Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Energy: Alternative Fuels Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry
Published

Producing hydrogen and fertilizer at the same time      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

This new concept could allow the needs of previously separate industries to be combined: the production of hydrogen and the production of fertilizer.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry
Published

Crystals from radioactive metal actinium      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers grew crystals containing actinium and illuminated them with X-rays to learn how the radioactive metal binds with other elements. That information could help design better cancer treatments.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Engineering: Nanotechnology Physics: Optics
Published

Microbeads with adaptable fluorescent colors from visible light to near-infrared      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have successfully developed an environmentally friendly, microspherical fluorescent material primarily made from citric acid. These microbeads emit various colors of light depending on the illuminating light and the size of the beads, which suggests a wide range of applications. Furthermore, the use of plant-derived materials allows for low-cost and energy-efficient synthesis.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Energy: Technology Engineering: Robotics Research Offbeat: General
Published

A chemical claw machine bends and stretches when exposed to vapors      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists have developed a tiny 'claw machine' that is able to pick up and drop a marble-sized ball in response to exposure to chemical vapors. The findings point to a technique that can enable soft actuators--the parts of a machine that make it move--to perform multiple tasks without the need for additional costly materials. While existing soft actuators can be 'one-trick ponies' restricted to one type of movement, this novel composite film contorts itself in different ways depending on the vapor that it is exposed to.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Environmental: General Geoscience: Geochemistry Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: General
Published

Scientists create computer program that 'paints' the structure of molecules in the style of Piet Mondrian      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists have created a computer program that 'paints' the structure of molecules in the style of famous Dutch artist, Piet Mondrian. Researchers are opening eyes and minds to the beauty of molecular structure, as well as posing new questions about the form and function of the molecules themselves.

Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Exploration Space: General Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

Scientific definition of a planet says it must orbit our sun; A new proposal would change that      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The International Astronomical Union defines a planet as a celestial body that orbits the sun, is massive enough that gravity has forced it into a spherical shape, and has cleared away other objects near its orbit around the sun. Scientists now recognize the existence of thousands of planets, but the IAU definition applies only to those within our solar system. The new proposed definition specifies that the body may orbit one or more stars, brown dwarfs or stellar remnants and sets mass limits that should apply to planets everywhere.

Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry
Published

Aperiodic approximants for relating quasicrystals and modulated structures      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

By constructing hexagonal metallic-mean approximants of the honeycomb lattice, scientists have linked incommensurately modulated structures and quasicrystals, two classes of aperiodic crystals. They found that a quasicrystal converges to a modulated honeycomb crystal on arranging tiles based on metallic means. This metallic-mean tiling pattern was also identified in polymer and colloidal systems in soft-matter self-assemblies, providing new insights into aperiodic crystals.

Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Engineering: Nanotechnology Physics: Optics
Published

High-speed electron camera uncovers a new 'light-twisting' behavior in an ultrathin material      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Using an instrument for ultrafast electron diffraction (MeV-UED), researchers discovered how an ultrathin material can circularly polarize light. This discovery sets up a promising approach to manipulate light for applications in optoelectronic devices.

Offbeat: General Offbeat: Space Space: Exploration Space: General Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

Mars likely had cold and icy past, new study finds      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The question of whether Mars ever supported life has captivated the imagination of scientists and the public for decades. Central to the discovery is gaining insight into the past climate of Earth's neighbor: was the planet warm and wet, with seas and rivers much like those found on our own planet? Or was it frigid and icy, and therefore potentially less prone to supporting life as we know it? A new study finds evidence to support the latter by identifying similarities between soils found on Mars and those of Canada's Newfoundland, a cold subarctic climate.

Offbeat: General Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: General Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

The origins of dark comets      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Up to 60% of near-Earth objects could be dark comets, mysterious asteroids that orbit the sun in our solar system that likely contain or previously contained ice and could have been one route for delivering water to Earth, according to a new study.

Offbeat: General Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Exploration Space: General Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

Strong evidence for intermediate-mass black hole in Omega Centauri      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Most known black holes are either extremely massive, like the supermassive black holes that lie at the cores of large galaxies, or relatively lightweight, with a mass of under 100 times that of the Sun. Intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) are scarce, however, and are considered rare 'missing links' in black hole evolution.

Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Energy: Batteries
Published

BESSY II shows how solid-state batteries degrade      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Solid-state batteries have several advantages: they can store more energy and are safer than batteries with liquid electrolytes. However, they do not last as long and their capacity decreases with each charge cycle. But it doesn't have to stay that way: Researchers are already on the trail of the causes.

Offbeat: General Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Exploration Space: General Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

Found with Webb: A potentially habitable icy world      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A international team of astronomers has made an exciting discovery about the temperate exoplanet LHS 1140 b: it could be a promising 'super-Earth' covered in ice or water.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Computer Science: Quantum Computers Engineering: Nanotechnology Physics: General Physics: Optics Physics: Quantum Computing Physics: Quantum Physics
Published

Moving from the visible to the infrared: Developing high quality nanocrystals      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, quantum dots have a wide variety of applications ranging from displays and LED lights to chemical reaction catalysis and bioimaging. These semiconductor nanocrystals are so small -- on the order of nanometers -- that their properties, such as color, are size dependent, and they start to exhibit quantum properties. This technology has been really well developed, but only in the visible spectrum, leaving untapped opportunities for technologies in both the ultraviolet and infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Environmental: Water Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Geology Space: Exploration Space: General Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

Building materials for water-rich planets in the early solar system      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Age data for certain classes of meteorite have made it possible to gain new findings on the origin of small water-rich astronomical bodies in the early solar system. These planetesimals continually supplied building materials for planets -- also for the Earth, whose original material contained little water. The Earth received its actual water through planetesimals, which emerged at low temperatures in the outer solar system, as shown by computational models carried out by an international research teach with participation by earth scientists.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry
Published

Mining rare earth metals from electronic waste      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A small molecule that naturally serves as a binding site for metals in enzymes also proves useful for separating certain rare earth metals from each other. In a proof of concept, the process extracts europium directly from fluorescent powder in used energy-saving lamps in much higher quantities than existing methods. The researchers are now working on expanding their approach to other rare earth metals. They are in the process of founding a start-up to put the recycling of these raw materials into practice.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Offbeat: General
Published

It takes a cool microscope and antifreeze to really look at ice      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Ice in nature is surrounded by liquid most of the time, and therefore it is key to understand how ice and liquid interact. A new study has now directly observe the precise shape of ice at the interface between ice and liquid -- by using antifreeze and a refrigerated microscope.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry
Published

Chemistry inspired by one-pot cooking      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Is it possible to create a new class of materials from very different substances using the 'one-pot synthesis' approach? Chemists explain how they enable the synthesis of such novel materials.

Offbeat: General Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Exploration Space: General Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

Stench of a gas giant? Nearby exoplanet reeks of rotten eggs, and that's a good thing      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

An exoplanet infamous for its deadly weather has been hiding another bizarre feature -- it reeks of rotten eggs, according to a new study of data from the James Webb Space Telescope.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Biotechnology Biology: Cell Biology Biology: General Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Physics: General Physics: Optics
Published

Visualizing short-lived intermediate compounds produced during chemical reactions      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Immobilizing small synthetic molecules inside protein crystals proves to be a promising avenue for studying intermediate compounds formed during chemical reactions, scientists report. By integrating this method with time-resolved serial femtosecond crystallography, they successfully visualized reaction dynamics and rapid structural changes occurring within reaction centers immobilized inside protein crystals. This innovative strategy holds significant potential for the intelligent design of drugs, catalysts, and functional materials.