Atomic and molecular structure as a research area investigates the spatial arrangement, electronic configuration, and intrinsic quantum properties of atoms and molecules, and how these features determine their spectroscopic, chemical, and physical behavior. It encompasses theoretical and computational methods (e.g., ab initio quantum chemistry, density functional theory, configuration interaction) and experimental techniques (e.g., high-resolution spectroscopy, scattering, synchrotron and XFEL-based probes) to resolve electronic states, bonding patterns, potential energy surfaces, and correlation effects. This field underpins understanding of reactivity, photophysics, materials properties, and the design of novel molecules, clusters, and nanostructures with targeted electronic and structural characteristics.
Proteins are far more than nutrients we track on a food label. Present in every cell of our bodies, they work like nature's molecular machines. They walk, stretch, bend, and flex to do their jobs, pumping blood, fighting ...
Biotechnology
Mar 27, 2026
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Some materials behave unexpectedly. They crack differently than expected, or react in ways that are hard to explain. The answer often lies in their atomic structure. Is it neatly arranged, as in a crystal, or disordered, ...
Nanomaterials
Mar 23, 2026
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13
Researchers at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and collaborating institutions recently built a generative AI model that can recreate molecular structures from the movement of the molecule's ...
Optics & Photonics
Mar 18, 2026
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32
Using a tool to solve a protein's structure, for most researchers in the world of structural biology and computational chemistry, is not unlike using the Rosetta Stone to unlock the secrets of ancient Egyptian texts. Once ...
Biotechnology
Mar 10, 2026
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Scientists at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have developed a new way to determine atomic structures from nanocrystals previously considered unusable, a breakthrough that could ...
Nanomaterials
Mar 4, 2026
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20
Traditional chemistry textbooks present a tidy picture: Atoms in molecules occupy fixed positions, connected by rigid rods. A molecule such as formic acid (methanoic acid, HCOOH) is imagined as two-dimensional—flat as a sheet ...
General Physics
Feb 20, 2026
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60
University of Missouri researchers have released the world's largest collection of protein models with quality assessment—a groundbreaking new resource that could accelerate drug development for diseases such as Alzheimer's ...
Biotechnology
Feb 18, 2026
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35
A research team at the University of Würzburg has deciphered another aspect of poxviral gene activation. They have revealed a unique viral mechanism: A molecular ring anchors the viral copying machine to the DNA. Their findings ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Feb 18, 2026
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18
Physicists in Germany have carried out the most accurate measurement to date of the width of the proton. By examining a previously unexplored energy-level transition in the hydrogen atom, Lothar Maisenbacher and colleagues ...
The Pauli exclusion principle is a cornerstone of the Standard Model of particle physics and is essential for the structure and stability of matter. Now an international collaboration of physicists has carried out one of ...
General Physics
Feb 5, 2026
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