Chewing gum can remove oral bacteria, finds new study

Chewing gum

Just 10 minutes of chewing gum can remove 100 million bacteria from your mouth, according to a new study which suggests chewing gum may be as good as flossing. Researchers at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands found that chewing gum can trap and remove bacteria from the oral cavity. Read more 

 

Researchers find new method to unboil egg whites

unboil egg whites

University of California Irvine (UCI) and Australian chemists have figured out how to unboil egg whites – an innovation that could dramatically reduce costs for cancer treatments, food production and other segments of the $160 billion global biotechnology industry, according to findings published today in the journal ChemBioChem. Read more 

 

Scientists create ‘bulletproof’ batteries

bulletproof

New battery technology from the University of Michigan should be able to prevent the kind of fires that grounded Boeing 787 Dreamliners in 2013. The innovation is an advanced barrier between the electrodes in a lithium-ion battery. Made with nanofibers extracted from Kevlar, the tough material in bulletproof vests, the barrier stifles the growth of metal tendrils that can become unwanted pathways for electrical current. Read More 

 

Carbon balls can contribute to sustainable energy system

Carbon balls

Researchers at Chalmers have discovered that the insulation plastic used in high-voltage cables can withstand a 26 per cent higher voltage if nanometer-sized carbon balls are added. This could result in enormous efficiency gains in the power grids of the future, which are needed to achieve a sustainable energy system Read More

 

New colour-changing film can detect chemical weapons

chemical weapons

In today’s world, in which the threat of terrorism looms, there is an urgent need for fast, reliable tools to detect the release of deadly chemical warfare agents (CWAs). In the journal ACS Macro Letters, scientists are reporting new progress toward thin-film materials that could rapidly change colours in the presence of CWAs — an advance that could help save lives and hold aggressors accountable. Read More 

Ten new antibodies developed in battle against cancer

Ten new antibodies

Researchers from Aarhus University in Denmark have developed ten new antibodies that can be used in the battle against cancer. These antibodies work by inhibiting the body’s blood vessel formation close to the tumour which is, thereby, cut off from oxygen and nutrient supply. In lab tests over mice, the team have succeeded in using these antibodies to stop the development of malignant tumours. Read More

 

New drug could protect against nuclear radiation exposure

nuclear radiation exposure

The 2011 Fukushima disaster was a stark reminder of the continuing dangers posed by nuclear fallout, highlighting the need for an approved drug that can be taken after radiation exposure to protect against organ injury and death. Read More

 

 

Scientists develop cost effective, self-cleaning electrochemical sensor

electrochemical sensor

Scientists in Italy have engineered a cheap and simple electrochemical sensor that cleans itself when exposed to ultraviolet light. Their system offers a route towards self-cleaning electrodes with myriad environmental and biomedical sensing applications – from detecting pollutants in water to monitoring medications in blood. Read More 

 

‘Predicted’ zeolites may fuel efficient processes

zeolites

Scientists at Rice University and the University of Minnesota have identified synthetic materials that may purify ethanol more efficiently and greatly improve the separation of long-chain hydrocarbons in petroleum refining. Read More

 

 

Scientists explain alkali metal explosion

alkali metal explosion

The chemistry behind dropping sodium into water and watching it explode may require a rethink, according to scientists in the Czech Republic. They say the violent reaction may be triggered not by the ignition of hydrogen gas, as previously thought, but by large charge instabilities within the metal. Read More 

Efficient manganese catalyst converts light to chemical energy

Drinking beer may reduce risk of developing heart failure, claims new research

Drinking beer

Drinking half a pint of beer a day may lower your risk of developing heart failure, a new large-scale study has claimed. The study of nearly 15,000 men and women found that drinking up to seven drinks a week in early to middle age is associated with a 20 per cent lower risk of men developing heart failure in the future when compared to teetotallers. A more modest 16 per cent reduced risk for women was also observed, said researchers. Read More

 

Converting ash for use in nuclear waste treatment, soil remediation

ash

Scientists suggest a new method to transform power plant ash into materials that could be used for nuclear waste treatment or soil remediation. The world’s power plants produce about 600 million tonne of coal ash every year. If nothing is done about it, this sort of waste might damage the environment. A group of scientists from Greece and Romania suggests a method to turn the ashes produced into an eco-friendly solution. Read More

 

Efficient manganese catalyst converts light to chemical energy

manganese catalyst

Scientists at the Helmholtz Center for Materials and Energy (HZB) in collaboration with the School of Chemistry and ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science at Monash University, Australia, have precisely characterized a manganese catalyst’s electronic states. The catalyst is capable of converting light to chemical energy. Read more

 

Self-cleaning, self-powered smart keyboard identifies computer users

smart keyboard

In a novel twist in cybersecurity, scientists have developed a self-cleaning, self-powered smart keyboard that can identify computer users by the way they type. The device, reported in the journalACS Nano, could help prevent unauthorized users from gaining direct access to computers. Read mOre

 

 

DNA ‘glue’ could be used to grow tissues, organs

Scientists solve organic semiconductor mystery

organic semiconductor mystery

Organic semiconductors are prized for light emitting diodes (LEDs), field effect transistors (FETs) and photovoltaic cells. As they can be printed from solution, they provide a highly scalable, cost-effective alternative to silicon-based devices. Uneven performances, however, have been a persistent problem Read More 

 

Triggering rearrangement of chemical particles for efficient medical treatments

chemical particles

More efficient medical treatments could be developed thanks to a new method for triggering the rearrangement of chemical particles. The new method, developed at the University of Warwick, uses two ‘parent’ nanoparticles that are designed to interact only when in proximity to each other and trigger the release of drug molecules contained within both. Read More 

 

DNA ‘glue’ could be used to grow tissues, organs

DNA ‘glue’

DNA molecules provide the “source code” for life in humans, plants, animals and some microbes. But now researchers report an initial study showing that the strands can also act as a glue to hold together 3-D-printed materials that could someday be used to grow tissues and organs in the lab Read More 

 

 

New antimicrobial coatings with long-term germ resistance

antimicrobial coatings

Researchers at the INM have now produced antimicrobial abrasion-resistant coatings with both silver and copper colloids with a long-term effect that kill germs reliably and at the same time prevent germs becoming established. The coatings are particularly suitable for the application on large and solid surfaces, on doorhandles and for textiles. Read More

 

Super-strong, ultra-thin graphene batteries lasts longer

graphene batteries

Graphene has been called a “wonder material” and a new process to develop the super-strong, ultra-thin material could make batteries last a lot longer. The new technology was discovered by South Korean scientists who exposed small amounts of graphene, a material made from pure carbon and 200 times stronger than steel, to a process that’s a lot like deep-frying chicken. Read More 

 

Tattoo like sensors can detect glucose levels

Newly discovered inorganic material can emit laser light in solution

inorganic material

A team of researchers from the National Research Council (CSIC) and the Akademie Ved Ceske Republiky (Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic) has discovered a new type of inorganic material (no carbon) that can emit laser light in solution; it is a complex of boron and hydrogen. Read More 

 

 

Towards cheaper, lighter rechargeable battery for electric vehicles

rechargeable battery

A next-generation cheaper, lighter and more powerful rechargeable battery for electric vehicles is one step closer to reality. The discovery of a material that maintains a rechargeable sulphur cathode helps to overcome a primary hurdle to building a lithium-sulphur (Li-S) battery. Such a battery can theoretically power an electric car three times further than current lithium-ion batteries for the same weight, at a much lower cost, said researchers. Read More

 

Gold nanoparticles may help in early detection of heart attacks

Gold nanoparticles

NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering professors have been collaborating with researchers from Peking University on a new test strip that is demonstrating great potential for the early detection of certain heart attacks. Read More 

 

 

 

Tattoo like sensors can detect glucose levels

Tattoo

Scientists have developed the first ultra-thin, flexible device that sticks to skin like a rub-on tattoo and can detect a person’s glucose levels. The sensor, reported in a proof-of-concept study in the ACS journal Analytical Chemistry, has the potential to eliminate finger-pricking for many people with diabetes. Read More 

 

Scientists solve organic semiconductor mystery

semiconductor mystery

Organic semiconductors are prized for light emitting diodes (LEDs), field effect transistors (FETs) and photovoltaic cells. As they can be printed from solution, they provide a highly scalable, cost-effective alternative to silicon-based devices. Uneven performances, Read More

 

 

 

Nasal spray may treat Alzheimer’s, say scientists

Nasal spray

A nasal spray that contains a man-made form of insulin may improve working memory and other mental capabilities in adults with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s, scientists have found. The study led by researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center studied 60 adults diagnosed with amnesic mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or mild to moderate Alzheimer’s dementia (AD). Read More

 

New catalyst process for rapid polymerization uses light, not metal

rapid polymerization

University of California Santa Barbara researchers develop a metal-free atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) process that uses an organic-based photocatalyst. A team of chemistry and materials science experts from University of California, Santa Barbara and The Dow Chemical Company has created a novel way to overcome one of the major hurdles preventing the widespread use of controlled radical polymerization. Read More 

 

‘Nanowire’ crystals with superconducting properties developed

Nanowire’ crystal

A new type of ‘nanowire’ crystals that fuses semiconducting and metallic materials on the atomic scale could lay the foundation for future semiconducting electronics. Researchers at the University of Copenhagen are behind the breakthrough, published inNature Materials, which has great potential. Read More 

 

Researchers use glass for battery electrode

battery electrode

Today’s lithium-ion batteries are good, but not good enough if our future energy system is to rely on electrical power. Chemists and materials scientists at ETH Zurich have developed a type of glass that can be used as an electrode material in lithium-ion batteries – likely making a vast improvement in these batteries’ capacity and energy density. Read More 

 

Super-dipoles

Super-dipoles linked to chloroform’s outstanding solvent properties

Super-dipoles uncovered in chloroform by chemists in the UK could explain the solvent’s powerful ability to dissolve a large range of substances at high concentrations.  Read More 

 

Scientists create first new antibiotic in nearly three decades

New method to detect estrogen, could improve cancer research

estrogen

Scientists at the Shimadzu Institute for Research Technologies and the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at The University of Texas at Arlington have collaborated to develop a new method for detecting trace amounts of estrogen in small samples that holds the potential to improve research into cancer and other diseases. Read More

 

Novel nanowire clothing could keep people warm

Novel nanowire

To stay warm when temperatures drop outside, we heat our indoor spaces – even when no one is in them. But scientists have now developed a novel nanowire coating for clothes that can both generate heat and trap the heat from our bodies better than regular clothes. They report on their technology, which could help us reduce our reliance on conventional energy sources, in the ACS journal Nano Letters. Read More 

Scientists create first new antibiotic in nearly three decades

new antibiotic

In a massive breakthrough, scientists have created the first new antibiotic in more than three decades, Teixobactin, that can treat many common bacterial infections such as tuberculosis, septicemia and C Diff or clostridium difficile colitis. Read More 

 

Developing light-activated nanocarrier to transport proteins into cells

nanocarrier

University of California, Santa Barbara’s (UCSB) Reich Group uses lasers to spatially and temporally control the release of a tagged protein inside a cell. Optogenetics, which uses light to control cellular events, is poised to become an important technology in molecular biology and beyond Read More 

 

Beer digesting bacteria may fight against diseases, finds new study

beer

A recent study led by Harry Gilbert, professor of biochemistry at Newcastle University, Eric Martens of the University of Michigan’s Department of Microbiology and Immunology, and Wade Abbott, research scientist at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, has identified the complex machinery that targets yeast carbohydrates Read More

Mistletoe may fight obesity-related liver disease

cyclic copper complex

Newly discovered cyclic copper complex converts carbon dioxide to oxalate

LSU researchers are contributing to ongoing work aimed at reducing the amount of carbon dioxide released in the environment. The research team, led by Andrew Maverick, Philip & Foymae West Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and acting associate dean in the LSU College of Science, has discovered a cyclic copper complex that converts carbon dioxide to oxalate, changing the environmental pollutant into a more useful organic compound Read More

 

Mistletoe

Mistletoe may fight obesity-related liver disease

Mistletoe may have better effect on liver health. Researchers have found that a compound produced by a particular variety of the plant can help fight obesity-related liver disease in mice. Their study appears in ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry Read More

 

 

rare-earth separation process

Improving rare-earth separation process

US Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory and Critical Materials Institute materials chemist Anja Mudring is harnessing the promising qualities of ionic liquids, salts in a liquid state, to optimize processes for critical materials. Read More

 

 

superconductors

Hydrogen-rich compounds are better superconductors under extreme pressure

Hydrogen-rich compounds under extreme pressure may be better superconductors than the best conventional ones around, according to scientists in Germany. The results suggest metallic hydrogen-based compounds may offer up to 50 times less electrical resistivity than copper and conduct at -83°C, the highest recorded temperature for a hydrogen-rich superconductor. The best superconductors in existence today stop working at -109°C. Read More

 

nitric oxide

Encapsulating nitric oxide within metal-organic frameworks

A group of scientists led by researchers at the Universite de Versailles’ Institut Lavoisier in France has worked out how to stably gift-wrap a chemical gas known as nitric oxide within metal-organic frameworks Read More