Chemistry
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Chemistry
Fungus foils polymer that defeats recycling
A common tree-rotting fungus is the first to break down an otherwise impervious resin found in plywood and fiberboard.
- Chemistry
Sweet Synthesis: Fructose product could replace chemicals from oil
A new study describes the efficient use of fructose toward making a renewable building block for many useful chemicals.
- Chemistry
Carbon Goes Glam: Treated carbon dots fluoresce
Chemists have fashioned tiny dots of carbon that glow in response to light.
- Chemistry
Gritty Clues
Archaeologists are tying chemical signatures found in the soil to past human activity.
- Chemistry
Leaking lead
A disinfectant used by some U.S. water utilities dissolves lead in laboratory experiments.
- Chemistry
Dynamic Duo: Two catalysts build valuable carbon chains
By combining the power of two well-known reactions, chemists have devised a way to alter the length of linear carbon chains.
- Chemistry
Drinking increases skin’s permeability
Drinking alcohol can greatly compromise the skin's barrier to chemicals.
- Chemistry
Busted bonds
The tenacious bonds between two carbon atoms can be broken in a surprisingly simple process.
- Chemistry
Fragment foils Alzheimer’s protein
Researchers have synthesized a protein fragment that, in test tubes, disrupts the formation of the fiber networks suspected to cause Alzheimer's disease.
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- Chemistry
Membrane purifies gas
Researchers have synthesized a membrane that may purify hydrogen more efficiently than conventional chemical methods do.
- Chemistry
Reactions on the spot
Researchers report that they have engineered a miniature pipette that can dispense solutions at volumes of a billionth of a billionth of a liter.
