news

Good news for researchers working with high-resolution fluorescence microscopy: Biocompatible molecular rulers are available for the first time to calibrate the latest super-resolution microscopy methods. Latest super-resolution microscopy methods now achieve an optical resolution in the range of a few nanometres.

Planets like our Earth, including planets with water, could form even in the harshest known star-forming environments, drenched by hard UV light from massive stars. That is a main result of analyses of new observations of such an environment with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), conducted by, amongst others, Rens Waters and student Lars Cuijpers from Radboud University.

Formaldehyde can inhibit enzymes that produce hydrogen particularly efficiently. Researchers from Bochum have discovered how this can be prevented. 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.

Researchers have identified a new way to screen genes that cause several different types of cancers to grow, identifying particularly promising targets for precision oncology in oral and esophageal squamous cancers. The study, published in this month's issue of Cell Reports , used 3-dimensional models of organ tissues called organoids to identify and test potential gene targets from The Cancer Genome Atlas.

Publication of the Chemistry Laboratory in the journal ACS Catalysis on November 9, 2023. Communication of CNRS Chemistry on November 27, 2023. Producing dihydrogen by electrolysis of water requires rare and therefore expensive catalysts. They could be replaced by another molybdenum-based catalyst, much more abundant but currently less efficient.

In the search for new particles and forces in nature, physicists are on the hunt for behaviors within atoms and molecules that are forbidden by the tried-and-true Standard Model of particle physics. Any deviations from this model could indicate what physicists affectionately refer to as "new physics." Caltech assistant professor of physics Nick Hutzler and his group are in pursuit of specific kinds of deviations that would help solve the mystery of why there is so much matter in our universe.

Protein-like aggregates known as amyloids can bind to molecules of genetic material. It is possible that these two types of molecules stabilised each other during the development of life - and that this might even have paved the way for the genetic code. How organisms develop from inanimate matter is one of the biggest questions in science.

The work demonstrates control over key properties leading to better performance. MIT researchers and colleagues have demonstrated a way to precisely control the size, composition, and other properties of nanoparticles key to the reactions involved in a variety of clean energy and environmental technologies.

A new AI model developed by chemists at ETH Zurich can not only predict where a pharmaceutically active molecule can be chemically modified, but also how best to do it. This makes it possible to identify new pharmaceutical ingredients more quickly and improve existing ones in a targeted manner. New active pharmaceutical ingredients lay the foundations for innovative and better medical treatments.

From November 13 to 19, the third Global Plastics Treaty Meeting was held in Nairobi (Kenya), which tried, albeit in vain, to find an agreement to hold "countries and companies accountable for their action, or inaction, on plastic pollution and its impact on our health, environment and economy". World leaders have set themselves a date to further discuss the issue in April 2024 in Ottawa, Canada, but in the meantime, plastics and microplastics continue to produce pollution, primarily in waters around the globe.

Key takeaways UCLA 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.

Polyphosphoesters, molecules containing phosphorus as central element, are easily traceable without the need for contrast agents, thanks to developments by researchers of the University of Twente. Normally, these molecules display a similar molecular composition of our DNA, leading to considerable 'noise' in the image.

For the first time, researchers at TU Wien have successfully observed the operating principle of so-called promoters in a catalytic reaction in real-time. These promoters play an important role in technology, but so far there is only limited understanding of how they work. Catalysts are essential for numerous chemical technologies, ranging from exhaust gas purification to the production of valuable chemicals and energy carriers.

Key Takeaways The biology-driven process requires no fancy equipment and yields molecules of a biodegradable plastic alternative that can be made into new commodity products. Initial tests indicate that the process could be successfully applied to real-world plastic streams. In the future, the microbes used to convert the plastic intermediates could also produce other valuable products, enabling a new field of biomanufacturing fed by waste.

Scientists have crafted a biological system that mimics an electronic bandpass filter, a novel sensor that could revolutionize self-regulated biological mechanisms in synthetic biology. Synthetic biology holds the promise of enhancing and modifying biological systems into innumerable new technologies for the benefit of society.

The core-mantle boundary (CMB) is the interface between the earth's iron metal core and the thick rocky layer of mantle just above the core. It is a world of extremes-temperatures thousands of degrees Fahrenheit and pressures over a million times the pressure at the surface of the Earth. While it may seem far away from our environment on Earth's surface, plumes of material from the CMB can ascend upwards through the planet over tens of millions of years, influencing the chemistry, geologic structure, and plate tectonics of the surface world where we live.

With the ever-increasing interest in renewable energy, scientists are continuously searching for new technologies to store energy. CO2 electrolysis is a promising way to store energy whilst recycling carbon dioxide. By applying electricity, CO2 and water react and produce more complex molecules. A study published in Nature Communications lead by Hugo van Montfort at TU Delft has presented a new design of electrodes that improves the efficiency of CO2 electrolysis.

How did the molecular building blocks for life end up on Earth? One long-standing theory is that they could have been delivered by comets. Now, researchers from the University of Cambridge have shown how comets could deposit similar building blocks to other planets in the galaxy. It's possible that the molecules that led to life on Earth came from comets, so the same could be true for planets elsewhere in the galaxy Richard Anslow In order to deliver organic material, comets need to be travelling relatively slowly - at speeds below 15 kilometres per second.

New coating protects nitrogen-fixing bacteria from heat and humidity, which could allow them to be deployed for large-scale agricultural use. Production of chemical fertilizers accounts for about 1.5 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. MIT chemists hope to help reduce that carbon footprint by replacing some chemical fertilizer with a more sustainable source - bacteria.

French, Singaporean and British researchers, led by Prof. Florent Ginhoux, head of a research team at Gustave Roussy/Inserm, have succeeded in demonstrating in a neuronal organoid the role of the brain's immune environment in its formation and development. The development of these three-dimensional structures integrating neuronal cells and the immune environment is, to date, one of the most complete in vitro models of the human brain.