Jun 15 Mirror-image molecule near Milky Way’s heart gives glimmer of life’s origins By Nsikan Akpan A weird chemical phenomenon called chirality, which is critical for life, has been observed in space for the first time. Continue reading
Jan 04 4 new elements complete periodic table’s seventh row By Nsikan Akpan Four new elements have been added to the periodic table. One will soon become the first named by Asian researchers. Continue reading
Nov 03 How chemistry creates the perfect, gooey grilled cheese sandwich By Nsikan Akpan What are the best cheeses for melting and why? This three-minute video from the American Chemical Society has the answer. Continue reading
Oct 07 DNA repair research wins 3 scientists Nobel Prize in chemistry By Nsikan Akpan Tomas Lindahl, Paul Modrich and Aziz Sancar split the 2015 Nobel Prize in chemistry for mechanistic studies of DNA repair. Continue reading
May 19 The secret to New York City bagels isn’t (just) in the water By Nsikan Akpan A new video blog from the American Chemical Society explains the secret to great NYC bagels. Continue reading
May 18 This genetically modified yeast can now brew morphine By Nsikan Akpan Biologists have created strains of yeast that can brew morphine from sugar, opening the door for cheaper medicine but also easy-to-make illicit drugs. Continue reading
Dec 18 Reinventing the way chemicals are made to make them cheaper and cleaner By Rebecca Jacobson, Inside Energy Scientists are changing the way chemicals are made to make new drugs, smart materials and agroproducts in a cleaner, safer way. Miles O'Brien has this report from "Science Nation."… Continue reading
Dec 17 GIF: Christmas tree to blazing inferno in less than a minute By Rebecca Jacobson, Inside Energy A dried-out, eight-foot Christmas tree can light, blaze and burn to ash in less than a minute. By setting Christmas trees ablaze in the safety of a lab, scientists and engineers are learning how to keep you safe from the… Continue reading
Dec 01 What does the salty sea air put in our clouds? By Rebecca Jacobson, Inside Energy Scientists are trying to find out how the ocean's chemistry changes clouds. It could even affect climate change. Continue reading
Nov 03 If soil-dwelling fungi could dance, this is what they’d look like By Rebecca Jacobson, Inside Energy In a scene from Uma Nagendra’s winning “Dance Your Ph.D.” performance, dancers in brown leotards slither on the floor, reaching for trapeze artists in green leggings dangling above them. The brown dancers are dangerous soil-dwelling fungi, trying to infect the… Continue reading