New method to synthesize menthol

Menthol is a substance that exists naturally in various mint plants. For hundreds of years, humans have recognized it as useful, causing an immense demand for menthol worldwide. Moreover, extraction from the plants itself ...

'Virtual pillars' separate and sort blood-based nanoparticles

Engineers at Duke University have developed a device that uses sound waves to separate and sort the tiniest particles found in blood in a matter of minutes. The technology is based on a concept called "virtual pillars" and ...

Cocaine synthesized in a tobacco plant

A team of researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, working with a colleague from Syngenta Jealott's Hill International Research Centre in the U.K., has developed a way to synthesize cocaine using a tobacco plant. The ...

Speeding up DNA computation with liquid droplets

Recent studies have shown that liquid-liquid phase separation—akin to how oil droplets form in water—leads to formation of diverse types of membraneless organelles, such as stress granules and nucleoli, in living cells. ...

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