An elusive molecule—finally revealed

Scientists at the University of Arizona have discovered a mysterious molecule with a structure simple enough to make it into high school textbooks, yet so elusive that chemists have argued for more than a century over whether ...

New insights into the origin of life

A famous experiment in 1953 showed that amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, could have formed spontaneously under the atmospheric conditions of early Earth. However, just because molecules could form doesn't mean ...

Quantum chains in graphene nanoribbons

Empa researchers, together with colleagues from the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz and other partners, have achieved a breakthrough that could eventually be used for precise nanotransistors or, in the ...

Making New Enzymes to Engineer Plants for Biofuel Production

(PhysOrg.com) -- Brookhaven scientists have created a new enzyme with the potential to interfere with a key cell-wall component in plants, possibly leading to plants that are easier to "digest" and convert to biofuels.

Study builds on plausible scenario for origin of life on Earth

A relatively simple combination of naturally occurring sugars and amino acids offers a plausible route to the building blocks of life, according to a paper published in Nature Chemistry co-authored by a professor at the University ...

A new 'periodic table' for nanomaterials

A new approach could help materials scientists identify the appropriate molecules to use in order to synthesize target nanomaterials. The method was developed by Daniel Packwood of Kyoto University's Institute for Integrated ...

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