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Remember when, in 2010, we told you about a team of researchers which claimed they found a bacteria that feasts on arsenic, instead of phosphorous? The study has spurred quite the discussion, receiving a lot of both criticism and praise, but seeming to be, ultimately, incorrect (as this other study also claims). Dan Tawfik, who […]
Japanese researchers announced they’ve seen evidence of the reclusive element 113, a super-heavy, super-unstable element near the bottom of the periodic table (you know, the ones you usually don’t even look at?). It is still not verified by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry which regulates and verifies the chemical elements’ name, but […]
Atomic level imaging has come a long way in the past decade, and after scientists first managed to image molecular structure and even electron clouds, now a group of researchers at IBM Research Center Zurich have visually depicted how chemical bonds differentiate in individual molecules using a technique called non-contact atomic force microscopy (AFM). In the image below […]
A team of experts in mechanics, materials, medicine and tissue engineering have managed to create a self replicating gel which can stretch about 21 times its length. The water-based tough gel is also self-healing and biocompatible, which means it could be perfect for people with cartilage injuries. When 1+1 isn’t 2 The new hydrogel (names […]
The 2012 London summer Olympic games are just a few weeks away, and as millions are set to flock to the city and other hundreds of millions will rejoice on the web and TV at the world’s grandest spectacle of athletic performance, it’s pretty clear this is one of the most anticipated events of the year. Every […]
I don’t know if you’re thinking it, but I definitely am: lizardmen! I’m scared of lizardmen just like the next guy, but all my life I’ve lived with the idea that they are just figments of the imagination which sometimes occur in Star Trek episodes or RPG games – but according to Ronald Breslow, Ph.D., […]
The Moon has fascinated researchers and poets alike since ancient times, but while the latter all agree on its beauty, scientists are still debating how the satellite was formed; recently, a new isotopic analysis seems to shed some new light on the matter, making things even more interesting than they were before. Most believe that […]
Trees employ a fractal structure of branches to twigs to spread a wide array of leaves for maximized sunlight collection. Similarly, chemists at University of California, Davis developed a set of microscopic “trees” made out of silver, which the researchers claim might well form the basis for a new range of highly efficient solar cells […]
I recently stumbled upon this absolutely dazzling chemistry experiment, and I just had to share it. What you will see is a pretty rare reaction in chemistry – an oscillation reaction. Three clear solutions are combined, and the color gradually changes to amber. Suddenly, the whole thing goes dark blue! Then it stays blue, reverts […]
Unexpected new findings from University of Maryland researchers show that a portion of our planet’s mantle survived Earth’s rough formation, including a collision with a planet-sized body which many believe led to the creation of the Moon, as we see it today. “It is believed that Earth grew to its current size by collisions of […]
If you’re reading this post via e-mail or RSS, please visit the post’s page on the website to view the video interview. MIT researchers, guided by Andreas Mershin’s vision of a world fueled by cheap and renewable electricity, have recently published a paper in which they explain how photovoltaic panels made from plants can be […]
A group of students from Yale University, along with molecular biochemistry professor Scott Strobel, were on a routine trip to the Amazon’s Yasuni National Park, one of the most biodiverse regions in the world, when they stumbled across a peculiar type of mushroom capable of eating polyurethane plastics. If successfully applied to landfills clogged with millions of metric tons […]
Kenneth Boehr was doing the usual chemistry class, not expecting more than you would from any other ten year old students. The same for Clara Lazen, one of his students, who started working on a molecule building kit, while looking at the periodic table she was handed; she handed her teacher a model constructed from […]
US-based scientists have successfully managed to engineer a microbe that reacts with seaweed to produce ethanol, and thus making it a new source of biofuel, an alternative to coal and oil. If the research can be applied at an economically feasible scale, it could finally set biofuels usage on an exponentially growth path, as seaweed […]
Chemistry’s periodic table of elements can welcome two new entries: Livermorium and Flerovium, which were announced Thursday, on the first of December by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry. According to procedure, they will undergo a five month public comment period after which the official paperwork will be done and they will be […]
Remember this name: graphene. This wonder material is certainly on a lot of scientists’ lips these days, but in a few years from now, it will be on the lips of more and more people, as its fantastic properties will begin to be put to practical use. Graphene is a planar sheet of Carbon, just […]
Scientists at London’s Imperial College have successfully managed to create biological logic gates, indispensible for the production of electronical devices, simply our of bacteria and DNA. Though the research detailed in a recently published study in the journal Nature Communications was anything but simple, it provides an incredible advancement in the field of biotechnology. “Logic […]
The Nobel Prize has been awarded to a single scientist, which is less common than you might think, for the discovery of the structure of quasicrystals. When this new structure was first proposed, to say that it stirred controversy would be putting it light; at first, the idea was so outside of the general consensus, […]
If harnessed at a much greater potential than it is now, sunlight might not only become the primary source of energy on the planet, but the cheapest too. In one hour the sun sprays our planet with enough energy to power all the electrical needs of the word for an entire YEAR. Now that’s something […]
Your earrings, your wedding ring, the platinum in your computer of phone – all of them might be alien artefacts. So send them over for future study. According to a team led by Matthias Willbold of the University of Bristol, U.K., gold, platinum, and other precious metals were brought to Earth by a massive meteor […]
Ever since uranium has been mined and atomic bombs have been tested, some areas have had to deal with the contamination of sediments and groundwaters by toxic soluble uranium. Now, this problem could be solved with filaments growing from a specific bacteria. Some clean-up methods already use the bacteria to solidify Uranium in sediments, but […]
Think of an electric motor; what comes to mind? The results probably vary, but no one would even dare think about something 1 nanometer wide – and that’s exactly how big the world’s smallest electric motor is. It would take 60.000 of them to reach the width of a human hair, but its importance is […]
Diamonds are for a nano-second – in the glitter of a candle light, that is. In a stroke of brilliance, Professor Wuzong Zhou, Professor of Chemistry at the University of St Andrews, has found millions of diamond nano-particles in the flickering light of a simple candle. Since its invention in China thousands of years ago, […]
In what is a slap in the face of science, scientists at the University of Illinois have demonstrated that in fact, sugar doesn’t melt, it decomposes. “This discovery is important to food scientists and candy lovers because it will give them yummier caramel flavors and more tantalizing textures. It even gives the pharmaceutical industry a […]
After a long period of research and debates 114 and 116 are now the heaviest elements in the periodic table, after being recently added by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) and the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP). How heavy? Well at 289 and 292 atomic mass, respectively, they’re […]
Poor dandelions – they never even get a chance. If they shop up on your front lawn, you’re probably gonna go and buy some weed killer and wipe them out. If they show up at a picnic, they never even get creditted as flowers. Even animals don’t like them. But a Ford is taking them […]
I was telling you a while ago about the revolutionary material called graphene. Graphene is a one atom thick layer of carbon packed in a honeycomb lattice. Now, a team led by Professor Andre Geim, recipient of the Nobel Prize for graphene, showed that electric current (which is basically a flow of electrons) can magnetise […]
I was very surprised to see today’s Google doodle center piece occupied by an animated Bunsen burner experiment, familiar to anyone with a high school diploma (should be, at least), in the memory of Robert Bunsen, its creator, born 200 years ago. What’s very curious, however, is that the burner, named after Bunsen, was not […]
As I was telling you before, NASA got everybody hyped when they announced a big conference on the topic of finding alien life; of course everybody’s mind started flying to aliens and ET and all that, but more realistic people realized that something like this is extremely unlikely. However, pretty much everybody was shocked when […]
The first experiments with this laser (Linac Coherent Light Source) have been given the green light at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. The illuminating of objects and processing speed will take place at an unprecedented scale, promising groundbreaking research in physics, chemistry, biology and numerous other fields. “No one has ever had […]
Deep in one of the warmest places on the planet, in the Kalahari desert, there lies the ‘Devil’s Claw’, a plant that may hold the key to effective treatment to arthritis, tendonitis and numerous related illnesses that affect millions and millions each year. Despite being a ‘desert plant’ the Devil’s Claw doesn’t thrive in extreme […]
The paradox of water is that everybody knows it, but no one really understands it. It’s the most fascinating substance we have come across so far, and it still has many secrets for us. For example, the molecular structure of water still eludes scientists, and as a result, water still has many properties which we […]
Virginia Commonwealth University managed to discover what they have called a ‘magnetic superatom‘, a stable cluster of atoms that can ‘impersonate’ various elements from the periodic table, that could be put to use in numerous fields, especially for biomedical purposes and to create molecular devices for the next generation of computer memory.A team from the […]
Were you one of those students who used to complain about all those chemical elements you had to study at school? Well, I guess this particular piece of news will not exactly make you celebrate. It seems that chemistry has yet a lot more to offer as the element 112 has just been recognised by […]
In the past the sea was considered a truly miraculous place especially as many phenomena seemed to have no logical explanation. Sea creatures have also troubled the sailors as they were like nothing else they had ever seen. Now science proved that most of our fears are not justified, but also that miracles can have […]
Scientists that analyzed meteorite dust made some discoveries that gave them clues about the ever standing mystery of how life works at its most basic, molecular level. This question has puzzled researchers for quite a while now and definitive answers are yet to be found. “We found more support for the idea that biological molecules, […]
There are only 600 left in the entire world and each of them costs 5 million $. Their divine, impossible-to-reproduce sound fascinated generations of kings, noblemen, artists…and scientists, thus becoming one of the greatest musical mysteries in the world. But apparently we should not be afraid of losing the delightful sounds of a Stradivarius or […]
Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA for short) is a thermoplastic and transparent plastic that’s called acrylic glass for short. In the not so distant future it could be made from natural products such as sugars, alcohols or fatty acids. This process is much more environmentally friendly than the process used now. PMMA is manufactured by polymerising methyl […]
Jeffrey Bada is a researcher at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. He and his colleagues reanalyzed the classic experiment concerning the origins of life conducted by Stanley Miller who along with Harold Urey realized what we know today as the Miller-Urey experiment. This experiment showed that organic compounds can be created with no relative difficulty from […]
Biofuels seems to be the word on everybody’s lips today, and for good reason. It’s necessary that people understand the benefits and importance of this development, as it could be a huge step in protecting our resources and planet. Fortunately, some breakthroughs have been made which give us confidence that things are moving (slowly, but […]
Credits A few miles inland from the Sea of Cortez, cracked earth contrasts with the clear, cloudless sky to create a beautiful yet cruel and unforgiving landscape. Here, resources are scarce and people are even fewer. Still, one man fights agains all these adversities; amid mosquitos, cactus, and an almost unbearable heat Carl Hodges manages […]
University of Maryland researchers have managed to shed some light in an important matter which puzzled medical scientists and not only for ages: how iron carried in human blood is absorbed and transported into the body. Among the benefits of this discovery I’ll just name a better understanding of iron deficiency, the world’s number one […]
Green fuels are a really hot topic, with every single day bringing a new (claimed) discovery or breakthrough, but many of them are just minor improvements. Still, every once in a while you hear about something that sounds really promising (like green gasoline). Now it seems that chemists are describing development of a “revolutionary” process […]
Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison have made a significant breakthrough in the development of biofuels (“green gasoline”), a liquid identical to standard gasoline yet created from sustainable biomass sources, such as poplar trees and switch grass. Poplar plants have been in the scientific spotlight before, as they are considered to disarm toxic pollutants 100 […]
Recently, the University of California, Riverside provided some materials that shocked me, to say the least. According to that research, scientists from all around the world have reconstructed changes in Earth’s ancient ocean chemistry during a broad sweep of geological time, from about 2.5 to 0.5 billion years ago. What they found was that the lack of […]
In what is a great leap for science, scientists from UCLA and the University of Washington have succeeded in creating “designer enzymes,” a major milestone in computational chemistry and protein engineering. The two groups were led by UCLA’s chemistry professor Kendall Houk and Washington’s biochemist David Baker. Designer enzymes will have applications for defense against […]
To understand this, you need just a very basic knowledge of chemistry, nothing fancy. When small parts of organic matter break down, they could go into rivers or ponds where they could cause a buildup of yellow-brown organic matter that amasses as the tiny plants die. Of course, this matter decomposes into something which is […]
Life as we know has certain ingredients which are necessary for life to evolve and even exist. Such ingredients are the molecules methanimine and hydrogen cyanide — two ingredients that build life-forming amino acids. Researchers found these molecules in a galaxy somewhere 250 million light years away; it’s not as a few more light years […]
For a lot of time man kind or at least a big part of it has been absolutely fascinated with the diamond and its fantastic glimmer. The reasons which account for its stunning beauty could be uncovered by a mathematical analysis of its microscopic crystal structure. It turns out that this structure has some very […]
The carbon dioxide problem has been give much less attention than alternative fuel or biomass-derived energy production yet it is very important as chemical production creates billions of tons of carbon dioxide each year. But fear not – an analysis has concluded that use of existing biotechnology in the production of so-called bulk chemicals could […]
