Chemistry

The key to silk's pound-for-pound toughness, which exceeds that of steel, is its beta-sheet crystals, the nano-sized cross-linking domains that hold the material together, say researchers writing in…

This weekend, over 10,000 chemists will descent upon San Francisco for the American Chemical Society national meeting.  For those of us that are presenting at the conference, we’re spending this…

 A team of researchers has discovered how to efficiently turn carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide using visible light. The discovery opens the doors for scientists to explore what organism is…

Does Spiderman get wet? The hunt has been on for some time now for what are called superhydrophobic surfaces.  These would be ideal for see-though surfaces such as windscreens and coating for…

 Can one make plastic from glucose? When I was young, there appeared on the shelf foods such as kippers that were boil-in-the-bag.  I then thought, “is the next stage to eat the bag as well…

The Primordial Soup theory of the origins of life on earth has been cooling for years. Probably, by now, it's too cold to reheat. Abiogenesis, or the study of how life originated from Earth (and…

Scheikunde is Dutch for Chemistry, and literally means "Separation Science".  Now, if one has a carpet made of 85% polypropylene and 15% wool, how does one go about separating them? Have no fear…

Northwestern University researchers have developed a new material that could help with the remediation of nuclear waste that behaves much like a Venus Flytrap, permanently trapping only its desired '…

Wine. You can earn a degree for studying it (enology), earn a living being an expert at it (Sommelier) or fake wine know-how to get through a dinner party.  Wine lovers…

In the beginning, like attracts like to make a dimer. Nobel Prizes are a rich source of dimers. I counted twenty-three Nobel Lectures with dimers. The wealth…