Chemistry News - April 2009 Archives

Toward a systems biology map of iron metabolism (4/29/2009)

Scientists at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine, the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom, and the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute at Virginia Tech have taken the first steps toward constructing a systems biology map of iron metabolism. The team has put together a general network of chemicals and reactions important for the many steps and reactions that constitute iron metabolism. ...> Full Article

Hydrogen protects nuclear fuel in final storage (4/25/2009)

When Sweden's spent nuclear fuel is to be permanently stored, it will be protected by three different barriers. Even if all three barriers are damaged, the nuclear fuel will not dissolve into the groundwater, according to a new doctoral dissertation from Chalmers University of Technology. ...> Full Article

Double-action power stations: Energy and hydrogen (4/24/2009)

Gas power plants could be cheaply retrofitted to generate hydrogen as well as power ...> Full Article

Increasing levels of rare element found worldwide (4/23/2009)

Dartmouth researchers have determined that the presence of the rare element osmium is on the rise globally. They trace this increase to the consumption of refined platinum, the primary ingredient in catalytic converters, the equipment commonly installed in cars to reduce smog. ...> Full Article

Breaking the ties that bind: New hope for biomass fuels (4/23/2009)

Los Alamos National Laboratory researchers have discovered a potential chink in the armor of fibers that make the cell walls of certain inedible plant materials so tough. The insight ultimately could lead to a cost-effective and energy-efficient strategy for turning biomass into alternative fuels. ...> Full Article

Sugar on bacteria surface serves as base for a web of resistance (4/22/2009)

The bacteria responsible for chronic infections in cystic fibrosis patients use one of the sugars on the germs' surface to start building a structure that helps the microbes resist efforts to kill them, new research shows. Scientists have determined that the bacterial cell-surface sugar, a polysaccharide called Psl, is anchored on the surface of the bacterium as a helix, providing a structure that encourages cell-to-cell interaction. ...> Full Article

Singapore researchers first to transform carbon dioxide into methanol (4/18/2009)

Scientists have succeeded in unlocking the potential of carbon dioxide -- a common greenhouse gas -- by converting it into a more useful product. ...> Full Article

A touch of potassium yields better hydrogen-storage materials (4/17/2009)

An international research team, has shown that small additions of potassium drastically improve the hydrogen-storage properties of certain types of hydrogen compounds. The findings are published in the Web edition of Angewandte Chemie International Edition. ...> Full Article

Plant gene mapping may lead to better biofuel production (4/16/2009)

By creating a "family tree" of genes expressed in one form of woody plant and a less woody, herbaceous species, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have uncovered clues that may help them engineer plants more amenable to biofuel production. The study, published in the April 2009 issue of Plant Molecular Biology, also lays a foundation for understanding these genes' evolutionary and structural properties and for a broader exploration of their roles in plant life. ...> Full Article

Engineers hit pay dirt with clay mixture (4/16/2009)

A watery, mud-like substance has hit pay dirt for Case Western Reserve University engineering professor David Schiraldi and his research group. The researchers have created a line of patented foam-like and environmentally friendly polymers, called clay aerogel composites that can take on the shape and size of any container that can hold water -- from ice cube trays to rubber ducky molds to clam-shell packaging molds that hold and ship electronics. ...> Full Article

Chemists uncover green catalysts (4/15/2009)

A University of Toronto research team has discovered useful green catalysts made from iron that might replace the much more expensive and toxic platinum metals typically used in industrial chemical processes to produce drugs, flavors and fragrances. ...> Full Article

Research scientists model 3D structures of proteins that control human clock (4/14/2009)

Researchers turn to flowering plant to help them understand complexities of human sleep/wake cycle ...> Full Article

Beautifully varnished -- using renewable (4/13/2009)

How do you make a scratch-resistant varnish using sugars and vegetable oils? Researchers can show how it's done: They have developed a furniture varnish containing roughly 50 percent renewable raw materials that offers the same hard-wearing quality as conventional varnishes. ...> Full Article

Key protein in cellular respiration discovered (4/12/2009)

Many diseases derive from problems with cellular respiration, the process through which cells extract energy from nutrients. Researchers at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet have now discovered a new function for a protein in the mitochondrion -- popularly called the cell's power station -- that plays a key part in cell respiration. ...> Full Article

Ancient diatoms lead to new technology for solar energy (4/12/2009)

Engineers at Oregon State University have discovered a way to use an ancient life form to create one of the newest technologies for solar energy, in systems that may be surprisingly simple to build compared to existing silicon-based solar cells. The secret: diatoms. ...> Full Article

Tiny super-plant can clean up animal waste and be used for ethanol production (4/11/2009)

Researchers have found that a tiny aquatic plant can clean up animal waste at industrial farms and be part of the answer for the global energy crisis. Their research shows that growing duckweed on wastewater can produce five to six times more starch per acre than corn, according to researcher Dr. Jay Cheng. This means that ethanol production using duckweed could be "faster and cheaper than from corn," says fellow researcher Dr. Anne-Marie Stomp. ...> Full Article

Nanofarming technology harvest biofuel oils without harming algae (4/10/2009)

Ames Laboratory and Catilin seek to commercialize new algal oil extraction process ...> Full Article

Researchers devise a fast and sensitive way to detect ricin (4/10/2009)

Scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have developed a simple, accurate, and highly sensitive test to detect and quantify ricin, an extremely potent toxin with potential use as a bioterrorism agent. The report appears as a featured article in the April 12 issue of Analytical Chemistry. ...> Full Article

Scientists develop a unique approach for splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen (4/9/2009)

Discovery of an efficient artificial catalyst for the sunlight-driven splitting of water into oxygen and hydrogen is a major goal of renewable clean energy research. Weizmann Institute scientists have devised a unique new mechanism for the formation of hydrogen and oxygen from water, without the need for sacrificial chemical agents, through individual steps, using light. ...> Full Article

A molecular ripcord for chemical reactions (4/8/2009)

Researchers at Eindhoven University of Technology have developed an entirely new method for starting chemical reactions. For the first time they used mechanical forces to control catalytic activity -- one of the most fundamental concepts in chemistry. This allowed them to initiate chemical reactions with mechanical force. This discovery paves the way to developing materials capable of repairing themselves under the influence of mechanical tension. These results will be published online on April 6, 2009, in Nature Chemistry. ...> Full Article

New storage system design brings hydrogen cars closer to reality (4/7/2009)

Researchers have developed a critical part of a hydrogen storage system for cars that makes it possible to fill up a vehicle's fuel tank within five minutes with enough hydrogen to drive 300 miles. ...> Full Article

Model tissue system reveals cellular communication via amino acids (4/7/2009)

A team of researchers from the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Engineering in Medicine has found the first evidence of cell-to-cell communication by amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, rather than by known protein signaling agents such as growth factors or cytokines. ...> Full Article

Orientation of antenna protein in photosynthetic bacteria described (4/6/2009)

Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have figured out the orientation of a protein in the antenna complex to its neighboring membrane in a photosynthetic bacterium, a key find in the process of energy transfer in photosynthesis. Robert Blankenship, Ph.D., Markey Distinguished Professor of biology and chemistry in Arts & Sciences, led a team that for the first time combined chemical labeling with mass spectroscopy to verify the orientation. ...> Full Article

Engineers use composite materials to extend life of existing bridges (4/6/2009)

The idea for the doublers came from a casual discussion between aerospace engineers and civil engineers at KU ...> Full Article

3-D printing hits rock-bottom prices with homemade ceramics mix (4/5/2009)

A new, not-so-secret recipe uses artist-grade ceramics powder for 3-D printing. Ceramics objects can now be printed for about 3 percent the cost of commercial printing mixes. ...> Full Article

Engineers develop method to disperse chemically modified graphene in organic solvents (4/4/2009)

A method for creating dispersed and chemically modified graphene sheets in a wide variety of organic solvents has been developed by a University of Texas at Austin engineering team led by Professor Rod Ruoff, opening the door to use graphene in a host of important materials and applications such as conductive films, polymer composites, ultracapacitors, batteries, paints, inks and plastic electronics. ...> Full Article

Microbes in mud flats clean up oil spill chemicals (4/3/2009)

Micro-organisms occurring naturally in coastal mudflats have an essential role to play in cleaning up pollution by breaking down petrochemical residues. Research by Dr. Efe Aganbi and colleagues from the University of Essex, presented at the Society for General Microbiology's meeting at Harrogate today, Monday, March 30, reveals essential differences in the speed of degradation of the chemicals depending on whether or not oxygen is present. ...> Full Article

Chemist synthesizes carbohydrates, launches startup company (4/3/2009)

Nikki Pohl, an associate professor of chemistry at Iowa State University, and Beatrice Collet, the principal scientist for LuCELLa Biosciences Inc. in Ames, Iowa, have developed a process for synthesizing custom-order carbohydrates. They're launching LuCELLa to produce and market the carbohydrates to researchers. ...> Full Article

Obtaining biogas from food industry waste (4/2/2009)

The AZTI-Tecnalia technological center, experts in food research, has put a biogas plant into operation in order to investigate novel systems of sustainable energy production based on the use of waste and sub-products from the food industry. ...> Full Article