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

• A recipe for zero-emissions fuel: Soda cans, seawater, and caffeine
  MIT engineers have found that when the aluminum in soda cans is exposed in its pure form and mixed with seawater, the solution bubbles up and naturally produces hydrogen - a gas that can be subsequ...
• Tackling industrial emissions begins at the chemical reaction
  University of Sydney researchers are proposing a new way to curb industrial emissions, by tapping into the "atomic intelligence" of liquid metals to deliver greener and more sustainable chemical re...
• Most of the glyphosate in our rivers may not come from farming
  Herbicide use in agriculture and urban areas may not be the dominant source of glyphosate in European waters, says University of Tübingen study - Far-reaching implications for industry and politics...
• Net effects of man-made nitrogen attenuate global warming
  Nitrogen fertilisers and nitrogen oxides from fossil fuels are known for their environmental damages: they pollute the air and drinking water, lead to over-fertilisation of waters and land ecosyste...
• Why is not Everything that tastes bitter potentially harmful
  A bitter taste is traditionally considered a warning sign of potentially toxic substances. But not all bitter substances are harmful. For example, some peptides and free amino acids taste bitter, e...
• A vast viral world in wastewater
  Deep metagenomic sequencing of wastewater in Berlin over 17 months shows this technique could help forecast disease outbreaks and monitor the spread of human pathogens. It can also reveal thousands...
• Nanoplastics and 'Forever Chemicals' disrupt molecular structures and functionality
  Researchers at The University of Texas at El Paso have made significant inroads in understanding how nanoplastics and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) - commonly known as forever chemical...
• Catch a Virus by Its Tail
  Phages, viruses that attack bacteria, have a head and a tail. The head contains the phage's genetic material and the tail is used to identify a potential host, that is, a bacterial cell into which ...
• Quadrupolar nuclei measured for the first time by zero-field NMR
  Researchers at Mainz University and the University of California, Berkeley, achieve a breakthrough in zero-field nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, paving the way towards benchmarking quantum...
• Synthetic biology reveals the secrets of life without oxygen
  The "AnoxyGen" project will decode novel active substances of anaerobes and elucidate their role in nature. Some of these could be useful for humans, animals and the environment. Christian Hertweck...
• Reducing food waste: how can science help?
  Best practices and recommendations to reduce consumer food waste, save money and help the planet. Evidence-based solutions from the European Consumer Food Waste Forum. Academics and practitioner...
• Fluorinated plastics with an expiry date
  Chemists at the University of Bayreuth, in collaboration with researchers from Berlin, have produced a new class of fluorinated polymers that degrade 20 times faster than their non-fluorinated equi...
• Observing electrochemical reactions with photoelectron spectroscopy
  Solid-state batteries have several advantages: they can store more energy and are safer than batteries with liquid electrolytes. However, they do not last as long and their capacity decreases with ...
• New material paves the way to On-Chip Energy Harvesting
  Researchers from Germany, Italy, and the UK have achieved a major advance in the development of materials suitable for on-chip energy harvesting. By composing an alloy made of silicon, germanium an...
• Mining rare earth metals from electronic waste
  ETH researchers are developing a process inspired by nature that efficiently recovers europium from old fluorescent lamps. The approach could lead to the long-awaited recycling of rare earth metals...
• A closer look at cell toxins - how radionuclides interact with kidney cells
  When radionuclides enter our organism, whether by inhalation, ingestion, or through wounds, they pose a potential health risk. Many previous studies on radionuclide exposure have focused mainly on ...
• Efficient recycling process for perovskite solar cells
  A study by the Helmholtz Institute Erlangen-Nürnberg for Renewable Energy (HI ERN) has developed an efficient and environmentally friendly process for recycling perovskite solar cells. In the p...
• Strawberries under the high-tech magnifying glass
  Sweet flavours and healthy ingredients make strawberries one of the world's most popular berries. The complex biochemical compounds that determine the flavour and nutritional value of a strawberry ...
• Bio-concrete and biogenic construction materials with cyanobacteria
  Fraunhofer researchers have developed a method of creating biogenic construction materials based on cyanobacteria. The bacteria multiply in a nutrient solution, driven by photosynthesis. When aggre...
• Drowning in waste: pollution hotspots in aquatic environments
  A new IIASA study explores waste management systems and reveals that achieving zero waste leakage by 2030 is unlikely, potentially jeopardizing related Sustainable Development Goals. The authors em...
• Plant-based meat analogues: using neutrons to peek into the black box
  A recently published study uses neutron scattering to shed light on texturisation - the black box for plant-based meat analogues - through in-situ real-time observations of the process. The challen...
• Synthetic pathway for promising nitride compounds discovered
  Ruddlesden-Popper compounds are a class of materials with a special layered structure that makes them interesting for numerous applications - as superconductors or catalysts, for example, or for us...
• New insight from ultrafast terahertz Stark spectroscopy
  The membrane protein bacteriorhodopsin is a proton pump, in which proton transport is initiated by the light-induced isomerization of the chromophore retinal. The molecular quantum states involved...