Chemistry
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Life
Microbes may sky jump to new hosts
The role of microbes in cloud formation and precipitation may not be an accident of chemistry so much as an evolutionary adaptation by certain bacteria and other nonsentient beings, a scientist posited at the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology.
- Chemistry
Natural pain-killing chemical synthesized
Conolidine — a headache to isolate from the plant that makes it — can now be produced from scratch in the lab, opening the promising compound to study.
- Chemistry
Molecules/Matter & Energy
Finding materials harder than diamond, plus spintronic devices, wrinkle physics and more in this week's news.
- Chemistry
Melting icebergs fertilize ocean
Releasing extra iron into the water boosts carbon dioxide uptake by plankton.
- Chemistry
Molecules/Matter & Energy
How leeches are able to swell tenfold, plus not-so-super solids, new natural toxins and more in this week's news.
- Chemistry
Idling jets pollute more than thought
Oily droplets emitted by planes operating at low power can turn into potentially toxic airborne particles.
- Chemistry
Molecules/Matter & Energy
A moth with chemical weapons, light-up bubbles and insidious fungi in this week’s news.
- Chemistry
Spray of zinc marks fertilization
Embryonic development begins with an outpouring of the metal, illustrating chemistry's importance in orchestrating biological processes.
- Chemistry
Molecules/Matter & Energy
Groovy snake bites, buzzy microphones and coiling liquids in this week’s news.
- Chemistry
Molecules/Matter & Energy
Marijuana loses its high, plus soy tape, gritty bubbles and more in this week’s news.
- Chemistry
Pesticides tied to lower IQ in children
Chemicals once sprayed in homes — and still used on farms — were found to have significant effects in three studies.
- Chemistry
Molecules/Matter & Energy
A quantum state is teleported, plus twisty light and foamy graphene in this week's news.
