https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Nickel is a promising, cost-effective and robust catalyst for alkaline water electrolysis—a key technology for the climate-neutral production of hydrogen. However, the actual structure of the active surface of such nickel electrodes under reaction conditions had not yet been conclusively determined. A research team at Ulm University has now refuted a decades-old assumption: The catalytically active surface does not consist of nickel oxyhydroxide (NiOOH), as was previously widely assumed, but is nickel dioxide (NiO₂). The findings have been published in the journal Nature Catalysis. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-chemists-uncover-true-surface-nickel.html Analytical Chemistry Thu, 08 Oct 2026 18:00:07 EDT news710681521 More and more details about 3I/ATLAS are filtering through the scientific process as time goes on. Our third known interstellar visitor attracted the attention of some of the world's most powerful observatories when it was discovered in July 2025, and some of those telescopes found something peculiar—the isotopes it contained appeared different. A new paper submitted to The Astrophysical Journal Letters (and available as a preprint on arXiv) by Kenji Furuya of the RIKEN Pioneering Research Institute in Japan and his co-authors shows that the isotopic discrepancy is likely due to the "low metallicity" of the stellar nursery in which 3I/ATLAS was born. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-3iatlas-extreme-heavy.html Planetary Sciences Tue, 22 Sep 2026 12:00:01 EDT news709291864 An international collaboration of researchers has used ANSTO's facilities to uncover new properties of one of the most fundamental everyday materials, water, and answer an important scientific question. The findings, published in Nature Communications, have practical implications for understanding water at very low temperatures. The findings are relevant to cryopreservation of biological materials, food-freezing technologies and understanding water in living cells, where it is often confined at the nanoscale. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-soft-nanoscale-confinement-ice-exposing.html Condensed Matter Thu, 03 Sep 2026 19:40:01 EDT news707669463 New observations of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS include the first measurement of the abundance of deuterated water relative to ordinary water in an interstellar object. Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) discovered that the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS is made of an astonishingly high ratio of semi-heavy water relative to water, indicating that its system of origin likely formed under conditions far colder than our own. The findings are published in Nature Astronomy. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-3iatlas-semi-heavy-comets-solar.html Astronomy Thu, 23 Apr 2026 13:26:02 EDT news696169452 The National Deuteration Facility has developed a capability to use a flow chemistry process to increase efficiency, increase production capacity and reduce decomposition in the synthesis of deuterated molecules. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-scalable-chemistry-deuteration-fatty-acids.html Biochemistry Wed, 25 Mar 2026 13:20:01 EDT news693655621 A collaboration between the groups of Professor Mónica H. Pérez-Temprano at the Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ) and Professor Anat Milo at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev has uncovered how the characteristics of specific substrates require certain reaction conditions that determine the course of a chemical reaction, in the context of C–H deuteration reactions. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-substrates-dictate-route-deuterium-source.html Analytical Chemistry Tue, 25 Nov 2025 14:52:04 EST news683304722 The discovery of ancient water in a planet-forming disk reveals that some of the water found in comets—and maybe even Earth—is older than the disk's star itself, offering breakthrough insights into the history of water in our solar system. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-heavy-planet-disk.html Astrobiology Wed, 15 Oct 2025 12:40:03 EDT news679750305 A team led by astronomers at Leiden University in the Netherlands and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Virginia (U.S.) have, for the first time, robustly detected semi-heavy water ice around a young sunlike star. The results strengthen the case that some of the water in our solar system formed before our sun and the planets. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-semi-heavy-ice-young-sunlike.html Astronomy Mon, 16 Jun 2025 05:00:01 EDT news668855402 A new study provides fresh insight into traditional acid-base chemistry by revealing that the mutual neutralization of isolated hydronium (H3O⁺) and hydroxide (OH⁻) ions is driven by electron transfer rather than the proton transfer that is expected in bulk liquid water. https://phys.org/news/2025-03-uncovers-key-pathways-hydronium-hydroxide.html Analytical Chemistry Tue, 25 Mar 2025 05:00:01 EDT news662047427 Researchers have made a discovery regarding the TRPV1 (transient receptor potential vanilloid 1) ion channel and its role in pain perception. The study reveals how solvent molecules can modulate pain signals, offering a potential pathway for a safer, non-addictive pain management approach. https://phys.org/news/2024-12-drug-free-pain-relief-solvent.html Bio & Medicine Wed, 11 Dec 2024 13:13:03 EST news653145172 Proton transfer is central to numerous important systems, from biology to energy storage. Probing the details of proton transfer reactions can provide insight into how to control these processes. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-mechanism-protonation-site-hydrated-nicotine.html Biochemistry Mon, 14 Oct 2024 14:36:36 EDT news648135388 Thanks to observations by the Solar Occultation in the Infrared (SOIR) instrument on the Venus Express space probe of the European Space Agency (ESA), researchers have discovered an unexpected increase in the abundances of two water molecule variants—H2O and HDO—and their ratio HDO/H2O in Venus's mesosphere. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-astronomers-spectacular-deuterium-hydrogen-ratio.html Planetary Sciences Tue, 20 Aug 2024 10:17:03 EDT news643367821 A low-cost, tin-based catalyst can selectively convert carbon dioxide to three widely produced chemicals—ethanol, acetic acid and formic acid. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-catalyst-carbon-dioxide-industrial-emissions.html Analytical Chemistry Tue, 21 May 2024 15:31:05 EDT news635524262 In the coming years, NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) will send two robotic missions to explore Jupiter's icy moon Europa. These are none other than NASA's Europa Clipper and the ESA's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE), which will launch in 2024, and 2023 (respectively). Once they arrive by the 2030s, they will study Europa's surface with a series of flybys to determine if its interior ocean could support life. These will be the first astrobiology missions to an icy moon in the outer solar system, collectively known as "ocean worlds." https://phys.org/news/2023-01-hybrid-fissionfusion-reactor-ice-europa.html Planetary Sciences Tue, 17 Jan 2023 13:25:33 EST news593184327 Around 500 million years ago, early vertebrates in the seas became fish, adopting an inner skeleton and a flexible spine based on a nanocomposite of fibers and mineral, known as bone material. This "invention" of evolution was so successful that the basic structure was also adopted for later vertebrates that lived on land. https://phys.org/news/2022-12-neutron-reveal-good-function-bones.html Analytical Chemistry Wed, 21 Dec 2022 17:20:04 EST news590865601 The origin of Earth's water has been an enduring mystery. There are different hypotheses and theories explaining how the water got here, and lots of evidence supporting them. https://phys.org/news/2022-12-earth-billion-years.html Planetary Sciences Fri, 16 Dec 2022 12:55:04 EST news590417700 What people ingest is broken down biochemically by the organism in the metabolism: valuable substances are digested, less essential ones are discarded and excreted. In the case of drugs, this degradation sometimes begins before they can fully develop their healing effect. https://phys.org/news/2022-12-method-premature-degradation-drugs-body.html Biochemistry Thu, 15 Dec 2022 13:03:32 EST news590331809 The catalytic hydrogenation of N-heteroarenes showcases wide and important applications in the fields of synthetic chemistry, drug discovery, materials science, and hydrogen storage. However, it remains a long-standing scientific and technological challenge in breaking the aromaticity of substrates and overcoming catalyst poisoning by either substrates or hydrogenated products. Although different homogeneous systems mainly based on precious metal catalysts have been developed, harsh conditions with extra additives are always required. https://phys.org/news/2021-10-hydrodehydrogenation-nheterocycles-bifunctional-moni-electrode.html Materials Science Fri, 22 Oct 2021 10:59:19 EDT news554119155 Neutron scattering is a technique commonly used in physics and biology to understand the composition of complex multicomponent mixtures and is increasingly being used to study applied materials such as food. A new paper published in EPJ E by Gregory N Smith, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, shows an example of neutron scattering in the area of food science. Smith uses neutron scattering to better investigate casein micelles in milk, with the aim of developing an approach for future research. https://phys.org/news/2021-02-neutron-composition.html General Physics Fri, 26 Feb 2021 12:48:35 EST news533566107 Advances in transmission electron microscopy (TEM) can allow cryo-imaging of biological and biochemical systems in liquid form, however, such approaches do not possess advanced analytical capabilities. In a new report now published on Science Advances, A. A. El-Zoka and an international team of researchers in Germany, Canada, France, and the U.K., used atom probe tomography to analyze frozen liquids in three-dimensions (3-D) with sub-nanometer scale resolution. In this work, the team first introduced a specimen preparation strategy using nano-porous gold and used ice formed from high-purity deuterated water (hard water) alongside a solution of sodium chloride (50 mM) dissolved in high-purity deuterated water. They then analyzed the gold-ice interface to reveal increased solute concentrations across the interface. The scientists explored a range of experimental conditions to understand atom probe analyses of bulk aqueous specimens. Then they discussed the physical processes associated with the observed phenomena. The study showed the practicality of using frozen water as a carrier for near-atomic-scale analyses of objects in solution via atom probe tomography. https://phys.org/news/2020-12-near-atomic-scale-analysis-frozen.html General Physics Fri, 11 Dec 2020 10:10:01 EST news526903621 Biological membranes, such as the "walls" of most types of living cells, primarily consist of a double layer of lipids, or "lipid bilayer," that forms the structure, and a variety of embedded and attached proteins with highly specialized functions, including proteins that rapidly and selectively transport ions and molecules in and out of the cell. https://phys.org/news/2020-03-synthetic-proteins-rival-natural-counterparts.html Polymers Tue, 03 Mar 2020 07:35:35 EST news502443332 The quantum nature of hydrogen bonds in water manifests itself in peculiar physicochemical isotope effects: While deuteration often elongates and weakens hydrogen bonds of typical hydrogen-bonded systems composed of bulky constituent molecules, it elongates but strengthens hydrogen bonds of water molecular aggregates. The origin of this unique isotope effect of water molecules remains to be elucidated at the molecular level. A recent experimental study on the sublimation of isotope-mixed water ice has tackled this issue. https://phys.org/news/2019-12-impact-molecular-rotation-peculiar-isotope.html Materials Science Tue, 03 Dec 2019 10:01:39 EST news494589697 On 12 November 2014 Philae became the first spacecraft to land on a comet as part of the successful Rosetta mission to study Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Five years later, and after the mission's official end in 2016, Rosetta is continuing to provide insights into the origins of our solar system. https://phys.org/news/2019-11-video-rosetta-ongoing-science.html Space Exploration Tue, 12 Nov 2019 10:47:37 EST news492778048 Zoë Fisher and Katarina Koruza from the ESS Deuteration and Macromolecular Crystallization (DEMAX) Support lab and Lund University have been using vapor diffusion methods to grow large protein crystals for neutron techniques as part of SINE2020's Crystal Growth work package. However, as well as being able to grow crystals large enough for these techniques, they also want to make them deuterated. Deuterated versions allow for improved signal-to noise ratio, reduced incoherent background and the use of contrast variation methods. https://phys.org/news/2019-10-hca-crystals.html Materials Science Tue, 01 Oct 2019 09:20:01 EDT news489139276 For the first time, researchers have captured neutron tomography images in about a second, nearly an order of magnitude faster than previously reported attempts. Until recently, long image acquisition times have been the major obstacle to using this non-invasive technique to study dynamic 3-D processes such as the water exchange between roots and soil. https://phys.org/news/2019-09-record-fast-neutron-tomography-tracks-pathways.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 24 Sep 2019 08:25:30 EDT news488532294 Neutron techniques are good for studying light atoms like hydrogen—great for biological molecules that contain large numbers of them. Neutrons are particularly sensitive to isotopic substitution of hydrogen (1H) with deuterium (2H) and this allows contrast techniques to be used to study molecules in detail. For this, users need to prepare deuterated versions of the biological molecules that they want to study. However, these per-deuterated molecules are rarely available from commercial suppliers because the market for them is of limited value. Here SINE2020 aims to fill the gap. https://phys.org/news/2019-06-protocols-deuterated-biomolecules.html Materials Science Wed, 26 Jun 2019 08:31:48 EDT news480756700 Through an experiment designed to create a super-cold state of water, scientists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory used neutron scattering to discover a pathway to the unexpected formation of dense, crystalline phases of ice thought to exist beyond Earth's limits. https://phys.org/news/2019-05-unexpected-ice-temperature-high-pressure.html Condensed Matter Wed, 22 May 2019 13:00:05 EDT news477724184 New evidence of the impact of the recent planet-encompassing dust storm on water in the atmosphere, and a surprising lack of methane, are among the scientific highlights of the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter's first year in orbit. https://phys.org/news/2019-04-martian-methane-mystery-results-exomars.html Space Exploration Thu, 11 Apr 2019 07:22:14 EDT news474186104 Hydrogen fuel cells offer an attractive source of continuous energy for remote applications, from spacecraft to remote weather stations. Fuel cell efficiency decreases as the Nafion membrane, used to separate the anode and cathode within a fuel cell, swells as it interacts with water. https://phys.org/news/2018-10-scientists-unravel-mysteries-polymer-strands.html Polymers Wed, 24 Oct 2018 11:04:09 EDT news459597834 Life is driven by molecular machines. Found in every cell, these tiny motors convert chemical energy into work to keep the body moving. The invention of synthetic molecular machines, which perform similar jobs to power miniaturized technologies, is a hot topic in nanoscience. https://phys.org/news/2018-06-molecular-machine-exploits-motion.html Materials Science Thu, 21 Jun 2018 08:00:01 EDT news448786226