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In order for a fuel cell to work, it needs an oxidising agent. TU Wien has now found a way to explain why oxygen does not always enter fuel cells effectively, rendering them unusable. Fuel cells use a simple chemical reaction, such as the combination of oxygen and hydrogen to form water, to generate electricity.

Ronald R. Breaker, newly named as a Sterling Professor of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, is one of the world's experts on the diversity and function of RNAs, which are crucial to carrying out a host of life processes. Breaker is best known for his discovery of riboswitches, elements of RNA that can control the expression of genes.

Rewarded with a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2016, nanomachines provide mechanical work on the smallest of scales.

A team of researchers from Queen Mary University of University (QMUL), Francis Crick Institute , Goethe University Frankfurt and University of Tübingen in Germany have developed a novel technology to understand how an important protein connects to other cellular proteins. Ubiquitin is a small protein that controls and modulates the function of other cellular proteins by connecting to them.

Liquid crystals are used in everything from tiny digital watches to huge television screens, from optical devices to biomedical detectors. Yet little is known of their precise molecular structure when portions of such crystals interact with air. New research led by Juan de Pablo, the Liew Family Professor at the Institute for Molecular Engineering, uncovers previously unknown features that develop from the interface between air and certain widely studied liquid crystals.

Using a powerful telescope, scientists view spiral pattern of gaseous emissions around LL Pegasi and its companion star UCLA Newsroom An international team of astronomers has observed a striking spiral pattern in the gas surrounding a red giant star named LL Pegasi and its companion star 3,400 light-years from Earth, using a powerful telescope in northern Chile called Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array , or ALMA.

Mariana Wolfner, the Goldwin Smith Professor of Molecular Biology and Genetics, left, and Laura Harrington, professor of entomology, are co-principal investigators of an NIH grant exploring a new approach to reducing the spread of mosquito-borne viruses. The spread of mosquito-borne viruses, including dengue, chikungunya and Zika, has created a public health crisis that poses risks to nearly 4 billion people living in 120 countries.

Researchers at Cardiff University have devised a new way of creating a drug commonly used as the first line of defence against malaria around the world. Artemisinin is a drug recommended by the World Health Organisation for treatment of all cases of severe malaria and works by attacking all stages of the malaria parasite in the blood.

The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded a highly endowed grant - an ERC Advanced Grant for leading researchers in Europe - to Heidelberg molecular biologist Bernd Bukau. The five-year endowment will fund a research project in which the scientists will study the maturation of proteins in cells.

Ancient fossilised algae may be the gateway to understanding the atmospheric carbon dioxide levels of the Earth during the dinosaur era, and the role this played in changing the prehistoric climate. Copyright: Shutterstock Ancient fossilised algae may be the gateway to understanding carbon dioxide and the role it played in transforming the prehistoric climate, a new  Oxford University  study has found.

In the future, a new type of tiny redox flow battery will supply tightly packed electronic components with energy, while also dissipating the heat they produce.

Scientists from Freie Universität Berlin Demonstrated Existence of Unusual Organic Molecule with a Hexacoordinated Carbon Atom ' 052/2017 from Mar 14, 2017 Scientists from Freie Universität Berlin have isolated an organic molecule whose structure seems to contradict fundamental principles of organic chemistry.

The analysis of the minutest quantities of pharmaceutical samples is of crucial importance for the research and synthesis of new medications. At the moment it represents a technical challenge, but a new infrared method of measurement developed by TU Wien in collaboration with two research groups from Copenhagen may remedy this.

Scientists have identified a new class of colloidal systems, which are homogeneous dispersions of highly dissimilar constituents, involving inorganic solvents. A team of researchers, led by scientists at the University of Chicago and the Argonne National Laboratory , has identified a new class of colloidal systems involving inorganic solvents'a discovery that could offer new applications for nanotechnology and better functional materials.

A new study of mosses brings scientists one step closer to solving a mystery in plant biology: how plants made the transition from water to land 450 million years ago. An international team of researchers report in the March 8 that a gene found in a moss may hold the blueprint for a biopolymer that provided structure and a protective outer layer necessary for early land plants to survive life outside of water.

Researchers have uncovered a significant new chemical attribute of plutonium, the identification and structural verification of the +2 oxidation state in a molecular system. "This finding marks out plutonium, already known for its extremely complex chemistry, as the actinide element with the largest number of confirmed oxidation states," said Andrew Gaunt.

Scientists at IBM and EPFL have shown for the first time that it is possible to store in and retrieve information from single-atom magnets. The breakthrough can have significant implications for the miniaturization of magnetic memory devices. As memory devices are becoming increasingly smaller, it was hypothesized whether the elementary storage unit could one day be as small as a single atom.

Laboratories and hospitals will have the power to do full chemical analyses to solve complex problems with our device that they can afford and move around easily. Physicists have designed a handheld device inspired by the sonic screwdriver in Doctor Who and the tricorder in Star Trek that will use the power of MRI and mass spectrometry to perform a chemical analysis of objects.

Blood pressure could be more effectively controlled as new target for treatment is discovered New more effective treatments for high blood pressure could be possible thanks to the discovery by King's College London researchers that the nitric oxide that regulates blood pressure is formed in nerves rather than in the walls of blood vessels.

Scientists at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have'in just two years'nearly doubled the number of materials known to have potential for use in solar fuels. They did so by developing a process that promises to speed the discovery of commercially viable generation of solar fuels that could replace coal, oil, and other fossil fuels.