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13 Dec 2013 University of Manchester scientists have helped demonstrate that long, structurally well-defined ribbons of graphene can be made. Writing , researchers used different characterisation techniques, including Raman spectroscopy - led by Dr Cinzia Casiraghi and her group - to confirm that these ribbons, called GNRs, are structurally well-defined and have excellent charge-carrier mobility.

A molecule containing a noble gas has been discovered in space by a team including astronomers from Cardiff University. The find was made using a Cardiff-led instrument aboard Europe's Herschel Space Observatory. The molecule, argon hydride, was seen in the Crab Nebula, the remains of a star that exploded 1,000 years ago.

Noble gas molecules have been detected in space for the first time in the Crab Nebula, a supernova remnant, by astronomers at UCL. Watch a video explaining the findings Led by Professor Mike Barlow (UCL Physics & Astronomy) the team used ESA's Herschel Space Observatory to observe the Crab Nebula in far infrared light.

A revolutionary instrument that will expedite the discovery of new, artificial forms of matter with unprecedented electronic and magnetic properties will be funded by a $4.13 million gift from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. The new instrument, to be called the Moore CONQUEST (Creation and Observation of Novel Quantum Electronic Structures) facility, will integrate three separate pieces of cutting-edge technology for synthesizing and studying such materials.

Listen up nickel-titanium and all you other shape-memory alloys, there's a new kid on the block that just claimed the championship for elasticity and is primed to take over the shape memory apps market at the nanoscale. A research team at Berkeley Lab has discovered a way to introduce a recoverable strain into bismuth ferrite of up to 14-percent on the nanoscale, larger than any shape-memory effect observed in a metal.

For the first time, researchers at Umeå University have succeeded in showing how the DNA polymerase epsilon enzyme builds new genomes. The detailed image produced by these researchers shows how mutations that can contribute to the development of colorectal cancer and cervical cancer lead to changes in the structure of the protein.

Tiny bits of plastic trash could spell big trouble for some of the smallest and most crucial members of the marine ecosystem according to scientific findings released today. Research conducted by Plymouth University and the University of Exeter has revealed the unpalatable situation confronting the lugworm when it is exposed to high levels of microplastic in ocean sediments.

Synthetic polymers coating a nanoparticle surface can recognize specific molecules just like an antibody. MIT chemical engineers have developed a novel way to generate nanoparticles that can recognize specific molecules, opening up a new approach to building durable sensors for many different compounds, among other applications.

Professor Dan Shechtman celebrated crystallography's profound impact on modern science in the Bragg Centenary Lecture 2013 - and explained how he overturned one of the discipline's key principles. Professor Shechtman, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2011, spoke in the University’s Rupert Beckett Lecture Theatre on November 21 at the culmination of a year of events marking the centenary of the development of X-ray crystallography by William Henry Bragg and William Lawrence Bragg at Leeds in 1912-13.

A unique inside look at the electronic structure of a highly touted metal-organic framework (MOF) as it is adsorbing carbon dioxide gas should help in the design of new and improved MOFs for carbon capture and storage. Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have recorded the first in situ electronic structure observations of the adsorption of carbon dioxide inside Mg-MOF-74, an open metal site MOF that has emerged as one of the most promising strategies for capturing and storing greenhouse gases.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. An additive may help curb a chemical reaction that causes wine to look, smell and taste funky, according to food scientists. The researchers added chelation compounds that bind with metals to inhibit oxidation, or oxygen's ability to react with some of the trace metals that are found in the wine, according to Gal Kreitman , a doctoral candidate in food science , Penn State.

A new study by Stanford scientists overturns a widely held explanation for how organic photovoltaics turn sunlight into electricity. Organic solar cells have long been touted as lightweight, low-cost alternatives to rigid solar panels made of silicon. Dramatic improvements in the efficiency of organic photovoltaics have been made in recent years, yet the fundamental question of how these devices convert sunlight into electricity is still hotly debated.

An international team of researchers led by Ralf Tappert, University of Innsbruck, reconstructed the composition of the Earth's atmosphere of the last 220 million years by analyzing modern and fossil plant resins. The results suggest that atmospheric oxygen was considerably lower in the Earth's geological past than previously assumed.

A process that could revolutionise solar energy harvesting has been efficiently demonstrated in solution for the first time. We are only beginning to understand how this process works, and as we learn more we expect improvements in the technology to follow Brian Walker Solar cells offer the opportunity to harvest abundant, renewable energy.

A team of Stanford and SLAC scientists has made the first battery electrode that heals itself, opening a potentially commercially viable path for making the next generation of lithium ion batteries for electric cars, cell phones and other devices. Researchers have made the first battery electrode that heals itself, opening a new and potentially commercially viable path for making the next generation of lithium ion batteries for electric cars, cell phones and other devices.

In developing nations, rural areas, and even one's own home, limited access to expensive equipment and trained medical professionals can impede the diagnosis and treatment of disease. Many qualitative tests that provide a simple "yes" or "no" answer (like an at-home pregnancy test) have been optimized for use in these resource-limited settings.

Nature designed lignin, the tough woody polymer in the walls of plant cells, to bind and protect the cellulose sugars that plants use for energy. For this reason, lignin is a major challenge for those who would extract those same plant sugars and use them to make advanced biofuels. As part of their search for economic ways to overcome the lignin challenge, researchers at the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) have characterized the enzymatic activity of a rain forest microbe that breaks down lignin essentially by breathing it.

13 November 2013 The function of a spur on the hind leg of echidnas has been revealed by research at the University of Sydney. Male platypuses and echidnas both secrete from a spur in their hind leg. In platypuses the spur injects venom into competitors causing pain and swelling but the purpose of the echidna spur and secreted substance has been unclear.

MIT researchers find a way to boost lithium-air battery performance, with the help of modified viruses. Lithium-air batteries have become a hot research area in recent years: They hold the promise of drastically increasing power per battery weight, which could lead, for example, to electric cars with a much greater driving range.

Clay - a seemingly infertile blend of minerals - might have been the birthplace of life on Earth. Or at least of the complex biochemicals that make life possible, Cornell biological engineers report in the Nov. 7 online issue of the journal Scientific Reports, published by Nature Publishing. "We propose that [in early geological history] clay hydrogel provided a confinement function for biomolecules and biochemical reactions," said Dan Luo, professor of biological and environmental engineering and a member of the Kavli Institute at Cornell for Nanoscale Science.