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Latest News 2020/09
Latest news from laboratory, environment, chemistry, life science and quality control
- Soft matter on new ways to self-organization
Nematic materials, such as the liquid crystals in our displays, contain molecules that align themselves in parallel. When they are constructed from microtubules and kinesins, materials found in our... - Controlling ultrastrong light-matter coupling at room temperature
Physicists at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, together with colleagues in Russia and Poland, have managed to achieve ultrastrong coupling between light and matter at room temperature. ... - Dust particles in space are mixed with ice
The matter between the stars in a galaxy - called the interstellar medium - consists not only of gas, but also of a great deal of dust. At some point in time, stars and planets originated in such a... - A new class of materials containing precious metals
Precious metals such as platinum, palladium, gold, rhodium or iridium can be found in a variety of everyday products, for example in catalytic converters of cars, in mobile phones and laptops as we... - News from the cell membrane
The red mould Neurospora crassa belongs to the group of sac fungi and serves researchers as a common model organism that allows a comparatively simple analysis of genetic information and the functi... - Laboratory study analyzes the toxicity of bioplastics and plant-based materials
So-called "bioplastics" are marketed as an environmentally friendly alternative to conventional, petroleum-based plastics. They can be made from renewable feedstock, might be bio-degradable or even... - New NMR methods for analysing molecular structures in more detail
Chemistry and structural biology use the standard methods of NMR spectroscopy (NMR = nuclear magnetic resonance) to examine the structure of molecules including large molecules like proteins in sol... - Liquid water at 170 degrees Celsius - anomalous dynamics at ultra-fast heating
Using the X-ray laser European XFEL, a research team has investigated how water heats up under extreme conditions. In the process, the scientists were able to observe water that remained liquid eve... - Sustainable approach for selective p-xylene synthesis
Lemonade, juice and mineral water often come in PET bottles. While these are practical and functional, their production is complex and not necessarily sustainable. The starting material for terepht... - Studies on biological macromolecules awarded
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Gregori Aminoff Prize 2021 to Henry Chapman, University of Hamburg, Germany, Janos Hajdu, Uppsala University, Sweden, and John Spence,... - Proposing a way to reduce three times the temperature for the oxidation of alkanes
Until now, the reaction of catalytic oxidation of alkanes to alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, carboxylic acids could be carried out only at high temperatures - 150 degrees Celsius and above. Lowering ... - Leather-like material biofabrication using fungi
Leather is used as a durable and flexible material in many aspects of everyday life including furniture and clothing. Leather substitutes derived from fungi are considered to be an ethical and envi... - Nuclear pores in their natural context
The architecture of the nuclear pore complex differs inside cells compared to its form observed in vitro studies, and increases our understanding of crucial processes of life. Scientists from t... - Detecting the handedness of a single nanoparticle
Scientists from the Micro, Nano and Molecular Systems Lab at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems have developed a new spectroscopic-microscope, which can be used to observe a single na... - Producing nanostructures cost-effectively
How can structures smaller than one micrometer be generated? And how can even smaller structures of less than 100 nanometers be produced without great effort? Scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute... - Grapefruit inspires the creation of the world's first non-cuttable material
In an article published by Nature, the team detail how they were influenced by the tough skin of grapefruit and the Amazonian Arapaima fish to create an artificial material that cannot be cut with ... - Mass of the deuteron corrected
High-precision measurements of the mass of the deuteron, the nucleus of heavy hydrogen, provide new insights into the reliability of fundamental quantities in atomic and nuclear physics. This is re... - Next-generation zinc ion battery without the risk of explosion or fire
The Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) has announced that a research team led by Dr. Joong-Kee Lee of the Center for Energy Storage Research had developed a next-generation secondary ... - Increasing safety of nanomaterials through accurate design
The risks posed by nanomaterials to humans and the environment due to their very small size have not yet been fully clarified. For this reason, there is a need for new technologies that allow the r... - Mini power plants from coated blue-green algae
Blue-green algae are among the oldest living creatures on Earth and have perfected the use of sunlight over billions of years. Empa scientists have now equipped these humble unicellular organisms w... - Artificial carbohydrates for sustainable food production?
What alternatives to conventional agriculture exist to produce carbohydrates for food and feed? Scientists at Heidelberg University performed model calculations for artificial sugar production with... - IUPAC Awards in Analytical Chemistry - Call for nominations
The Analytical Chemistry Division of IUPAC has established two awards, including: The Emerging Innovator Award in Analytical Chemistry - an award to recognize outstanding work undertaken by an emer...