http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. A team at The Scripps Research Institute has made major strides in solving a problem that has been plaguing chemists for many years: how best to break carbon-hydrogen bonds and then to create new bonds to join molecules together. This problem is of great interest to the pharmaceutical industry, which currently relies on a method to accomplish this feat that is relatively inefficient and sometimes difficult to perform. http://www.physorg.com/news179148095.html Chemistry Fri, 04 Dec 2009 11:22:20 EST news179148095 A University of Pittsburgh team overcame a major hurdle plaguing the development of nanomaterials such as those that could lead to more efficient catalysts used to produce hydrogen and render car exhaust less toxic. The researchers reported Nov. 29 in Nature Materials the first demonstration of high-temperature stability in metallic nanoparticles, the vaunted next-generation materials hampered by a vulnerability to extreme heat. http://www.physorg.com/news178810410.html Nanotechnology Mon, 30 Nov 2009 13:34:21 EST news178810410 In the quest to make hydrogen as a clean alternative fuel source, researchers have been stymied about how to create usable hydrogen that is clean and sustainable without relying on an intensive, high-energy process that outweighs the benefits of not using petroleum to power vehicles. http://www.physorg.com/news177242747.html Nanotechnology Thu, 12 Nov 2009 10:06:27 EST news177242747 It is currently estimated that natural gas resources will be exhausted in 130 years; however, those reserves where extraction is cost-effective will only flow for another 60 years or so. http://www.physorg.com/news177164574.html Chemistry Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:00:01 EST news177164574 (PhysOrg.com) -- University of Utah chemists demonstrated the first conclusive link between the size of catalyst particles on a solid surface, their electronic properties and their ability to speed chemical reactions. The study is a step toward the goal of designing cheaper, more efficient catalysts to increase energy production, reduce Earth-warming gases and manufacture a wide variety of goods from medicines to gasoline. http://www.physorg.com/news176373205.html Nanotechnology Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:00:03 EST news176373205 (PhysOrg.com) -- New insight into how nature handles some fundamental processes is guiding researchers in the design of tailor-made proteins for applications such as artificial photosynthetic centers, long-range electron transfers, and fuel-cell catalysts for energy conversion. http://www.physorg.com/news176564279.html Chemistry Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:38:36 EST news176564279 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at the University of Washington and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have taken an important step in converting methane gas to a liquid, potentially making it more useful as a fuel and as a source for making other chemicals. http://www.physorg.com/news175440723.html Chemistry Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:32:49 EST news175440723 (PhysOrg.com) -- One of the biggest hindrances to the development of fuel cell technology is its cost. In order to work properly, polymer electrolyte fuel cells require a catalyst. So far, though, the most efficient catalyst for use with these fuel cells is platinum. And, as you probably know, platinum is one of the most expensive materials out there. The high cost of platinum is stunting the further development of fuel cells for use on a broader basis. Help may be coming, however, in the form of niobium and titanium. http://www.physorg.com/news175269673.html Chemistry Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:02:21 EST news175269673 Fuel cells, devices that can produce electricity from hydrogen or other fuels without burning them, are considered a promising new way of powering everything from homes and cars to portable devices like cellphones and laptop computers. Their big advantage -- the prospect of eliminating emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants -- has been outweighed by their very high cost, and researchers have been trying to find ways to make the devices less expensive. http://www.physorg.com/news174822792.html Nanotechnology Thu, 15 Oct 2009 10:54:10 EST news174822792 (PhysOrg.com) -- Carbon nanotubes hold promise for delivering medicine directly to a tumor; acting as sensors so keen they detect the arrival or departure of a single electron; replacing costly platinum in fuel cells; or as energy-saving transistors and wires, but building them with the right structure has been a challenge. http://www.physorg.com/news174752422.html Nanotechnology Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:50:01 EST news174752422 US technology firm Mindjet has unleashed a Catalyst technology platform that "attacks a major problem" in business by helping turn online brainstorming sessions into real-world results. http://www.physorg.com/news174224304.html Technology Thu, 08 Oct 2009 12:50:02 EST news174224304 (PhysOrg.com) -- Propylene oxide is an important bulk chemical that is used primarily in the production of polyurethane plastics. Currently, propylene oxide is usually made from propylene (propene) in a process that uses chlorine as an oxidizing agent. This results in undesired byproducts as well as toxic chlorinated organic compounds. Existing alternative routes are mostly complicated and uneconomical. The development of an environmentally friendly propylene oxide synthesis with oxygen as the oxidizing agent is high on the wish list. http://www.physorg.com/news173602236.html Nanotechnology Thu, 01 Oct 2009 07:52:33 EST news173602236 Scientists at The University of Nottingham have overcome one of the significant research challenges facing electrochemists. For the first time they have found a way of probing right into the heart of an electrochemical reaction. http://www.physorg.com/news173363726.html Chemistry Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:50:01 EST news173363726 (PhysOrg.com) -- Life's ability to replicate itself is essential for evolution, yet even the simplest kind of replication requires a relatively complex system. So what kind of non-replicating system might have served as the predecessor of evolution, paving the way for life as we know it? The answer, according to a recent study, is a kind of "prelife" -- a chemical system that can lead to information and diversity, and that is capable of selection and mutation, but does not yet have the ability to self-replicate. http://www.physorg.com/news173351870.html Chemistry Mon, 28 Sep 2009 10:18:22 EST news173351870 Catalysts convert useless or unwanted chemicals into useful or more desirable ones. Research in this week's Science reveals new, important details about a common catalyst: how rafts of chemically reactive platinum form in the catalyst. The new work yields insights into how to improve the industrial catalyst for oil refining, chemicals processing and environmental uses. http://www.physorg.com/news173021840.html Chemistry Thu, 24 Sep 2009 15:30:01 EST news173021840 Tiny objects known as nanoparticles are often heralded as holding great potential for future applications in electronics, medicine and other areas. The properties of nanoparticles depend on their size and structure. Now researchers from North Carolina State University have learned how to consistently create hollow, solid and amorphous nanoparticles of nickel phosphide, which has potential uses in the development of solar cells and as catalysts for removing sulfur from fuel. Their work can now serve as a "how-to" guide for other researchers to controllably create hollow, solid and amorphous nanoparticles - in order to determine what special properties they may have. http://www.physorg.com/news173008630.html Nanotechnology Thu, 24 Sep 2009 11:30:02 EST news173008630 (PhysOrg.com) -- Brookhaven Lab scientists have developed a new scanning electron microscope capable of selectively imaging single atoms on a surface while simultaneously probing atoms throughout the sample?s depth. The development could greatly expand scientists? ability to understand and control chemical reactions, such as those in energy-conversion devices. http://www.physorg.com/news172746177.html Nanotechnology Mon, 21 Sep 2009 10:04:16 EST news172746177 Nanoscopic tubes made of a lattice of carbon just a single atom deep hold promise for delivering medicines directly to a tumor, sensors so keen they detect the arrival or departure of a single electron, a replacement for costly platinum in fuel cells or as energy‐saving transistors and wires. http://www.physorg.com/news172672100.html Nanotechnology Sun, 20 Sep 2009 13:29:00 EST news172672100 (PhysOrg.com) -- Imagine a car that runs on hydrogen from solar power and produces water instead of carbon emissions. While vehicles like this won't be on the market anytime soon, University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers are making incremental but important strides in the fuel cell technology that could make clean cars a reality. http://www.physorg.com/news172417030.html Chemistry Thu, 17 Sep 2009 14:38:30 EST news172417030 (PhysOrg.com) -- Tiny objects known as nanoparticles are often heralded as holding great potential for future applications in electronics, medicine and other areas. The properties of nanoparticles depend on their size and structure. http://www.physorg.com/news172338913.html Nanotechnology Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:56:14 EST news172338913 (PhysOrg.com) -- Nanoparticles combining platinum and gold act as superefficient catalysts, but chemists have struggled to create them in an industrially useful form. Rice University chemists have answered the call this week with a polymer-coated version of gold-platinum nanorods, the first catalysts of their kind that can be used in the organic solvents favored by chemical and drug manufacturers. http://www.physorg.com/news170946874.html Nanotechnology Mon, 31 Aug 2009 14:15:04 EST news170946874 Carbon nanotubes hold many exciting possibilities, some of them in the realm of the human nervous system. Recent research has shown that carbon nanotubes may help regrow nerve tissue or ferry drugs used to repair damaged neurons associated with disorders such as epilepsy, Parkinson's disease and perhaps even paralysis. http://www.physorg.com/news170601609.html Nanotechnology Thu, 27 Aug 2009 14:50:04 EST news170601609 A North Carolina State University researcher has devised a new technology that really does not stink. In fact, it could be the key to eliminating foul odors and air pollutants emitted by industrial chicken rendering facilities and - ultimately - large-scale swine feedlots. http://www.physorg.com/news170503163.html Technology Wed, 26 Aug 2009 10:59:53 EST news170503163 (PhysOrg.com) -- As a possible energy source for fuel cells or a substitute for gasoline, methanol is increasingly drawing attention beyond its importance as a feedstock for chemical industry. It can be stored much more efficiently and cheaply than hydrogen and could be distributed by way of the existing network of fuelling stations. The disadvantage is the truly complex synthesis of methanol from natural gas via a detour through synthesis gas. One interesting alternative that was pursued and then abandoned is known as the direct low-temperature oxidation of methane to methanol. http://www.physorg.com/news170052907.html Chemistry Fri, 21 Aug 2009 05:58:15 EST news170052907 With $20 million over five years from the National Science Foundation, UC Irvine scientists hope to become the first ever to make real-time videos of single molecules in action - a feat that has proved elusive because size and time scales are so small. http://www.physorg.com/news169754661.html Nanotechnology Mon, 17 Aug 2009 19:05:35 EST news169754661 Better tools for manipulating DNA in the laboratory may soon be possible with newly discovered deoxyribozymes (catalytic DNA) capable of cleaving single-stranded DNA, researchers at the University of Illinois say. http://www.physorg.com/news169649497.html Biology Sun, 16 Aug 2009 13:52:05 EST news169649497 (PhysOrg.com) -- To use hydrogen as a clean energy source, some engineers want to pack hydrogen into a larger molecule, rather than compressing the gas into a tank. A gas flows easily out of a tank, but getting hydrogen out of a molecule requires a catalyst. Now, researchers reveal new details about one such catalyst. The results are a step toward designing catalysts for use in hydrogen energy applications such as fuel cells. http://www.physorg.com/news168691007.html Chemistry Wed, 05 Aug 2009 11:37:17 EST news168691007 Call it a "shrimp cocktail" for your fuel tank. Scientists in China are reporting development of a catalyst made from shrimp shells that could transform production of biodiesel fuel into a faster, less expensive, and more environmentally friendly process. Their study is scheduled for the Aug. 20 issue of ACS' Energy & Fuels journal. http://www.physorg.com/news168086524.html Chemistry Wed, 29 Jul 2009 12:00:04 EST news168086524 The chemical mechanism that occurs on the surface of an automotive catalytic converter has been deciphered thanks to an observation speed record established by Frédéric Thibault-Strarzyk at the Laboratoire Catalyse et Spectrochimie in Caen (CNRS, France). This performance, achieved in collaboration with the University of Cambridge, has made it possible to characterize this key step in the reaction that ensures pollutant removal by automotive converters. http://www.physorg.com/news162743807.html Chemistry Thu, 28 May 2009 15:37:20 EST news162743807 (PhysOrg.com) -- A new sponge-like material that is black, brittle and freeze-dried (just like the ice cream astronauts eat) can pull off some pretty impressive feats. Designed by Northwestern University chemists, it can remove mercury from polluted water, easily separate hydrogen from other gases and, perhaps most impressive of all, is a more effective catalyst than the one currently used to pull sulfur out of crude oil. http://www.physorg.com/news162572894.html Chemistry Tue, 26 May 2009 16:08:54 EST news162572894