All Stories by Alexandra Goho
- Chemistry
Busy Beads: Magnetic dust takes droplets for a ride
With a bit of dust and a magnet, chemists can shuttle drops around on a surface, an advance that could lead to chemistry labs on a chip.
- Materials Science
Electronics Detox: Leadfree material for ecofriendly gadgetry
Responding to growing concern over the disposal of electronic devices, scientists in Japan have created a lead-free piezoceramic that could replace the toxic components in many of these gadgets.
- Chemistry
Fatty acid makes busy micropotter
A fatty acid commonly found in soap and vegetable oil assembles into microscopic, potterylike structures when it crystallizes.
- Chemistry
Solar Hydrogen
With the vision of a hydrogen economy looming ever larger in people's minds, scientists have picked up the pace of their pursuit of materials that use solar energy to split water and make clean-burning hydrogen fuel.
- Chemistry
Microbes Make the Switch: Tailored bacteria need caffeine product to survive
Bacteria that rely on a chemical derived from the breakdown of caffeine for their survival could help lead to the development of decaffeinated coffee plants.
- Chemistry
Branching polymer could heal cataract wounds
Cataract surgery might get a little easier, thanks to a transparent gel that seals surgical incisions in the eye better than standard sutures do.
- Materials Science
Reversible gel restores artwork
To help conservationists restore paintings to their original glory without damaging the original paint, chemists have developed a cleaning product that switches from a liquid to a gel.
- Chemistry
Breakdown: How Three Chemists Took the Prize
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to three scientists for their discovery of how cells mark proteins for destruction with a molecular tag called ubiquitin, otherwise known as the kiss of death.
- Humans
Nobel prizes: The sweet smell of success
Nobel prizes in the sciences went to research on olfactory genes, subatomic particles, and the molecular kiss of death.
- Chemistry
Buckyballs at Bat: Toxic nanomaterials get a tune-up
The soccer-ball-shaped carbon molecules known as buckyballs are toxic to human cells, yet coating the particles can switch off their toxicity.
- Earth
Deep Squeeze: Experiments point to methane in Earth’s mantle
Although today's fossil fuel reserves reside in Earth's crust, a new study suggests that hydrocarbon fuel might also nestle deep in the mantle, at depths of 100 kilometers or more.
- Chemistry
Bacteria send out molecular scrounger for copper
Scientists have discovered the organic molecule that bacteria use to take up copper, which the microbes then use to chemically crack methane.
