Chemistry

The Secret Of Stradivarius- Chemistry?

Stradivarius and his violins are so eponymous in our culture that they have become a benchmark for quality- and the mystery of why they sound so good has baffled competitors for centuries.   After 33 years of work, a Texas A&M University professor is c ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 24 2009 - 1:53pm

Hydrogenated Oils Without The Trans Fats

To prolong the shelf life of foods, manufacturers often add hydrogen to natural oils, a process called hydrogenation. But hydrogenation also results in the production of trans fats, which have adverse health effects such as raising bad cholesterol and incr ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 23 2009 - 3:20pm

Confused Compound Is Only A Single Element- Boron

An international team of researchers has discovered a new chemical compound that consists of a single element―boron. Chemical compounds are conventionally defined as substances consist of two or more elements, but the researchers found that a high pressure ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 3 2009 - 10:46pm

In Materials Science, The Impossible Can Become Possible

What had once been impossible has now been shown to be possible – an alloy between two incompatible elements. A research team led by Professor H.K. Mao from Carnegie Institution of Washington and Professor Rajeev Ahuja from UU have used high pressure exper ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 26 2009 - 10:27am

Recreating A 3,500 Year-Old Egyptian Perfume

That guy who gets in the elevator reeking of Drakkar Noir is nothing new- the Ancient Egyptians cherished their fragrant scents, too.   In a new part of its permanent exhibition, Bonn University's Egyptian Museum has on display a particularly well pre ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 15 2009 - 11:41am

Extreme Water Gets Explosive

The most abundant material on Earth exhibits some unusual chemical properties when placed under extreme conditions. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists have shown that water, in hot dense environments, plays an unexpected role in catalyzing c ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 22 2009 - 10:44am

Rare Earth Shell Game- Some Periodic Table Mysteries Get Solved

Physicists at Michigan Technological University have filled in some longtime blank spaces on the periodic table, calculating electron affinities of the lanthanides, a series of 15 elements known as rare earths. "Electron affinity" is the amount o ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 23 2009 - 2:55pm

Stretching Molecules Atom By Atom

Chemists at the University of Illinois have created a simple and inexpensive molecular technique that replaces an expensive atomic force microscope for studying what happens to small molecules when they are stretched or compressed.  The researchers use sti ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 29 2009 - 2:04pm

Knocking Out Cancer Tumors Without Toxic Effects

Dr. Aleem Gangjee, Distinguished Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at Duquesne University’s Mylan School of Pharmacy, and his team of collaborators continue to test a compound that appears not only to prevent cancer tumors from developing but to eliminate a ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 6 2009 - 12:27am

A Molecular 'Ripcord' For Chemical Reactions

Researchers at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) have developed an entirely new method for starting chemical reactions. For the first time they used mechanical forces to control catalytic activity – one of the most fundamental concepts in chemistry ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 6 2009 - 2:46pm