http://www.physorg.com/chemistry-news/ en-us PhysOrg.com provides the latest news on chemistry, biochemistry, polymers, materials science Most scientists believe that staph infections are caused by many bacterial cells that signal each other to emit toxins. The signaling process is called quorum sensing because many bacteria must be present to start the process. http://www.physorg.com/news179070935.html Chemistry Thu, 03 Dec 2009 13:56:14 EST news179070935 (PhysOrg.com) -- An enzyme in our blood that enables our lungs to exhale carbon dioxide could be the key to isolating carbon dioxide emissions from coal plants in order to store them safely underground. A company called Carbozyme, based in New Jersey, is developing a synthetic version of the blood enzyme that could capture carbon dioxide using one-third less energy than other methods. http://www.physorg.com/news179068055.html Chemistry Thu, 03 Dec 2009 13:08:37 EST news179068055 Scientists at Boston Biomedical Research Institute (BBRI) and the University of Pennsylvania have found that combining two chemicals, one of which is the green tea component EGCG, can prevent and destroy a variety of protein structures known as amyloids. Amyloids are the primary culprits in fatal brain disorders such as Alzheimer's, Huntington's, and Parkinson's diseases. Their study, published in the current issue of Nature Chemical Biology (December 2009), may ultimately contribute to future therapies for these diseases. http://www.physorg.com/news179060136.html Chemistry Thu, 03 Dec 2009 10:57:46 EST news179060136 A new study on the smokeless tobacco product called moist snuff - placed between lip and gum - has led scientists in Minnesota to urge the tobacco industry to change manufacturing practices to reduce snuff's content of carcinogens. Their study is published online in ACS' monthly journal Chemical Research in Toxicology. http://www.physorg.com/news179052113.html Chemistry Thu, 03 Dec 2009 09:30:03 EST news179052113 Scientists may not be able to tell a good book by its cover, but they now can tell the condition of an old book by its smell. In a report in ACS' Analytical Chemistry, a semi-monthly journal, they describe development of a new test that can measure the degradation of old books and precious historical documents based on their smell. The nondestructive "sniff" test could help libraries and museums preserve a range of prized paper-based objects, some of which are degrading rapidly due to advancing age, the scientists say. http://www.physorg.com/news179002489.html Chemistry Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:55:46 EST news179002489 (PhysOrg.com) -- A new study using solid-state NMR spectroscopy to analyze intact bone paves the way for atomic-level explorations of how disease and aging affect bone. The research by scientists at the University of Michigan is reported in the Dec. 2 issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society. http://www.physorg.com/news178994090.html Chemistry Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:20:01 EST news178994090 Two new University of Illinois studies report that lunasin, a soy peptide often discarded in the waste streams of soy-processing plants, may have important health benefits that include fighting leukemia and blocking the inflammation that accompanies such chronic health conditions as diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. http://www.physorg.com/news178990755.html Chemistry Wed, 02 Dec 2009 15:42:56 EST news178990755 An important Brandeis study appearing in the December 3 issue of Nature raises the curtain on the hidden lives of proteins at the atomic level. The study reports that for the first time, researchers used x-ray crystallography and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques to directly visualize protein structures essential for catalysis at the rare high-energy state. The study also showed how the motions of these rare, or hidden, structures collectively, directly contribute to enzyme catalysis. http://www.physorg.com/news178987418.html Chemistry Wed, 02 Dec 2009 15:30:01 EST news178987418 Recalls of ground beef, peanut butter, and other foods have done more than raise public awareness and concern about food safety. They also are quietly fueling a boom in the market for food testing equipment and fostering new food safety regulations. That's the topic of the two-part cover story in the current issue of Chemical & Engineering News, (C&EN) ACS' weekly newsmagazine. http://www.physorg.com/news178986274.html Chemistry Wed, 02 Dec 2009 14:28:17 EST news178986274 Before one of your muscles can twitch, before the thought telling it to flex can race down your nerve, a tiny floodgate of sorts -- called an ion channel -- must open in the surface of each cell in these organs to let in the chemical signals that spur the cell to action. New research at the National Institute of Standards and Technology has allowed scientists to observe ion channels within the surface membrane for the first time, potentially offering insights for future drug development. http://www.physorg.com/news178979870.html Chemistry Wed, 02 Dec 2009 12:38:21 EST news178979870 (PhysOrg.com) -- Hydrogen is a promising alternative energy carrier that can be efficiently converted into electrical energy in fuel cells. One hurdle to the introduction of sustainable hydrogen technology is the fact that the large-scale industrial production of hydrogen through reforming processes is still largely based on fossil fuels, and thus is not carbon neutral. http://www.physorg.com/news178969673.html Chemistry Wed, 02 Dec 2009 10:30:01 EST news178969673 (PhysOrg.com) -- Chemistry professor Harry Frank led an international group of researchers that identified the molecules in algae which direct the organisms to convert sunlight into oxygen. The findings may ultimately help in developing new solar energy conversion devices. http://www.physorg.com/news178964604.html Chemistry Wed, 02 Dec 2009 08:24:06 EST news178964604 (PhysOrg.com) -- A whole microcosm of various bizarrely shaped life forms opens up when you look at diatoms, the primary component of ocean plankton, under a microscope. The regularly structured silica shells of these tiny individual life forms have attracted scientists because they are particularly interesting examples of natural hybrid materials and also demonstrate unusual mechanistic and optical properties. The mechanisms of the underlying biomineralization process are not yet fully understood, but the silica shells often provide inspiration for the synthesis of man-made nanostructures. http://www.physorg.com/news178901054.html Chemistry Tue, 01 Dec 2009 14:51:39 EST news178901054 In a world first, a Monash University-led international research team has developed an innovative way to boost the output of the next generation of solar cells. http://www.physorg.com/news178889850.html Chemistry Tue, 01 Dec 2009 11:38:01 EST news178889850 (PhysOrg.com) -- Lara Estroff and colleagues have taken a deep, detailed look at the way lab-created calcite crystals, similar to those found in nature, grow in tandem with proteins and other large molecules. http://www.physorg.com/news178823885.html Chemistry Mon, 30 Nov 2009 17:19:17 EST news178823885 (PhysOrg.com) -- Bacteria don`t have easy lives. In addition to mammalian immune systems that besiege the bugs, they have natural enemies called bacteriophages, viruses that kill half the bacteria on Earth every two days. http://www.physorg.com/news178816618.html Chemistry Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:19:21 EST news178816618 (PhysOrg.com) -- Finding and treating a tumor without disturbing normal tissue presents challenges - sometimes the most effective therapies can be invasive and harsh. http://www.physorg.com/news178804691.html Chemistry Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:58:49 EST news178804691 (PhysOrg.com) -- In structural biology, the only technique available to predict the three dimensional structure of large complex molecules in solution, such as proteins and DNA, is NMR spectroscopy. To catalyze improvements in the techniques behind these predictions, the "eNMR" project has launched a new initiative. In September`s Nature Methods the project issued an invitation to the entire biomolecular Nuclear Magnetic Resonance community to participate in a large scale test of modern computing algorithms. This community-wide `contest` will potentially improve efficiency, reproducibility and reliability of NMR structure determination. eNMR will be using the Enabling Grids for E-sciencE infrastructure to power their analysis. http://www.physorg.com/news178785696.html Chemistry Mon, 30 Nov 2009 07:10:01 EST news178785696 (PhysOrg.com) -- The copper sequestering drug tetrathiomolybdate (TM) has been shown in studies to be effective in the treatment of Wilson disease, a disease caused by an overload of copper, and certain metastatic cancers. That much is known. Very little, however, is known about how the drug works at the molecular level. http://www.physorg.com/news178458552.html Chemistry Thu, 26 Nov 2009 14:00:03 EST news178458552 Researchers led by Conway Fellow, Professor Pat Guiry have solved a chemistry problem that has stumped researchers worldwide for more than a decade. The results have earned the group the cover story of the leading scientific journal, Angewandte Chemie. http://www.physorg.com/news178450551.html Chemistry Thu, 26 Nov 2009 10:10:01 EST news178450551 (PhysOrg.com) -- Research into Alzheimer's disease seems an unlikely approach to yield a better way to fight urinary tract infections (UTIs), but that's what scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and elsewhere recently reported. http://www.physorg.com/news178359416.html Chemistry Wed, 25 Nov 2009 09:20:01 EST news178359416 (PhysOrg.com) -- The scientists anticipate their "LithoParticles" will have significant applications in photonics, optical communications and other areas. http://www.physorg.com/news178358457.html Chemistry Wed, 25 Nov 2009 08:40:01 EST news178358457 A recent study confirms that the antioxidants and other plant-based nutrients in chocolate and cocoa products are highly associated with the amount of non-fat cocoa-derived ingredients in the product. The study expands on previously published results. http://www.physorg.com/news178354316.html Chemistry Wed, 25 Nov 2009 07:13:08 EST news178354316 Scientists have crystallised a protein that may help gut bacteria bind to the gastrointestinal tract. The protein could be used by probiotic producers to identify strains that are likely to be of real benefit to people. http://www.physorg.com/news178285643.html Chemistry Tue, 24 Nov 2009 12:00:01 EST news178285643 A novel approach to classify the gender of six-week-old turkey poults could save millions of male chicks from being killed shortly after birth, according to Dr. Gerald Steiner from the Dresden University of Technology in Germany and his team. Their use of infrared spectroscopy to determine the gender of young birds shows that it is a fast and accurate method with the potential to be used by the breeding industry to identify and select female eggs for breeding. The pilot studyš has just been published online in Springer's journal Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry. http://www.physorg.com/news178216189.html Chemistry Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:40:01 EST news178216189 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have built a machine that uses the sun's energy to convert carbon dioxide waste from power plants into transportation fuels such as gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. The system could provide an alternative to carbon sequestration; instead of permanently storing CO2 underground, the CO2 could be recycled and put to use. http://www.physorg.com/news178203219.html Chemistry Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:06:36 EST news178203219 Scientists at the Carnegie Institution have found for the first time that high pressure can be used to make a unique hydrogen-storage material. The discovery paves the way for an entirely new way to approach the hydrogen-storage problem. The researchers found that the normally unreactive, noble gas xenon combines with molecular hydrogen (H2) under pressure to form a previously unknown solid with unusual bonding chemistry. The experiments are the first time these elements have been combined to form a stable compound. The discovery debuts a new family of materials, which could boost new hydrogen technologies. http://www.physorg.com/news178119983.html Chemistry Sun, 22 Nov 2009 13:47:08 EST news178119983 GE Global Research, the technology development arm for the General Electric, today announced a $2 million award from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to develop wearable RFID sensors to alert people to the presence of environmental chemical agents in the air and sample exhaled breath to serve as an early indicator of disease. http://www.physorg.com/news177955412.html Chemistry Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:30:03 EST news177955412 A key question in the origin of biological molecules like RNA and DNA is how they first came together billions of years ago from simple precursors. Now, in a study appearing in this week's Journal of Biological Chemistry, researchers in Italy have reconstructed one of the earliest evolutionary steps yet: generating long chains of RNA from individual subunits using nothing but warm water. http://www.physorg.com/news177945116.html Chemistry Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:12:36 EST news177945116 (PhysOrg.com) -- Not too long ago, it seemed that ethanol production was the wave of the future. The use of trash, wood chips or different types of plants -- usually grass or corn -- to make ethanol was considered a way to help reduce reliance on foreign oil. However, investor interest in the process cooled, especially since it turned out that some materials were not terribly efficient when it came to producing ethanol. However, wood chips are once again being considered in the quest to create an industry based around cellulosic ethanol. http://www.physorg.com/news177942392.html Chemistry Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:27:35 EST news177942392