Chemistry

Was Einstein right about Brownian motion?

The phenomenon of Brownian motion (after botanist Robert Brown, who discovered it 1828) was described by Albert Einstein in 1905, when he published his statistical molecular theory of liquids. Brownian motion is basically the random movement of particles w ...

Blog Post - Daniel Ellis - Jul 27 2009 - 6:50pm

Transparent Aluminum? You know what that means...

Now we can contain whales in our starships! (sorry for just pasting and running, really busy...) "Scientists claim to have created a form of aluminum that's nearly transparent to extreme ultraviolet radiation and which is a new state of matter.&q ...

Blog Post - Brian Taylor - Jul 29 2009 - 12:22pm

The Protein Structure That Could Prevent Cataracts

The human eye lens consists of a highly concentrated mix of several proteins. Protective proteins keep them from aggregating and clumping. If this protection fails, the lens blurs and the patient develops cataracts. Two research groups at the Department o ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 31 2009 - 6:30pm

Dancing Water And Molecular Mysteries

Despite the overwhelming abundance of water on the planet and in our lives, the molecular structure of water has remained a mystery. In all, water exhibits 66 known anomalies, including a strangely varying density, large heat capacity and high surface tens ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 11 2009 - 10:06am

Science worth doing isn't typically easy.

This really belongs in a general science category, but because of the nature of the experiment I post it here in the field of chemistry. Experience is the best teacher.  "The great Roman leader Julius Caesar recorded the earliest known version of this ...

Blog Post - Ralph Patterson - Aug 12 2009 - 11:52am

From Insulator To Conductor- In A Flash

An insulator can now be transformed to conduct electricity by an ordinary camera flash, says a Northwestern University professor and his students who have found a new way of turning graphite oxide, a low-cost insulator made by oxidizing graphite powder, in ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 12 2009 - 7:01pm

It's A Sweet 14 For The Electronic Tongue

After taking a new approach to developing an effective "electronic tongue" that mimics human taste, scientists in Illinois are reporting development of a small, inexpensive, lab-on-a-chip sensor that quickly and accurately identifies sweetness — ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 19 2009 - 1:54pm

New NIST Molecular Sandwich Is Electronically Delightful

Researchers from NIST and the University of Maryland have found what they say is a simple method of sandwiching organic molecules between silicon and metal, two materials fundamental to electronic components- perhaps overcoming one of the principal obstacl ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 26 2009 - 2:10pm

What Mothballs And Interstellar Clouds Have In Common

One component of interstellar clouds emitting unusual infrared light known as the Unidentified Infrared Bands (UIRs) is a gaseous version of naphthalene, the chief component of mothballs back on Earth, according to research led by Michael Duncan, Regents P ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 2 2009 - 5:36pm

A Super Bedsheet, Though You Won't Sleep On It

Astrid Skreosen worked for many years as an auxiliary nurse in the maternity ward in Skien Hospital and became fed up with the little mats which were supposed to lie under women who were giving birth that were intended to soak up waste products and fluids ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 14 2009 - 10:10am