Scientists discover new 'origins of life' chemical reactions

Four billion years ago, the Earth looked very different than it does today, devoid of life and covered by a vast ocean. Over the course of millions of years, in that primordial soup, life emerged. Researchers have long theorized ...

Buckyballs on gold are less exotic than graphene

Graphene consists of carbon atoms that crosslink in a plane to form a flat honeycomb structure. In addition to surprisingly high mechanical stability, the material has exciting electronic properties. The electrons behave ...

Prospecting for interstellar oil

We have developed a new method to look for carbon compounds in space, akin to prospecting for oil on Earth. Our method is published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Researchers build longest highly-conductive molecular nanowire 

As our devices get smaller and smaller, the use of molecules as the main components in electronic circuitry is becoming ever more critical. Over the past 10 years, researchers have been trying to use single molecules as conducting ...

Help NASA scientists find clouds on Mars

NASA scientists hope to solve a fundamental mystery about Mars' atmosphere, and you can help. They've organized a project called Cloudspotting on Mars that invites the public to identify Martian clouds using the citizen science ...

Taking quantum control of life's building blocks

Life (as we know it) is based on carbon. Despite its ubiquity, this important element still holds plenty of secrets, on earth and in the heavens above us. For example, astrophysicists like Columbia's Daniel Wolf Savin who ...

Researchers can customize cavities in new porous material

Researchers at the University of Gothenburg have produced a porous and stable material in which the cavities can be used to store various substances. The material can be used both in the pharmaceutical industry and for filtration ...

Designing the perfect membrane for clean separation of gases

Selective removal of detrimental gases, e.g., hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and carbon dioxide (CO2) from natural gas (CH4) could become simpler and highly effective using a new class of oriented mixed-matrix metal-organic framework ...

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