engineering platform to improve plastic degrading enzymes through directed evolution.

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Stephen Klippenstein was chosen to deliver the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Spiers Memorial Lecture. The lecture is one of the society’s top honors.

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RUDN chemists with colleagues from Iran have created 12 nanocatalysts that make it possible to obtain complex hydrocarbons under the action of sunlight

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Epidemiologists and public health officials have a new predictive tool to analyze the course of pandemics, thanks to a mathematical formula derived by a University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) professor in partnership with a collaborator who is a UAH alumnus.

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Researchers at Aalto University have developed a bio-based adhesive that can replace formaldehyde-containing adhesives in wood construction.

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Urinary tract infections are common, yet can be tough to treat as the bacteria that cause them become resistant to many antibiotics. In ACS Central Science, researchers report a new molecule that inhibits drug-resistant bacteria in lab experiments, as well as in mice with pneumonia and UTIs.

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Drugs called interferon betas are common treatments for multiple sclerosis. Interferon beta, a protein known to contain a zinc-binding pocket, is thought to reduce proinflammatory molecules in MS patients. But researchers now report in ACS Chemical Neuroscience that the molecule reduces the binding of three components — zinc, C-peptide and albumin — to red blood cells.

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ROCKVILLE, MD – Gabriela K. Popescu has been elected President-elect of the Biophysical Society (BPS). She will assume the office of President-elect at the 2023 Annual Meeting in San Diego, California and begin her term as President during the 2024 Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Popescu is a Professor of Biochemistry at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University of Buffalo, State University of New York (SUNY).

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Below are some of the latest articles that have been added to the Food Science channel on Newswise, a free source for journalists.

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Like a fire in a wall, fires in electric vehicle (EV) batteries burn unseen. Firefighters can squelch the visible flames in an EV fire, but chemicals inside the battery continue to burn because firefighters cannot reach the source. Researchers at Missouri S&T are working with mine operators and firefighting agencies to plan for and mitigate EV fire risks.

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“With this study, we showed there is actually no microscopic evidence of zinc reinsertion into manganese dioxide, and what was previously thought to be indicators of recharging was from positively charged hydrogen ions being inserted in the manganese, not zinc.”

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Researchers determine the structure and dynamics of proteins using NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) spectroscopy. Until now, however, much higher concentrations were necessary for in-vitro measurements of the biomolecules in solution than found in our body's cells. An NMR method enhanced by a very powerful amplifier, in combination with molecular dynamics simulation, now enables their detection and accurate characterization at physiological concentrations. This is reported by Dennis Kurzbach chemist at the University of Vienna and his colleagues in the journal "Science Advances". The team demonstrated their new method with the example of a protein that influences cell proliferation and thus also potential tumour growth.

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Crystals consisting of wildly mixed ingredients - so-called high-entropy materials - are currently attracting growing scientific interest. Their advantage is that they are particularly stable at extremely high temperatures and could be used, for example, for energy storage and chemical production processes. An Empa team is producing and researching these mysterious ceramic materials, which have only been known since 2015.

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Computer simulations are most often used as a guide, so chemists can more efficiently work out the exact details of a general reaction idea they have in mind — much like a compass helps guide an explorer efficiently to a destination on their map.

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Despite being some of the most versatile building blocks in organic chemistry, compounds called carbenes can be too hot to handle. In the lab, chemists often avoid using these highly reactive molecules due to how explosive they can be. Yet in a new study, published today in the journal Science, researchers from The Ohio State University report on a new, safer method to turn these short-lived, high-energy molecules from much more stable ones.

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The production of ammonia, a major ingredient in fertilizers, involves greenhouse gas emissions. Scientists at Argonne have quantified ways to reduce carbon impacts in this process.