Chemistry

  1. Chemistry

    X-rays reveal portrait hiding beneath Degas masterpiece

    X-ray technique reveals an additional painting hiding behind Edgar Degas’ "Portrait of a Woman."

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  2. Chemistry

    Vaping’s toxic vapors come mainly from e-liquid solvents

    New study homes in on a primary source of toxic vaping compounds: the thermal breakdown of solvents used to dissolve flavorings in e-liquids. And older, dirtier e-cigs generate more of these toxicants, study shows.

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  3. Earth

    Iron-loving elements tell stories of Earth’s history

    By studying geochemical footprints of rare elements, researchers get a glimpse of the planet’s evolution.

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  4. Earth

    Ancient air bubbles could revise history of Earth’s oxygen

    Pockets of ancient air trapped in rock salt for around 815 million years suggest that oxygen was abundant well before the first animals appear in the fossil record.

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  5. Chemistry

    Nuclear bomb debris can reveal blast size, even decades later

    Measuring the relative abundance of various elements in debris left over from nuclear bomb tests can reveal the energy released in the initial blast, researchers report.

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  6. Earth

    Winning helium hunt lifts hopes element not running out

    A volcanic region of Tanzania contains more than a trillion liters of helium gas, enough to fill 1.2 million medical MRI scanners — or hundreds of billions of balloons, researchers report.

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  7. Archaeology

    Ancient Europeans may have been first wine makers

    A new chemical analysis uncovers the earliest known wine making in Europe.

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  8. Chemistry

    Movie viewers’ exhaled chemicals tell if scene is funny, scary

    Changes in trace gases exhaled by movie audiences could point the way to a subtle form of human communication.

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  9. Chemistry

    Four newest elements on periodic table get names

    Four elements officially recognized in December, highlighted in yellow, now have names that honor Japan, Moscow, Tennessee and physicist Yuri Oganessian.

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  10. Chemistry

    Four newest elements on periodic table get names

    Four elements officially recognized in December, highlighted in yellow, now have names that honor Japan, Moscow, Tennessee and physicist Yuri Oganessian.

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  11. Environment

    Bikini Atoll radiation levels remain alarmingly high

    Lingering radiation levels from nuclear bomb tests on Bikini Atoll are far higher than previously estimated.

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  12. Planetary Science

    Comet 67P carries two ingredients for life: glycine, phosphorus

    Two ingredients essential for all life, phosphorus and the amino acid glycine, have been found floating around a comet.

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