Reservoir for heavy hydrogen: Molecules of the heavy hydrogen isotopes deuterium and tritium preferentially bind to copper atoms in a metal-organic framework compound. The metal atoms are therefore symbolically represented as shells in this image. Credit: University Leipzig /...
Enzymes are nature's powerhouses. Found in the cells of all animals, plants, and every other living organism, they accelerate the chemical reactions that trigger thousands of biological functions—from forming neurons to digesting food.
They perform their jobs so selectively and...
Scientists have figured out a cheaper, more efficient way to conduct a chemical reaction at the heart of many biological processes, which may lead to better ways to create biofuels from plants.
Scientists around the world have been trying for...
A recently discovered group of recyclable plastics seems to be a promising alternative to the hard plastic that is difficult to recycle. However, we are not yet seeing these so-called vitrimers used in products because they are difficult to...
Helical shapes are very familiar in the natural world and, at the molecular level, of DNA, the very blueprint of life itself.
Scientists at the University of Bristol have now found that carbon chains can also adopt helical shapes, but, unlike DNA,...
A major factor holding back development of wearable biosensors for health monitoring is the lack of a lightweight, long-lasting power supply. Now scientists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst led by materials chemist Trisha L. Andrew report that they...
A new artificial photosynthesis approach uses sunlight to turn carbon dioxide into methane, which could help make natural-gas-powered devices carbon neutral.
Methane is the main component of natural gas. Photosynthesis is the process through which green plants use sunlight to make food...
An international team of researchers used an X-ray laser at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory to create the first detailed maps of two melatonin receptors that tell our bodies when to go to sleep or wake...
In the journal Nature published overnight, researchers from Imperial College, London have reported a transition metal complex with a geometric arrangement of atoms that was predicted in 1893 by the 1913 Nobel Prize recipient.
This important development in inorganic chemistry demonstrates the existence of...
Tires gripping the road. Nonslip shoes preventing falls. A hand picking up a pen. A gecko climbing a wall.
All these things depend on a soft surface adhering to and releasing from a hard surface, a common yet incompletely understood...
Imagine if carbon dioxide (CO2) could easily be converted into usable energy. Every time you breathe or drive a motor vehicle, you would produce a key ingredient for generating fuels. Like photosynthesis in plants, we could turn CO2 into molecules...
