science wire

Often at the center of debate due to their environmental impact, polymeric materials have represented a radical change in our lives.

A glass plate, a delicate tube and an oil bath are all that is required: thanks to a new method, researchers at ETH Zurich can produce tens of thousands of tiny droplets within minutes.

The synthetic PIC gel discovered at Radboud University in 2013 has proven surprisingly effective for growing mini-organs.

In a world's first, researchers at University of Limerick have developed a battery that could reshape the future of electric vehicles and portable electronics.

Researchers have demonstrated a new and sustainable way to make the chemicals that are the basis of thousands of products - from plastics to cosmetics - we use every day.

Juli Peretó and Pablo Carbonell, researchers at the Institute for Integrative Systems Biology (I2SysBio), a joint centre of the University of Valencia (UV) and the Spanish National Research Council (C

Though it might seem like science fiction, scientists are working to build nanoscale molecular machines that can be designed for myriad applications, such as "smart" medicines and materials. But like all machines, these tiny devices need a source of power, the way electronic appliances use electricity or living cells use ATP (adenosine triphosphate, the universal biological energy source).

University of Warwick research demonstrates how to engineer 'cell factories' that last longer and produce more chemicals, without needing antibiotics or complex engineering methods, paving the way for sustainable biotech that lasts. Synthetic biology aims to engineer living cells, often bacteria, to become chemical factories, pumping out chemicals important to healthcare, industry, and the environment.

As part of a Special Invitation Collection celebrating the 15th anniversary of the Global Young Academy (GYA), a UT team led by David Fernandez Rivas has presented new insights into how bubbles behave during hydrogen production.

In the fight against the enormous energy demands of current technologies, Mathieu Baltussen of Radboud University has taken an innovative step.

Neural networks are computing systems designed to mimic both the structure and function of the human brain. Caltech researchers have been developing a neural network made out of strands of DNA instead of electronic parts that carries out computation through chemical reactions rather than digital signals.

What exactly happens when syngas is produced? New methods allow to observe the process in real time. This answered the question how catalysts work in detail. For many industrial applications one needs synthesis gas, also known as -Syngas-, a mixture of hydrogen (H2) and carbon monoxiode (CO). In addition to the established production method via steam reforming, synthesis gas can alternatively-and even more energy-efficiently-be produced from methane (CH₄) and oxygen.

Mitochondria are cellular organelles that are popularly known as the "powerhouses of the cell" because of the important role they play in making ATP (adenosine triphosphate), the molecular fuel that powers most cellular functions. These organelles originated over a billion years ago when a primitive archaeal cell entered into a symbiotic relationship with an ancestral bacterium.

The complicated structure at the centre of the Butterfly Nebula, NGC 6302. There is a bright source at the centre that is surrounded by greenish nebulosity and several looping lines in cream, orange and pink.

Common household items like cleaning products, candles, cribs and makeup emit formaldehyde, a colorless, odorless chemical that has been found to be a risk to human health. But new low-cost technology from researchers at Carnegie Mellon University could help solve that problem by making indoor air quality sensors last longer and catch unsafe formaldehyde levels sooner.

Build big with the smallest parts. Scientists move molecules towards life. But what motivates them? In this episode of A Spark of Life: Patricia Dankers.

Research team advances environmentally friendly battery production Innovative production processes such as dry electrode processing are a crucial milestone towards a more environmentally friendly and cost-effective battery cell production.

What if recycling plastics were as simple as flicking a switch? At TU/e, Assistant Professor Fabian Eisenreich is making that vision a reality by using LED light to both create and break down a new class of high-performance plastics.

Current AI-based vision-language models can perceive content very well, but they reach their limits in more complex scientific processes. This is shown by a new study by researchers at Friedrich Schiller University Jena, conducted with international partners and published in the journal 'Nature Computational Science'.

In a breakthrough for healthcare, researchers from Simon Fraser University's School of Computing Science have unveiled a powerful artificial intelligence framework poised to transform drug development and potentially accelerate the discovery and manufacturing of new medicines.

On earth, we are very familiar with ice, but ice is also found in space. This space ice still holds many secrets, because it is not easy to study.

An international team led by UCL researchers has developed durable new solar cells capable of efficiently harvesting energy from indoor light, meaning devices such as keyboards, remote controls, alarms and sensors could soon be battery free.

News from Milena Barp describes her research work in Research Training Group (RTG) 2721 at Leipzig University as "very fruitful".

The rapid rise in global rocket launches could slow the recovery of the vital ozone layer, says Sandro Vattioni.

University of Münster participates in the new "Centre for Molecular Water Science" Water is not only essential for life, it is also a fascinating and complex molecule that forms the basis of all life on Earth.

Innovation to benefit green technology, drug development, biomedical imaging, materials science   University of Göttingen Professors - Lutz Ackermann, Timo Betz and Jörg Enderlein - have each been awarded Proof of Concept (PoC) grants by the European Research Council (ERC).

A new molecule co-developed by ANU chemists can store digital data at temperatures as cold as the moon at night.

Protein research Designed proteins are anticipated to have groundbreaking impact on a range of issues from treating disease to tackling environmental problems.

Life Published: 10:00 A recent study by an interdisciplinary research team shows how a soil bacterium can become a source of inspiration in the search of new active substances. Genomic analyses of the plant pathogen Pseudomonas syringae shed light on its chemical diversity. Two newly discovered families of natural products, the syrilipamides and secimides, are - in combination - particularly harmful to amoebae and the secimides are also active against fungi.

What if a machine could suck up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, run it through a series of chemical reactions, and essentially spit out industrially useful plastic? "I think that is something that we, as a society, would be interested in.

A £20 device which makes fertiliser by treating water with ultrasound could transform agricultural supply chains in remote areas, its inventors say. Chemists and engineers from the University of Glasgow have found a way to produce molecules of nitrate - an important nutrient for plant growth - using just sound waves, water and air.

Researchers from the Ecotox Centre, Eawag and the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland have tested combined biological and chemical online monitoring as an early warning system at a municipal wastewater treatment plant. The system is able to detect peak loads of micropollutants in treated wastewater and identify toxic pollutants in real time.

How do we know exactly what is happening at a molecular level during extremely fast processes, such as burning during combustion? In less than the blink of an eye, one chemical compound and then another are present in a flame only to disperse and give way to more. Understanding which molecules are present gives scientists a way of understanding the inner workings of the chemical processes taking place.