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The Solid Electrolyte Interphase (SEI) inside both lithium-ion and lithium metal batteries is indispensable for successful battery cell operation and at the same time an analytical challenge. Up to now, its analysis has only been possible to a limited extent; knowledge about formation, composition, growth or reactions is incomplete.

Step aside, skeletons - a new world of biochemical "signatures" found in all kinds of ancient fossils is revealing itself to paleontologists, providing a new avenue for insights into major evolutionary questions. In a new study published Advances , Yale researchers outline a novel approach to finding biological signals long thought to be lost in the process of fossilization.

Cardiff University scientists have devised a new way of making reactions up to 70 times faster by using state-of-the-art equipment to spin chemicals around. They found that efficient mixing within a chemical reaction could be achieved by spinning chemicals and catalysts around in a small tube, causing the reactions to happen much quicker.

Observations suggest smaller warming effects of brown carbon than published model assessments In a unique megafire study, a Los Alamos National Laboratory-led research team studied the properties of smoke from Arizona's massive Woodbury Fire last summer using a powerful set of observing techniques. LOS ALAMOS, N.M. July 9, 2020-New research revealed that tiny, sunlight-absorbing particles in wildfire smoke may have less impact on climate than widely hypothesized because reactions as the plume mixes with clean air reduce its absorbing power and climate-warming effect.

A research team led by zoologist Dr Amy MacLeod has been using drones to count marine lizards on the Galapagos Islands. The aim of the Leipzig University project is to determine the colony sizes of this vulnerable species and, with the help of volunteers, to precisely locate them - in order to ultimately be able to better protect the iguanas.

Göttingen Physicists use oscillations of atoms to control a phase transition The goal of -Femtochemistry- is to film and control chemical reactions with short flashes of light. Using consecutive laser pulses, atomic bonds can be excited precisely and broken as desired. So far, this has been demonstrated for selected molecules.

To fully exploit the potential of the "wonder material" graphene, it has to be combined with other materials. A new study investigates what is important for this. Graphene consists of a single layer of carbon atoms. Exceptional electronic, thermal, mechanical and optical properties have made graphene one of the most studied materials at the moment.

A team of physicists and chemists has produced the first porous graphene ribbons in which specific carbon atoms in the crystal lattice are replaced with nitrogen atoms. These ribbons have semiconducting properties that make them attractive for applications in electronics and quantum computing, as reported by researchers from the Universities of Basel, Bern, Lancaster and Warwick in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Milestone for therapeutic development of peptides against gastrointestinal disorders The fascinating family of trefoil factor peptides brings hope to both research and industry to improve the treatment of chronic disorders such as Crohn's disease. For the first time, a team led by ERC awardee Markus Muttenthaler from the Faculty of Chemistry of the University of Vienna succeeded in the synthesis and folding of the peptide TFF1, a key player in mucosal protection and repair.

University of Sydney engineers have used electricity to clean up heavily polluted industrial wastewater. They hope the findings will help wineries, pharmaceutical manufacturers and other industries that must comply with strict wastewater regulations. A team of engineers may be one step closer to cleaning up heavily contaminated industrial wastewater streams.

The molecular gas in galaxies is organised into a hierarchy of structures. It moves along filament-like orbits to centres of gas and dust where it is compressed into stars and planets. To better understand this, an international team of astronomers led by Dr Jonathan Henshaw from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy and Dr Diederik Kruijssen from the Center for Astronomy at Heidelberg University examined gas movements on various size scales.

X-ray structure analysis gives detailed insights into molecular factory The active agents of many drugs are natural products, so called because often only microorganisms are able to produce the complex structures. Similar to the production line in a factory, large enzyme complexes put these active agent molecules together.

The cytosolic iron sulfur assembly (CIA) pathway is required for the insertion of Fe-S clusters into proteins, including many DNA replication and repair factors. Despite its essential cellular function, this pathway remains enigmatic. A new integrative structural and biochemical study from the Thomä group now provides detailed insights into the mechanisms of Fe-S protein biogenesis.

Research explains how a unicellular marine organism generates light as a response to mechanical stimulation, lighting up breaking waves at night. Our findings show how elegant decision-making can be on a single-cell level Maziyar Jalaal Every few years, a bloom of microscopic organisms called dinoflagellates transforms the coasts around the world by endowing breaking waves with an eerie blue glow.

Thanks to 20 years of homegrown galactic data, astronomers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, UW-Whitewater and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University have finally figured out just how much energy permeates the center of the Milky Way. The researchers say it could one day help astronomers track down where all that energy comes from.

It is one of the key technologies for high-performance batteries of the future: the lithium metal battery (LMB). Designed for instance as solid-state battery with polymer electrolyte, it promises a significantly higher energy density than the currently common lithium-ion battery (LIB). However, it is not yet fully developed for the final commercial breakthrough and is therefore currently used by only a few pilot projects.

Easily produced, nature-like nanostructures of cobalt phosphide are highly effective catalysts for the electrolysis of water, according to research performed by chemist Ning Yan and his team at the University of Amsterdam's Van 't Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences together with co-workers from the School of Physics and Technology at Wuhan University, China.

While miniaturization is already well advanced in electrical engineering, analysis and process technology in medicine and biochemistry still fills entire laboratories. Researchers from the University of Stuttgart and the Center for Free-Electron Laser Science (CFEL) in Hamburg have now developed a method which enables a laboratory to be reduced to the size of the tip of a needle.

Stanford researchers tested a new insulin drug in diabetic pigs and found that it was twice as fast-acting as traditional insulin. Researchers at Stanford University are developing a new insulin formulation that begins to take effect almost immediately upon injection, potentially working four times as fast as current commercial fast-acting insulin formulations.

New method for quality control of chanterelle mushrooms Chanterelles give savoury dishes a rich body and a unique complex flavour. Experts refer to this as the kokumi effect. A research team from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the Leibniz-Institute for Food Systems Biology recently developed the first method to clearly quantify chanterelle-specific key substances that contribute to this effect.