The television version of George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire", named after the first book "Game Of Thrones" returns to television this Sunday. Like the books, it is full of War Of The Roses-style intrigue, indiscretions and, of course, swords.

The most sought-after blades in Westeros are made from Valyrian steel, forged using ancient magic. But could you make your own Valyrian steel sword using real-life chemistry? ACS Reactions collaborated with cosplaying chemistry fanatic and material scientist Ryan Consell to see if we could blend metallurgy with Westerosi magic.

All plants store solar energy in the form of carbohydrates with the help of a metallic compound. Chemically storing sunlight would also be ideal for society's energy needs but developing this requires a better understanding of exactly what happens when photons strike molecules. The primary processes run on timescales of only a few hundred femtoseconds (one femtosecond = 10-15s).

An international collaboration has been able to map the evolution of the chemical bonds in these kinds of ultrafast processes on the level of orbitals.  Using quantum chemical calculations, they were successful in interpreting the data and obtaining a detailed picture of the intermediates and reaction kinetics. 

When people start to put on weight do they drink diet soda more often, or does diet soda lead to weight increases?

A new observational study says San Antonio men and women ages 65 and older got fat because of diet soda. The San Antonio Longitudinal Study of Aging (SALSA), led by Helen P. Hazuda, Ph.D., professor of medicine in the School of Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, gathered data on health status and lifestyles of 749 Mexican-American and European-American elders, then tracked the health outcomes in 466 survivors for more than nine years. 

Therapeutic anti-cancer vaccines developed to treat metastatic disease such as advanced prostate cancer or melanoma don'thave a noticeable effect on the tumor but are linked to a statistically significant increase in patient survival.

For that reason, "overall survival" rather than "progression-free survival" should be the gold standard for evaluating the efficacy of cancer vaccines in clinical trials, according to a new editorial in Cancer Biotherapy and Radiopharmaceuticals.

Physical activity, and that means enough to generate some sweat and breathe hard, is key to avoiding an early death, according to an analysis of 204,542 people followed for more than six years.

A new nanotechnology lubricant will be suitable for extreme conditions.

Shuttles and equipment used in space consist of numerous elements that have several friction-prone components so the surfaces must be greased to ensure smooth operation. Conventional oils and greases cannot be used in space due to extreme temperature, pressure and radiation conditions so solid substances such as molybdenum disulfide and graphite are preferred for space usage.


PhD student Triinu Taaber working in the laboratory of physics of nanostructures. Credit: Andres Tennus