Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry
Published

Researchers decode aqueous amino acid's potential for direct air capture of CO2      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists have made a significant stride toward understanding a viable process for direct air capture, or DAC, of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This DAC process is in early development with the aim of achieving negative emissions, where the amount of carbon dioxide removed from the envelope of gases surrounding Earth exceeds the amount emitted.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Biotechnology Biology: Cell Biology Biology: Developmental Biology: General Biology: Genetics Biology: Microbiology Biology: Molecular Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry
Published

New technique efficiently offers insight into gene regulation      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have developed a new technique called MAbID. This allows them to simultaneously study different mechanisms of gene regulation, which plays a major role in development and disease. MAbID offers new insights into how these mechanisms work together or against each other.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry
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PicoRuler: Molecular rulers for high-resolution microscopy      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A team presents a groundbreaking advance for the world of high-resolution fluorescence microscopy: The innovative method enables researchers for the first time to use biomolecules as molecular rulers to calibrate the latest super-resolution microscopy methods, which have a resolution of just a few nanometers.

Computer Science: Virtual Reality (VR) Offbeat: Computers and Math Offbeat: General Physics: Optics
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To help autonomous vehicles make moral decisions, researchers ditch the 'trolley problem'      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have developed a new experiment to better understand what people view as moral and immoral decisions related to driving vehicles, with the goal of collecting data to train autonomous vehicles how to make 'good' decisions. The work is designed to capture a more realistic array of moral challenges in traffic than the widely discussed life-and-death scenario inspired by the so-called 'trolley problem.'

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

Researchers reveal new process for making anhydride chemical compounds      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A collaborative research team has discovered a new process for making anhydrides that promises improvements in costs and sustainability.

Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry
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Artificial intelligence paves way for new medicines      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have developed an AI model that can predict where a drug molecule can be chemically altered.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Biotechnology Biology: Cell Biology Biology: General Biology: Genetics Biology: Microbiology Biology: Molecular Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry
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Releasing brakes on biocatalysis      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Enzymes from microorganisms can produce hydrogen (H2) under certain conditions, which makes them potential biocatalysts for biobased H2 technologies. In order to make this hydrogen production efficient, researchers are trying to identify and eliminate possible limiting factors. These include formaldehyde, which occurs naturally as a metabolic product in cells and inhibits the particularly efficient [FeFe] hydrogenase.

Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Energy: Batteries Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry
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Greener solution powers new method for lithium-ion battery recycling      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Used lithium-ion batteries from cell phones, laptops and a growing number of electric vehicles are piling up, but options for recycling them remain limited mostly to burning or chemically dissolving shredded batteries. Researchers have improved on approaches that dissolve the battery in a liquid solution in order to reduce the amount of hazardous chemicals used in the process. This simple, efficient and environmentally-friendly solution overcomes the main obstacles presented by previous approaches.

Computer Science: General Computer Science: Virtual Reality (VR)
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Immersive engagement in mixed reality can be measured with reaction time      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

In the real world/digital world cross-over of mixed reality, a user's immersive engagement with the program is called presence. Now, researchers have identified reaction time as a potential presence measurement tool. Their findings have implications for calibrating mixed reality to the user in real time. 

Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry
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Chemists use oxygen, copper 'scissors' to make cheaper drug treatments possible      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have devised a way to produce chemicals used in medicine and agriculture for a fraction of the usual cost. Using oxygen as a reagent and copper as a catalyst to break organic molecules' carbon-carbon bonds and convert them into amines, which are widely used in pharmaceuticals. Traditional metal catalysis uses expensive metals such as platinum, silver, gold and palladium, but the researchers used oxygen and copper -- an abundant base metal.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Chemistry: Organic Chemistry
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New method for determining the water content of water-soluble compounds      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have developed a new method for the accurate determination of the water content of water-soluble compounds. This plays a significant role in various areas, including determining drug dosages.

Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry Geoscience: Geography
Published

Effect of aerosol particles on clouds and the climate captured better      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Global measurements and model calculations show that the complex relationship between the chemistry and climate impact of aerosol particles can be successfully captured by a simple formula.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry
Published

Putting an end to plastic separation anxiety      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Bio-based plastics often end up in recycling streams because they look and feel like conventional plastic, but the contamination of these compostable products makes it much harder to generate functional material out of recycled plastic. Scientists have now developed a biology-driven process to convert these mixtures into a new biodegradable material that can be used to make fresh products. The scientists believe the process could also enable a new field of biomanufacturing wherein valuable chemicals and even medicines are made from microbes feeding off of plastic waste.

Chemistry: General Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry
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Shedding light on unique conduction mechanisms in a new type of perovskite oxide      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The remarkable proton and oxide-ion (dual-ion) conductivities of hexagonal perovskite-related oxide Ba7Nb3.8Mo1.2O20.1 are promising for next-generation electrochemical devices. The unique ion-transport mechanisms they unveiled will hopefully pave the way for better dual-ion conductors, which could play an essential role in tomorrow's clean energy technologies.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Energy: Technology Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry
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Pushing the boundaries of eco-friendly chemical production      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A team of pioneering researchers has made a significant leap forward in the complex world of molecular chemistry. Their focus? Azaarenes, unique molecular puzzle pieces crucial to many everyday products, from eco-friendly agrochemicals to essential medicines. The team developed an innovative way to modify these molecules using light-powered enzymes -- a groundbreaking discovery that holds promise for new industrially relevant chemical reactions and sustainable energy solutions.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Engineering: Nanotechnology
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Engineering bacteria to biosynthesize intricate protein complexes      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Protein cages found in nature within microbes help weather its contents from the harsh intracellular environment -- an observation with many bioengineering applications. Researchers recently developed an innovative bioengineering approach using genetically modified bacteria; these bacteria can incorporate protein cages around protein crystals. This in-cell biosynthesis method efficiently produces highly customized protein complexes, which could find applications as advanced solid catalysts and functionalized nanomaterials.

Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Energy: Alternative Fuels Energy: Technology Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry
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Water splitting reaction for green hydrogen gas production improved      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Electrochemical catalysts used in water splitting often show poor performance due to low electrical conductance of (oxy)hydroxide species produced in situ. To overcome this challenge, researchers have now designed an electrode with Schottky Junction formed at the interface of metallic Ni-W5N4 and semiconducting NiFeOOH. The proposed electrode shows excellent catalytic activity and can facilitate industrial seawater splitting continuously for 10 days.

Computer Science: Virtual Reality (VR) Offbeat: Computers and Math Offbeat: General
Published

When we feel things that are not there      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The discovery of the phantom touch illusion provides insights into human perception and opens up new perspectives for interaction with virtual reality technology.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Chemistry: Organic Chemistry
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AI programs spat out known data and hardly learned specific chemical interactions when predicting drug potency      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Artificial intelligence (AI) is on the rise. Until now, AI applications generally have 'black box' character: How AI arrives at its results remains hidden. A cheminformatics scientist has now developed a method that reveals how certain AI applications work in pharmaceutical research. The results are unexpected: the AI programs largely remembered known data and hardly learned specific chemical interactions when predicting drug potency.

Chemistry: General Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Energy: Alternative Fuels Energy: Fossil Fuels Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry Physics: Optics
Published

Solar-powered device produces clean water and clean fuel at the same time      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A floating, solar-powered device that can turn contaminated water or seawater into clean hydrogen fuel and purified water, anywhere in the world, has been developed by researchers.