News tagged with chemical bonds

Probing hydrogen under extreme conditions

(Phys.org) -- How hydrogen--the most abundant element in the cosmos--responds to extremes of pressure and temperature is one of the major challenges in modern physical science. Moreover, knowledge gleaned ...

Physics / Condensed Matter

created Apr 13, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

Solved: The mystery of the nanoscale crop circles

(PhysOrg.com) -- Almost three years ago a team of scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) was performing an experiment in which layers of gold mere ...

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Mar 02, 2012 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (10) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

Amazon fungi found that eat polyurethane, even without oxygen

(PhysOrg.com) -- Until now polyurethane has been considered non-biodegradable, but a group of students from Yale University in the US has found fungi that will not only eat and digest it, they will do so even in the absence ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Feb 03, 2012 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (47) | comments 27 | with audio podcast report

Two-step technique makes graphene suitable for organic chemistry

The future brightened for organic chemistry when researchers at Rice University found a highly controllable way to attach organic molecules to pristine graphene, making the miracle material suitable for a ...

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Nov 29, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (8) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

Highly selective catalyst developed for ring-closing olefin metathesis

Research carried out at Boston College, in collaboration with scientists at MIT and the University of Oxford, has led to the development of an efficient and highly selective catalyst for ring-closing olefin metathesis, one ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Nov 02, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Building crystalline materials from nanoparticles and DNA

Nature is a master builder. Using a bottom-up approach, nature takes tiny atoms and, through chemical bonding, makes crystalline materials, like diamonds, silicon and even table salt. In all of them, the properties of the ...

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Oct 13, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Advanced electron microscope sheds light on metal embrittlement

Why does a solid metal that is engineered for ductility become brittle, often suddenly and with dramatic consequences, in the presence of certain liquid metal impurities?

Physics / Condensed Matter

created Sep 22, 2011 | popularity 3 / 5 (2) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Forces within molecules can strengthen extra-long carbon-carbon bonds

(PhysOrg.com) -- The strength of a chemical bond between atoms is the fundamental basis for a molecule’s stability and reactivity. Tuning the strength and accessibility of the bond can dramatically change ...

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Sep 16, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Novel alloy could produce hydrogen fuel from sunlight

Scientists from the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville have determined that an inexpensive semiconductor material can be "tweaked" to generate hydrogen from water using sunlight.

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Aug 30, 2011 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (15) | comments 16 | with audio podcast

Inexpensive catalyst that makes hydrogen gas 10 times faster than natural enzyme

Looking to nature for their muse, researchers have used a common protein to guide the design of a material that can make energy-storing hydrogen gas. The synthetic material works 10 times faster than the original ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Aug 11, 2011 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (20) | comments 9 | with audio podcast

Chemists devise better way to prepare workhorse molecules

In chemistry, so-called aromatic molecules compose a large and versatile family of chemical compounds that are the stuff of pharmaceuticals, electronic materials and consumer products ranging from sunscreen to plastic soda ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Jun 09, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Turning plants into power houses

(PhysOrg.com) -- "I have a slide that has a photo of a cornfield and a big photovoltaic array," says Robert Blankenship, a scientist who studies photosynthesis at Washington University in St. Louis. "When ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created May 12, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Giant virus, tiny protein crystals show X-ray laser's power and potential

Two studies published in the February 3 issue of Nature demonstrate how the unique capabilities of the world's first hard X-ray free-electron laser -- the Linac Coherent Light Source, located at the Depart ...

Physics / General Physics

created Feb 02, 2011 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (13) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Universal solvent no match for new self-healing sticky gel

Scientists can now manufacture a synthetic version of the self-healing sticky substance that mussels use to anchor themselves to rocks in pounding ocean surf and surging tidal basins. A patent is pending on ...

Chemistry / Polymers

created Jan 27, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (10) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

'Necropanspermia' suggested as a way of seeding life on Earth

(PhysOrg.com) -- Panspermia is a mechanism for spreading organic material throughout the galaxy, but the destructive effects of cosmic rays and ultraviolet light tend to mean most organisms would be destroyed ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 12, 2010 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (32) | comments 47 | with audio podcast report