LEGO is lots of fun and can be used to create almost anything, from gigantic towers to intricate machines. But did you know LEGO can even be used to build tiny chemistry labs?
Crystallography’s Magic 8 Ball: Predicting Novel Structures with a Digital Brain
Researchers have developed a database that allows us to predict undiscovered structures based on chemical reactivity rules and existing structures. While still in early stages, this is a huge step towards successful structural prediction!
Organic Molecules on Mars: The Possibility of Life Sparks Curiosity
Researchers collaborating on the Curiosity Mars Rover mission have discovered organic matter on Mars – a crucial ingredient to life as we know it. Let’s take a deep dive into what they found, how they did it, and what the data really mean.
Dealing a Double Blow to Cancer
Researchers have developed a way to combine chemotherapy and radiation into one ultra effective treatment. Check out how these packages of drugs get activated at the tumor by X-rays!
Let machine teach about atoms
We have been trained to be adaptive to our environment in our daily life. Same for chemists to train computers to model atoms. Let’s look at how chemists make functions adaptive to different situations!
Linking bacteria and electrodes through DNA hybridization
The development of microbe-based, “green” fuel cells is hampered by unreliable methods for bacterial growth on conductive surfaces. Researchers are now one step closer to a strategy for coverage using DNA-based targeting!
A New Duo in Catalysis: Combining Gold Nanoparticles with Enzyme Compartments
Biological catalysts and inorganic catalysts each have their own advantages and it is sometimes difficult to choose one or the other. So why not combine them into a powerful hybrid catalyst? That’s exactly what the researchers did in this recent article from ACS Catalysis.
Printing Carbon Nanotube Patterns Using Electron Beams
Carbon nanotubes have material properties straight out of a science fiction novel. Yet, it is still difficult to assemble carbon nanotubes into organized structures where the science fiction-like properties can really shine. Discover what researchers are doing to solve this problem!
“Plenty of Room at the Bottom” for Quantum Dots
Control at the atomic scale is being realized by researchers across the world through synthesis of quantum dot materials. Take a look at an overview of what makes these tiny particles so special.
Computational Chemistry > Computers + Chemistry
Computational chemistry is much more than computers and chemistry! Let’s have a brief tour in the world of computational chemistry!
Safer Industrial Particle Filters
Learn how researchers design and test safer air filters to combat air pollution!
Designer Enzymes
Enzymes are nature’s catalysts. But there are not enough enzymes for all the reactions in the world! How do chemists design enzymes? Let’s take a look!
Using Erasable Codes to Stop Fake Medical Tests
Fake medical tests are a huge problem in many poorer countries. Let’s learn about a way to print erasable codes on these devices so they can’t be counterfeited!
Deep Neural Networks Are Identifying the Next Generation of Materials
Machine learning? Deep neural networks? Find out how advances in artificial intelligence could help scientists discover new materials.
New Findings on Viral Inhibition
Successful resistance to a viral infection requires the host to deploy incredibly intricate biological tactics that somehow selectively inhibit key processes in the viral lifecycle. In this paper, researchers delve deeper into the molecular mechanisms of one of such resistance mechanisms!
Chemistry and the cannon balls preservation
How can chemistry help preserve our cultural heritage?
Metal Nanowires made Possible
Nanowires are part of the future of smaller, smarter electronics. Here’s a interesting new method of making metal nanowires.
5 Facts About Catalysts You Might Not Know
Catalysis is a common chemistry concept, but there are many intricacies involved. Check out some of these lesser-known facts!
Blood-based spectroscopy for age determination
Researchers have expanded the forensic analytical chemistry toolkit to include a model for Raman spectroscopy identification of blood donor age.
Can Chemists Cure the Common Cold?
Although getting the common cold is not a nice experience, it is only a relatively minor misfortune for most people. But the consqeuences of a cold can be severe. This paper describes a significant step towards a cure!
Turning Trees into Tape
Scientists uncover a method to create a new adhesive from plant matter!
Can the sea help solve climate change?
The sea can sequestrate carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and some rocks can help to enhance this phenomenon! But which ones? and how?
Charges that challenge scientists!
Rub a ruler with a wool and hold it towards paper bits, then you’d find the ruler attracts papers. This may sound a common sense to you – the two surfaces have opposite charges.
But now, researchers find that not all materials behave the same and the reason is still a mystery.
Let’s take a look at the charges that challenges scientists!
Making surfaces oil repelling with a coating of tannic acid!
Making surfaces that oil can’t stick to is important for cleaning up oil spills and other pollution. Let’s find out about a new way to coat surfaces that makes them repel oil!
Photocages: Using Light to Deliver Medicine
What will medicine look like 10 years from now? Well, your doctor might be shining a light on you to help target drug delivery in your body. Read more about drug delivery using molecules called photocages inside!