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

• The superionic form of water confirmed
  An original state, both solid and liquid at the same time: this is the latest news on a substance-water-so familiar to everyone but which appears to hold always fresh surprises for scientists. ...
• New semiconducting polymers with record-setting electron mobility for future devices
  Scientists at Tokyo Tech have successfully developed n-type semiconducting copolymers with high electron mobilities. They investigated their properties and their effectiveness for thin-film transis...
• Breakthrough for peptide medication
  Peptides, short amino acid chains that control many functions in the human body, represent a billion-dollar market, also in the pharmaceutical industry. But, normally these medications must be inje...
• Identifying the chirality of molecules with a new laser pulse method
  Are you right handed or left handed? No, we aren't asking you, dear reader; we are asking your molecules. It goes without saying that, depending on which hand you use, your fingers will wrap either...
• Innovative nanomaterial produced from natural substances
  Be it in spider silk, wood, the spaces between body cells, in tendons, or as a natural sealant for small wounds: protein fibres are found virtually everywhere in nature. These small protein fibres,...
• Transportable optical clock used to measure gravitation for the first time
  A European collaboration involving clock experts from the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) and the Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica (INRI...
• Plastic-eating bacteria more diverse and numerous than previously thought
  We only recycle a small amount of plastics such as PET (polyethylene terephthalate), used to make bottles and packaging. Most ends up in the environment, where it takes a very long time to decompos...
• Improved prediction of pesticide residues
  The use of pesticides can lead to a build-up of toxic and ecologically harmful residues in the soil. Until recently, it was not possible to ascertain in detail to which pesticides this applies and ...
• New insights into high-temperature superconductors
  After 30 years of research, there are still many unsolved puzzles about high-temperature superconductors - among them is the magnetic "stripe order" found in some cuprate superconductors. A Danish ...
• Anton Paar acquires Quantachrome Instruments
  Quantachrome and Anton Paar finished the purchasing process on February 9 at the Quantachrome headquarters in Boynton Beach, Florida. The companies agreed not to disclose the purchase price. Under ...
• Chemical composition of aircraft exhaust aerosols investigated
  Can aircraft pollutant emissions be reduced by using biofuels? And what influence does an alternative tank filling have on the formation of contrails? In mid-January, a joint German Aerospace Cente...
• Highly efficient ammonia synthesis catalyst developed
  Researchers at Tokyo Tech have discovered that a catalyst of calcium amide with a small amount of added barium (Ba-Ca(NH₂)₂) with ruthenium nanoparticles immobilized onto it can synthesize ammonia ...
• A new non-invasive way to study cells and embryonic development
  Simple motion inside biological cells, such as the streaming of cytoplasm - the liquid cell interior - is widely believed to be essential for cells and the development of complex organisms. But due...
• A simple, easy-to-use method to break down pollutants in water
  Chemists from Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) have found out how stubborn pollutants in water can be disintegrated easily and cost-effectively. To do so researchers only need a gree...
• Quantum chemistry solves the mystery of why there are these 20 amino acids in the genetic code
  Using quantum chemical methods, a team of researchers led by Dr. Matthias Granold and Professor Bernd Moosmann of the Institute of Pathobiochemistry at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz solved on...
• A new mechanism for the regulation of protein synthesis
  Mitochondria, best known for their role as cellular power plants, perform numerous vital tasks in the cell. During cell respiration, reactive oxygen species can be formed in mitochondria. If these ...
• 3D printing of living cells
  Using a new technique they call 'in-air microfluidics', University of Twente scientists succeed in printing 3D structures with living cells. This special technique enable the fast and 'on-the-fly' ...
• Measuring molecular interactions
  ETH researchers have used a new approach to discover previously unknown interactions between proteins and small metabolic molecules in bacterial cells. The technique can also be used to test the ef...
• Unlocking another piece of the puzzle that is crystal growth
  From Mother Nature to our must-have devices, we're surrounded by crystals. Those courtesy of the former, such as ice and snow, can form spontaneously and symmetrically. But the silicon-based or gal...
• Structural insight into the molecular mechanism of PET degradation
  This is the first report to simultaneously determine the 3D crystal structure of Ideonella sakaiensis PETase and develop the new variant with enhanced poly ethylene terephthalate (PET) degradation....