Search Latest News

Latest news from laboratory, environment, chemistry, life science and quality control

• Towards graphene biosensors
  For the first time, a team of scientists has succeeded in precisely measuring and controlling the thickness of an organic compound that has been bound to a graphene layer. This might enable graphen...
• Reducing Trichloramine in pool water
  Chlorination of water in swimming pools leads to the formation of trichloramine, a potentially harmful compound. How much of this by-product is formed depends on the amount of chlorine in the water...
• Fluid analysis using ultrasonic waves
  Just as the size of transistors continues to decrease, laboratories are also expected to shrink until they eventually fit on a chip. ETH Zurich researchers have developed a system of using sound wa...
• Terahertz goes nano: High-resolution terahertz near-field microscopy
  Due to their long wavelengths, terahertz radiation runs into difficulties when detecting extremely small structures. However, by combining terahertz radiation with a near-field microscope, it is po...
• Digital lab notebook supports researchers in documenting their processes and controls laboratory equipment
  Scientists have to clearly document their experiments in a reproducible way, but depending on time pressure and the workflow in the lab, that is often a difficult task. "Merlin", a digital lab note...
• New requirements for nanoscale materials
  The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a new rule detailing one-time reporting and record-keeping requirements for manufacturers and processors of nanoscale materials (NMs) under Sec...
• A novel source of X-rays for imaging purposes
  Physicists at LMU Munich and the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics have validated a novel laser-driven means of generating bright and highly energetic X-ray beams. The method opens up new ways...
• Microalgae - produced on a commercial scale
  Many products, including food supplements, cosmetics and biodiesel, are made from substances derived from microalgae. A fully automated pilot plant operated by Fraunhofer in Leuna is capable of pro...
• Relativity theory also applicable in other research areas
  Einstein's theory of time and space will celebrate its 100th anniversary this year. Even today it captures the imagination of scientists. In an international collaboration, researchers from the Uni...
• Development of matrix reference materials for silver nanoparticles in meat
  Scientists from the JRC in close collaboration with various European Institutions, successfully completed a feasibility study for a reference material of silver nanoparticles in chicken meat. Despi...
• A Ranking of Environmental Chemicals
  How dangerous are environmental chemicals and what is their effect on human health? In a project funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, the pharmacist Daniela Schuster is currently developing a c...
• Researchers discover new molecular cages for metal ions
  Metal ions such as lithium ions or sodium ions are contained in many everyday substances: table salt, lithium-ion batteries, anti-inflammatory medicines such as Voltaren or blood thinners such as h...
• Feasibility studies of reference material for pesticide residue analysis
  Scientists from the JRC's Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements (IRMM) performed a feasibility study for a cucumber reference material containing a mixture of 15 pesticides. Different ...
• Synthetic magnetic nanoparticles could offer alternative to rare Earth magnets
  A team of scientists at Virginia Commonwealth University has synthesized a powerful new magnetic material that could reduce the dependence of the United States and other nations on rare earth eleme...
• Researcher has developed and applied three methods to analyse various compounds in cosmetics
  Right now, there are 10,000 components that can be used to make cosmetics. These components have to be monitored to guarantee consumer safety. The UPV/EHU researcher Josu Lopez has developed three ...
• Chemists weigh intact virus mixture with mass spectrometer
  Carnegie Mellon University chemists, led by Mark Bier, have separated and weighed virus particles using mass spectrometry. This is the first time that researchers successfully used matrix-assisted ...
• Fragrance compound linalyl acetate can cause contact allergy
  Linalyl acetate, a fragrance chemical that is one of the main constituents of the essential oil of lavender, is not on the list of allergenic compounds pursuant to the EU Cosmetics Directive. Thus,...
• A method developed for x-ray free-electron lasers should help researchers to decode biomolecules
  Without proteins, our bodies wouldn't even work. These multifaceted transformation artists sit in every cell and control our bodily functions. One of the many examples is the so-called chemokine re...
• Key reaction mechanism behind the highly touted sodium-oxygen battery discovered
  Researchers from the Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology, led by Professor Linda Nazar who holds the Canada Research Chair in Solid State Energy Materials, have described a key mediation pathway ...
• Like Sleeping Beauty, some research lies dormant for decades
  Why do some discoveries fade into obscurity while others blaze a new trail the moment they are published? More mysteriously, why do some research papers remain dormant for years and then suddenly e...
• New chip makes testing for antibiotic-resistant bacteria faster and easier
  We live in fear of 'superbugs': infectious bacteria that don't respond to treatment by antibiotics, and can turn a routine hospital stay into a nightmare. A 2015 Health Canada report estimates that...
• Ethanol refining may release more of some pollutants than previously thought
  Ethanol fuel refineries could be releasing much larger amounts of some ozone-forming compounds into the atmosphere than current assessments suggest, according to a new study that found emissions of...