Chemistry
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Chemistry
Clearing the air on dirty art
Air-pollution damage to artworks may accumulate more stealthily than conservationists thought, suggesting that art exhibitors need to step up protection against such damage.
- Chemistry
Protein’s structure lights the way
Forty years after the discovery of aequorin in a jellyfish, the structure of this calcium-tracking, glowing protein is resolved.
- Chemistry
Photography at a Crossroads
Researchers are racing to understand the chemical processes used during the past 2 centuries to make photographs before digital-imaging techniques take over completely.
- Chemistry
Dipping deeper into acid
New experiments reveal how a molecule of acid dissolves in water.
- Chemistry
Hydrogen: The Next Generation
Researchers are looking for more sustainable ways to generate hydrogen, which burns cleanly but is typically made from fossil fuel.
- Chemistry
Now, nylon comes in killer colors
Chemists are improving antibacterial fabrics by treating them with compounds that prolong their killing power and add color.
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- Chemistry
Hot Spuds: Golden path to acrylamide in food
The browning reaction that imparts flavor to french fries and breads also creates acrylamide, an animal carcinogen.
- Chemistry
Sweet tooth is in the genes
Taste researchers have narrowed the search for the sweet tooth gene, at least in mice, to a 100-gene region.
- Chemistry
Birth control for male cockroaches
Scientists have discovered a gene in German cockroaches that may lead to a new type of insect control—contraception for male cockroaches.
- Chemistry
Coming up roses in scent research
Aroma chemists have discovered a carotenoid-processing enzyme that makes the chemicals that give rose oil its smell.
- Chemistry
Nutty and fungi-ble taxol sources
The active ingredient in the anticancer drug taxol has turned up in hazelnuts and fungi.
