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Chemistry News - December 2009 Archives
 | Research at Penn State has shown that certain combinations of elemental atoms have electronic signatures that mimic the electronic signatures of other elements. The findings could lead to much cheaper materials for widespread applications such as new sources of energy, methods of pollution abatement, and catalysts on which industrial nations depend heavily for chemical processing. ...> Full Article |
 | Scientists in China are reporting an advance that may improve the natural wonders of wool -- already regarded as the "wonder fabric" for its lightness, softness, warmth even when wet, and other qualities. They say the discovery could give wool a "brain," placing it among other "smart" fabrics that shake off wrinkles, shrinkage and "breathe" to release perspiration. The study is in ACS' Langmuir, a bi-weekly journal.
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 | Refineries could trim millions of dollars in energy costs annually by using a new method developed at Purdue University to rearrange the distillation sequence needed to separate crude petroleum into products. ...> Full Article |
 | A discovery by scientists at the University of East Anglia could contribute to the development of systems that use domestic or agricultural waste to generate clean electricity. ...> Full Article |
 | A PNAS study by USC geobiologists documents new behavior of metal-metabolizing bacteria, with implications for design of microbial fuel cells. ...> Full Article |
 | Scientists have identified a novel antifreeze molecule in a freeze-tolerant Alaska beetle able to survive temperatures below minus 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Unlike all previously described biological antifreezes that contain protein, this new molecule, called xylomannan, has little or no protein. It is composed of a sugar and a fatty acid and may exist in new places within the cells of organisms. ...> Full Article |
Adding cerium oxide to phosphate glass rather than the commonly used silicate glass may make glasses that block ultraviolet light and have increased radiation damage resistance while remaining colorless, according to Penn State researchers. These cerium-containing phosphate glasses have many commercial applications for use in windows, sunglasses and solar cells.
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Proteins, which perform such vital roles in our bodies as building and maintaining tissues and regulating cellular processes, are a finicky lot. In order to work properly, they must be folded just so, yet many proteins readily collapse into useless tangles when exposed to temperatures just a few degrees above normal body temperature.
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Vehicles running on ethanol will generate higher concentrations of ozone than those using gasoline, especially in the winter, Stanford researchers have found. That could create new health concerns in areas where ozone hasn't been a significant problem before.
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 | Global climate change has prompted efforts to drastically reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas produced by burning fossil fuels.
In a new approach, researchers from the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science have genetically modified a cyanobacterium to consume carbon dioxide and produce a liquid fuel precursor to isobutanol, which holds great potential as a gasoline alternative. The reaction is powered directly by energy from sunlight, or photosynthesis.
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 | Two scientists at the Brookhaven Lab have developed a method to control the buildup of hydrogen fluoride gas during the growth of precision crystals needed for applications such as superconductors, optical devices, and microelectronics. The invention could lead to more efficient production and improved performance of these materials. ...> Full Article |
 | Finishing your plate may soon take on a literal meaning. Diane Bisson, a professor at the Université de Montréal School of Industrial Design, has fashioned edible plates that are practical, stylish and tasty. She has completed the first phase of her research, which has resulted in a book highlighting more than 50 tested recipes and 400 tested prototypes: "Edible, The Food as Material." ...> Full Article |
In a study that elevates the role of entropy in creating order, research led by the University of Michigan shows that certain pyramid shapes can spontaneously organize into complex quasicrystals.
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 | Even small errors made by cells during protein production can have profound disease effects, and nature has developed ways to uncover these mistakes and correct them. Though in the case of one essential protein building block -- the amino acid alanine -- nature has been extra careful, developing not one, but two checkpoints in her effort to make sure that this component is used correctly.
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 | Some atoms don't always follow the rules.Take the beryllium dimer, a seemingly simple molecule made up of two atoms that University of Delaware physicists Krzysztof Szalewicz and Konrad Patkowski and colleague Vladimír Spirko of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic report on in the Dec. 4 edition of the journal Science. ...> Full Article |
 | Purdue University ice chemists are studying the surface structure of snow crystals and why sharp transitions in shape occur at different temperatures. The differences they see not only explain why no two snowflakes are identical, but also hold implications for their ozone research in the Arctic Ocean region. ...> Full Article |
 | At the Technische Universitaet Muenchen, where Rudolf Diesel himself studied engineering, a research team including students is pushing to see how clean and green a diesel truck engine can be. Researchers have simultaneously cut nitrogen oxide and soot production, reducing pollutants in exhaust emissions to barely measurable levels. Their experimental engine nearly meets stringent requirements set to go into effect in 2014. They've also developed a probe for studying the growth of soot during combustion. ...> Full Article |
 | An important Brandeis study appearing in the Dec. 3 issue of Nature raises the curtain on the hidden lives of proteins at the atomic level. The study reports that for the first time, researchers used x-ray crystallography and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques to directly visualize protein structures essential for catalysis at the rare high-energy state. The study also showed how the motions of these rare, or hidden, structures collectively, directly contribute to enzyme catalysis. ...> Full Article |
 | Researchers at Tel Aviv University have developed a method to control the atoms and molecules of peptides so that they "grow" to resemble small forests of grass. These "peptide forests" repel dust and water and can also serve as high-density battery capacitors. ...> Full Article |
Photosynthetic organisms need to cope with a wide range of light intensities, which can change over timescales of seconds to minutes. Too much light can damage the photosynthetic machinery and cause cell death. Scientists at the Carnegie Institution were part of a team that found that specific proteins in algae can act as a safety valve to dissipate excess absorbed light energy before it can wreak havoc in cells.
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Ancient DNA from rare fossil reveals that polar bears evolved recently and adapted quickly
'Anaconda' meets 'Jurassic Park': Study shows ancient snakes ate dinosaur babies
Scientists locate apparent hydrothermal vents off Antarctica
Mars Express heading for closest flyby of Phobos
Artificial bee silk a big step closer to reality
Predicting the fate of stem cells
Artificial foot recycles energy for easier walking
New fiber nanogenerators could lead to electric clothing
What drives our genes? Researchers map the first complete human epigenome
Juggling enhances connections in the brain
Tracking down the human 'odorprint'
Scientists discover quantum fingerprints of chaos
Researchers help identify cows that gain more while eating less
Chemicals that eased one environmental problem may worsen another
Helping hydrogen: Student inventor tackles challenge of hydrogen storage
More, better biodiesel
Orange peels, newspapers may lead to cheaper, cleaner ethanol fuel
Researchers envision high-tech applications for 'multiferroic' crystals
Chemists create synthetic 'gene-like' crystals for carbon dioxide capture
Setting out to discover new, long-lived elements