Chemistry

  1. Chemistry

    Slippery when dry

    Surfaces that mimic the back of an African beetle can collect water from fog.

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  2. Chemistry

    Help the Climate: Empty the Fridge

    Yesterday, I reported that in hopes of slowing down global warming, some nations were interested in strengthening the Montreal Protocol – a United Nations treaty to curb releases of chemicals that endanger stratospheric ozone. But I didn’t really get into what they had up their sleeves. It turns out they want signatory nations to eliminate […]

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  3. Tech

    I, computer

    Bacteria that can "flip pancakes" with their DNA are the first microbes engineered to be living computers.

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  4. Chemistry

    Freon’s Cool Link to Climate

    Quick: What’s the name of the big UN global climate treaty? If you said the Kyoto Protocol – you’d be wrong. Because it’s a trick question. Although the Kyoto Protocol is indeed the treaty developed to address the issue of arresting global warming and the climate perturbations that will be spawned by such a growing […]

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  5. Chemistry

    Phlegmatic molecules

    Time-lapse snapshots of molecules show that they change shapes less often than theory predicted.

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  6. Materials Science

    Like the Nobel, Only Norwegian

    Two weeks from now, an astrophysicist, neuroscientist, and nanoscience researcher will each be named to receive $1 million Kavli Prizes.

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  7. Agriculture

    Ethanol Fallout: Health Risks for Livestock

    With Uncle Sam pushing the production of ethanol for fuel, U.S. farmers are planting more corn than at any time since World War II, and garnering premium prices for each harvested bushel. But many livestock operations are getting hit with a double whammy: higher feeds costs and corn-derived feed that’s carrying triple the normal load of fungal poisons.

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  8. Chemistry

    Squid beak balances hard and soft

    Yet, the squishy creature’s bite packs a lot of punch.

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  9. Earth

    Molten salts give biofuels a boost

    Making biofuels from the chemical energy locked in plant cell walls has proven difficult, but molten salts may help.

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  10. Health & Medicine

    New approach might strike at the core of Alzheimer’s disease

    By anchoring an enzyme-inhibiting molecule to a cell membrane, researchers have designed a potential skeleton for a new Alzheimer's treatment.

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  11. Health & Medicine

    Six-legged Arthritis Relief

    Here's a novel health food I learned about this morning--one that could be free for the gleaning right outside your front door (especially if you live in China). Warning: You have to be quick or it will get away.

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  12. Chemistry

    Einstein’s invisible hand: Is relativity making metal act like a noble gas?

    Element 114 should be chemically similar to lead, but controversial experimental data shows it behaves more like a noble gas, potentially subverting the periodic table's structure.

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