news

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. Researchers at MIT have revealed exactly how a molecule called fulvalene diruthenium, which was discovered in 1996, works to store and release heat on demand. This understanding, reported in a paper published on Oct. 20 in the journal Angewandte Chemie , should make it possible to find similar chemicals based on more abundant, less expensive materials than ruthenium, and this could form the basis of a rechargeable battery to store heat rather than electricity.

Study describes a tabletop source of bright, coherent X-rays It could become simpler and cheaper to produce tightly focused beams of high-energy X-rays, according to study Producing tightly focused beams of high energy X-rays, to examine everything from molecular structures to the integrity of aircraft wings, could become simpler and cheaper according to new research.

Researchers at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet have been able to describe the 3D structure of a complete egg receptor that binds sperm at the beginning of fertilization. The results, published in the journal Cell, will lead to better understanding of infertility and may enable entirely new types of contraceptives.

WASHINGTON - Nearly a year after announcing the discovery of water molecules on the moon, scientists Thursday revealed new data uncovered by NASA's Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, and Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO. The missions found evidence that the lunar soil within shadowy craters is rich in useful materials, and the moon is chemically active and has a water cycle.

October 21, 2010 The lunar rocks brought back to Earth by the Apollo astronauts were found to have very little water, and were much drier than rocks on Earth. An explanation for this was that the moon formed billions of years ago in the solar system's turbulent youth, when a Mars-sized planet crashed into Earth.

Susan Schantz (right), a professor of comparative biosciences at Illinois and an environmental toxicologist, will direct the new, NIH-funded Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research Center at Illinois. Comparative biosciences professor Jodi Flaws, a reproductive toxicologist, will act as associate director of the new center, which will investigate whether common plastics chemicals alter child development, cognition or behavior.

Like opening a door to exit a room, cells in the body open up their outer membranes to release such chemicals as neurotransmitters and other hormones. Cornell researchers have shed new light on this lightning-quick, impossibly small-scale process, called exocytosis, by casting sharp focus on what happens right at the moment the "doors" on the cell wall open.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. Scientists have long sought the ability to regenerate nerve cells, or neurons, which could offer a new way to treat spinal-cord damage as well as neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's. Many chemicals can regenerate neurons grown in Petri dishes in the lab, but it's difficult and time-consuming to identify those chemicals that work in live animals, which is critical for developing drugs for humans.

Cornell researchers have developed a new method to create a patterned single-crystal thin film of semiconductor material that could lead to more efficient photovoltaic cells and batteries. The "holy grail" for such applications has been to create on a silicon base, or substrate, a film with a 3-D structure at the nanoscale, with the crystal lattice of the film aligned in the same direction (epitaxially) as in the substrate.

Liverpool, UK - 6 October 2010: Geologists at the University of Liverpool are excavating a two-million-year-old World Heritage Site in Tanzania to understand how climate variations may have contributed to early human evolution. Olduvai Gorge is a steep-sided ravine on the edge of the Serengeti Plain, East Africa, and is home to some of the world's most important fossil hominins.

October 04, 2010 The frigid ice of Jupiter's moon Europa may be hiding more than a presumed ocean: it is likely the scene of some unexpectedly fast chemistry between water and sulfur dioxide at extremely cold temperatures. Although these molecules react easily as liquids-they are well-known ingredients of acid rain-Mark Loeffler and Reggie Hudson at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., now report that they react as ices with surprising speed and high yield at temperatures hundreds of degrees below freezing.

Life is made possible by the abundant presence of water on our planet. But what is special about water compared to other liquids? Atomic studies show that this liquid is composed of a large number of co-existing structures, including crystal-like structures as in ice even at room temperature. This scenario is radically different with respect to other liquids that look homogeneous at all scales.

Brain chemical finding could open door to new schizophrenia drugs New research has linked psychosis with an abnormal relationship between two signalling chemicals in the brain. Thursday 30 September 2010 New research has linked psychosis with an abnormal relationship between two signalling chemicals in the brain.

Conductive polymers are plastic materials with high electrical conductivity that promise to revolutionize a wide range of products including TV displays, solar cells, and biomedical sensors. A team of McGill University researchers have now reported how to visualize and study the process of energy transport along one single conductive polymer molecule at a time, a key step towards bringing these exciting new applications to market.

Engineering researchers from Tufts University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Harvard University have demonstrated the low-temperature efficacy of an atomically dispersed platinum catalyst, which could be suitable for on-board hydrogen production in fuel-cell-powered vehicles of the future.

Over 80% of all products manufactured today in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries require the use of catalysts. Catalysts are materials which themselves are not consumed within chemical reactions, but which serve to accelerate those reactions and set them on course to create the desired products.

PA 252/10 Scientists at The University of Nottingham have made a discovery that could hold important implications for harnessing the potential of a single molecule at the nanoscale. In a paper published , a team of physicists and chemists have demonstrated for the first time the way in which an irregularly shaped molecule is adsorbed on a surface.

Spray-on haute couture unveiled at Science in Style Fashion Show Imperial and Fabrican Ltd celebrate design-led technology at the College - News Tuesday 21 September 2010 By Colin Smith A collection of spray-on haute couture was showcased yesterday at a fashion show at Imperial College London. More than 300 key figures from industry, academia, fashion and the media came to the College to see Dr Manel Torres , Spanish fashion designer and academic visitor at Imperial, unveil his 2011 Spring/Summer Collection at the Science in Style Fashion Show.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. In a paper appearing in the Sept. 16 online edition of Science , Matthew Vander Heiden, assistant professor of biology and member of the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT, and researchers at Harvard University report a previously unknown element of cancer cells? peculiar metabolism.

Discovery shows how cells decide what to recycle, unlocking debilitating disease's secret Our bodies recycle proteins, the fundamental building blocks that enable cell growth and development. Proteins are made up of a chain of amino acids, and scientists have known since the 1980s that first one in the chain determines the lifetime of a protein.