Chemistry News

The sound of light: Innovative technology shatters the barriers of modern light microscopy (7/2/2009)

Researchers at the Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen and the Technische Universitat Munchen are using a combination of light and ultrasound to visualize fluorescent proteins that are seated several centimeters deep into living tissue. ...> Full Article

Engineers developing bulletproof vests from cement (7/1/2009)

Leeds engineer actively seeking other researchers, engineers, scientists, designers or even sculptors and artists who also have ideas for new uses for cement ...> Full Article

Researchers find a quicker, cheaper way to sort isotopes (6/30/2009)

Isotopes, the atomic clues used to solve crimes, date ancient artifacts and identify chemicals ...> Full Article

First step to converting solar energy using 'artificial leaf' (6/30/2009)

Structure of artificial light harvesting antenna determined ...> Full Article

Waste water treatment plant mud used as 'green' fuel (6/29/2009)

Catalan scientists have shown that using mud from waste water treatment plants as a partial alternative fuel can enable cement factories to reduce their CO2 emissions and comply with the Kyoto Protocol, as well as posing no risk to human health and being profitable. These are the results of an environmental impact assessment. ...> Full Article

Scientists cage chemical demon (6/28/2009)

A Cambridge University-led research team has discovered a technique to safely handle and transport white phosphorous. ...> Full Article

Structural biology scores with protein snapshot (6/27/2009)

In a landmark technical achievement, investigators in the Vanderbilt Center for Structural Biology have used nuclear magnetic resonance methods to determine the structure of the largest membrane-spanning protein to date.The group's ability to determine the NMR structure of the bacterial protein diacylglycerol kinase, reported in the June 26 issue of Science, suggests that similar methods can now be used to study the structures of other membrane proteins. ...> Full Article

Cells use import machinery to export their goods as well (6/26/2009)

Research suggests a new level of regulation for cellular export process by molecules previously assumed to be dedicated to import activities. ...> Full Article

Feather fibers fluff up hydrogen storage capacity (6/25/2009)

Scientists in Delaware say they have developed a new hydrogen storage method -- carbonized chicken feather fibers -- that can hold vast amounts of hydrogen, a promising but difficult to corral fuel source, and do it at a far lower cost than other hydrogen storage systems under consideration. ...> Full Article

Researchers explore how cells reconcile mixed messages in decisions about growth (6/24/2009)

Findings have implications for tissue engineering, understanding of tumor development ...> Full Article

A Canada-wide technology platform for mapping the human interactome (6/24/2009)

The Canada Foundation for Innovation announced the award of $9.16 million for the creation of a national technology platform aimed at mapping the human interactome. This national platform, headed by Dr. Benoit Coulombe, will not only provide Canadian researchers with new state-of-the-art equipment in proteomics, functional genomics and bioinformatics, but also bring together integrated infrastructure for deciphering the human interactome an expertise that, until now, has been spread in 12 universities across Canada. ...> Full Article

Researchers observe single protein dimers wavering between two symmetrically opposed structures (6/23/2009)

Researchers at the Scripps Research Institute, the University of California, San Diego, and Ohio State University have used a very sensitive fluorescence technique to find that a bacterial protein thought to exist in one "natural" three-dimensional structure (shape), can actually twist itself into a second form, depending on the protein's chemical environment. One folded form is active and the other is inactive, but the protein can easily morph from one state to another. ...> Full Article

Important symbol of pollution is broken down by microbes (6/22/2009)

Immobilized microbes can break down potentially harmful phthalates, according to researchers in China, writing in the International Journal of Environment and Pollution. The microbes might be used to treat industrial waste water and so prevent these materials from entering the environment. ...> Full Article

Unlike rubber bands, molecular bonds may not break faster when pulled (6/22/2009)

From balloons to rubber bands, things always break faster when stretched. Or do they? University of Illinois scientists studying chemical bonds now have shown this isn't always the case, and their results may have profound implications for the stability of proteins to mechanical stress and the design of new high-tech polymers. ...> Full Article

Researchers find 'a touch of glass' in metal, settles century-old question (6/21/2009)

Scientists at NIST have found evidence of an important similarity between the behavior of polycrystalline materials -- like metals and ceramics -- and glasses, research that could lead to better predictions of how many valuable materials behave under stress. ...> Full Article