Chemistry

Are You A Chocolate Lover? You May Be Programmed For It

For the first time, scientists have linked the all-too-human preference for a food — chocolate — to a specific, chemical signature that may be programmed into the metabolic system and is detectable by laboratory tests. The signature reads ‘chocolate lover’ ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 12 2007 - 2:06am

Solution To 7-Decade Antiferroelectricity Mystery May Lead To Better Computer Memory

A Florida State University researcher has helped solve a scientific mystery that stumped chemists for nearly seven decades. In so doing, his team’s findings may lead to the development of more-powerful computer memories and lasers. Naresh S. Dalal, the Dir ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 20 2007 - 2:36pm

Research: New Piezoelectric Materials

Polymer-based piezoelectric materials are currently the object of great interest in the world of industry because they enable their use in new applications in sectors such as transport and aeronautics, amongst others. A definition of piezoelectricity – pie ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 24 2007 - 10:21am

The Secret Of Mummy Embalming

Some Texas A&M University researchers examining ancient Egyptian mummies may have unwrapped – literally – some of the mysteries that embalmers used to preserve bodies more than 3,000 years ago. Mahlon "Chuck" Kennicutt II, MoonKoo Kim and Yao ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 31 2007 - 11:41am

Discovery: New Way To Make Water

In a familiar high-school chemistry demonstration, an instructor first uses electricity to split liquid water into its constituent gases, hydrogen and oxygen. Then, by combining the two gases and igniting them with a spark, the instructor changes the gases ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 31 2007 - 2:00pm

New Discovery On How Car Catalysators Work

The 3-way catalysator of a car apparently works differently from the way chemists had expected. The conversion of carbon monoxide into carbon dioxide takes place not in one single step, but in at least two different steps. To date, the second reaction pat ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 17 2007 - 11:12pm

Ancient Kingdom Of Mali Sculptures Coated In Blood

Scientists in France are reporting for the first time that sculptors from the fantastically wealthy ancient Empire of Mali — once the source of almost half the world’s gold — used blood to form the beautiful patina, or coating, on their works of art. In a ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 8 2007 - 3:03pm

Camphor In Second Life

This term, the students in my organic chemistry class were presented with an opportunity to do an extra credit assignment using Second Life to represent concepts they learned in the course. When I was an undergraduate, finding molecules in articles was mai ...

Article - Jean-Claude Bradley - Dec 17 2007 - 11:25am

Magazine Picks Top Materials Science Advances Of The Last 50 Years- Gives Number One To Planning Tool Instead

What are the defining discoveries and great developments that are shaping the way we use materials and technologies today? Materials Today magazine has compiled a list of the top ten most significant advances in materials science over the last 50 years. Th ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 18 2007 - 7:35pm

Non-Stick Surfaces That Turn On And Off

Researchers in New Jersey report development of a new type of non-stick material whose ability to shed liquids like water from a duck’s back can be turned on or off simply by flipping an electrical switch. The material, called “nanonails,” offers a wide-ra ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 24 2007 - 4:55pm