Oxidation and reduction are complementary electron-transfer processes that underpin redox chemistry and many biological and industrial transformations. Oxidation is defined as the loss of electrons, an increase in oxidation state, or, in many covalent systems, gain of electronegative substituents (e.g., oxygen) or loss of electropositive ones (e.g., hydrogen). Reduction is the gain of electrons, a decrease in oxidation state, or the converse change in bonding pattern. In any redox reaction, electrons are conserved and transferred from a reductant (electron donor) to an oxidant (electron acceptor), often mediated by redox couples, half-reactions, and characterized quantitatively by standard reduction potentials.
Zinc is an essential trace element that controls myriad biological processes. The delicate balance of its concentration in the body is critical; both deficiency and excess are linked to severe pathological states such as ...
Cell & Microbiology
Apr 28, 2026
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8
In the past several years, Rockefeller University's Kivanç Birsoy and his team in the Laboratory of Metabolic Regulation and Genetics have revealed remarkable details about the antioxidant glutathione, which plays many essential ...
Cell & Microbiology
Apr 17, 2026
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An electrochemical sensor developed at Oregon State University holds promise for making food quality testing faster, more accurate, more environmentally friendly, and less expensive. The novel sensor, which also has potential ...
Bio & Medicine
Apr 13, 2026
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8
An international research team has successfully synthesized oriented belt-shaped vanadium dioxide (VO2(B)) single crystals via a hydrothermal reduction method, using one-dimensional vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) nanofibers as ...
Nanomaterials
Mar 24, 2026
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10
Two University of Victoria (UVic) geologists have integrated field geology with statistical modeling to give scientists a new view of the chemical reactions happening on ocean floors billions of years ago. The revised picture ...
Environment
Mar 20, 2026
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185
After more than a decade of research, scientists have discovered the natural mechanism behind a novel form of cell death called ferroptosis. The work, described in the current issue of Cell, points toward an entirely new ...
Cell & Microbiology
Mar 3, 2026
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112
Cyanobacteria, as they still exist today, were the first organisms to carry out photosynthesis and release oxygen. Produced in primeval oceans about 2.5 billion years ago, this oxygen accumulated in Earth's atmosphere on ...
Earth Sciences
Feb 26, 2026
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70
Cornell researchers have uncovered a built-in molecular "gate" that controls the production of the molecule nitric oxide, a crucial signaling molecule throughout biology that in humans helps regulate blood pressure, brain ...
Cell & Microbiology
Feb 23, 2026
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22
The most widely accepted scientific explanation for the arrival of all complex life on Earth has had an unsolved mystery at its heart. According to the theory, all plants, animals and fungi, known collectively as eukaryotes, ...
Evolution
Feb 18, 2026
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58
Recently, a research team led by Prof. Zhao Bangchuan from the Institute of Solid State Physics, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with Prof. Xiao Yao from Wenzhou University, ...
Nanophysics
Feb 14, 2026
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