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Category: chemistry – Page 15

Material? Robot? It’s a metabot

In an experiment reminiscent of the Transformers movie franchise, engineers at Princeton University have created a type of material that can expand, assume new shapes, move and follow electromagnetic commands like a remotely controlled robot even though it lacks any motor or internal gears.

“You can transform between a material and a robot, and it is controllable with an external magnetic field,” said researcher Glaucio Paulino, the Margareta Engman Augustine Professor of Engineering at Princeton.

In an article published April 23 in the journal Nature, the researchers describe how they drew inspiration from the folding art of origami to create a structure that blurs the lines between robotics and materials. The invention is a metamaterial, which is a material engineered to feature new and unusual properties that depend on the material’s physical structure rather than its chemical composition. In this case, the researchers built their metamaterial using a combination of simple plastics and custom-made magnetic composites. Using a magnetic field, the researchers changed the metamaterial’s structure, causing it to expand, move and deform in different directions, all remotely without touching the metamaterial.

What will it take to bring fusion energy to the US power grid?

Arianna Gleason is an award-winning scientist at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory who studies matter in its most extreme forms—from roiling magma in the center of our planet to the conditions inside the heart of distant stars. During Fusion Energy Week, Gleason discussed the current state of fusion energy research and how SLAC is helping push the field forward.

Fusion is at the heart of every star. The tremendous pressure and temperature at the center of a star fuses atoms together, creating many of the elements you see on the periodic table and generating an immense amount of energy.

Fusion is exciting, because it could provide unlimited energy to our . We’re trying to replicate here on Earth, though it’s a tremendous challenge for science and engineering.

ALICE detects the conversion of lead into gold at the Large Hadron Collider

In a paper published in Physical Review C, the ALICE collaboration reports measurements that quantify the transmutation of lead into gold in CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

Transforming the base metal lead into the precious metal gold was a dream of medieval alchemists. This long-standing quest, known as chrysopoeia, may have been motivated by the observation that dull gray, relatively abundant lead is of a similar density to gold, which has long been coveted for its beautiful color and rarity. It was only much later that it became clear that lead and gold are distinct chemical elements and that chemical methods are powerless to transmute one into the other.

With the dawn of nuclear physics in the 20th century, it was discovered that could transform into others—either naturally, by radioactive decay—or in the laboratory, under a bombardment of neutrons or protons. Though gold has been artificially produced in this way before, the ALICE collaboration has now measured the transmutation of lead into gold by a new mechanism involving near-miss collisions between at the LHC.

DNA-like molecule may survive Venus-like cloud conditions

Punishing conditions in the clouds of Venus could be home to a DNA-like molecule capable of forming genes in life very different to that on Earth, according to a new study.

Long thought to be hostile to complex organic chemistry because of the absence of water, the clouds of Earth’s sister planet are made of droplets of , chlorine, iron, and other substances.

But research led by Wrocław University of Science and Technology shows how peptide nucleic acid (PNA)—a structural cousin of DNA—can survive under lab conditions made to mimic conditions that can occur in Venus’ perpetual clouds.

Startling New Research Links Plastic Chemical to Hundreds of Thousands of Heart Disease Deaths

A global study estimates that exposure to the plastic additive DEHP caused over 356,000 heart disease deaths in 2018, with most deaths occurring in rapidly industrializing regions. A new analysis of global population data suggests that daily exposure to certain chemicals used in plastic household

Physicists discover an unusual chiral quantum state in a topological material

Chirality—the property of an object that is distinct from its mirror image—has long captivated scientists across biology, chemistry, and physics. The phenomenon is sometimes called “handedness,” because it refers to an object possessing a distinct left- or right-handed form. It is a universal quality that is found across various scales of nature, from molecules and amino acids to the famed double-helix of DNA and the spiraling patterns of snail shells.

Mapping memory: Protein tracking technique reveals synaptic changes during learning

A team of Harvard researchers have unveiled a way to map the molecular underpinnings of how learning and memories are formed, a new technique expected to offer insights that may pave the way for new treatments for neurological disorders such as dementia.

“This technique provides a lens into the synaptic architecture of memory, something previously unattainable in such detail,” said Adam Cohen, professor of chemistry and and of physics and senior co-author of the research paper, published in Nature Neuroscience.

Memory resides within a dense network of billions of neurons within the brain. We rely on synaptic plasticity—the strengthening and modulation of connections between these neurons—to facilitate learning and memory.

Next-generation membrane cuts toluene crossover to boost hydrogen storage performance

A Korean research team has developed a new proton exchange membrane (PEM) that significantly enhances the performance of electrochemical hydrogen storage systems. The work was published as a cover article in the Journal of Materials Chemistry A.

Dr. Soonyong So of the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT) and Professor Sang-Young Lee of Yonsei University have developed a next-generation PEM for LOHC-based electrochemical hydrogen storage using a hydrocarbon-based polymer called SPAES (sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone)).

This SPAES membrane reduces toluene permeability by over 60% compared to the commercially available perfluorinated PEM Nafion and improves the Faradaic efficiency of hydrogenation to 72.8%.

Vapor-deposited perovskite semiconductors power next-generation circuits

A research team led by Professor Yong-Young Noh and Dr. Youjin Reo from the Department of Chemical Engineering at POSTECH (Pohang University of Science and Technology) has developed a technology poised to transform next-generation displays and electronic devices.

The project was a collaborative effort with Professors Ao Liu and Huihui Zhu from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC), and the findings were published in Nature Electronics.

Every time we stream videos or play games on our smartphones, thousands of transistors operate tirelessly behind the scenes. These microscopic components function like , regulating electric currents to display images and ensure smooth app operation.

Study Introduces an AI Agent That Automates Quantum Chemistry Tasks From Natural Language Prompts

A new study introduces a language-agent framework that translates plain English into quantum chemistry computations, signaling a shift toward more accessible and automated scientific workflows.

Researchers have built an AI system called El Agente Q that integrates large language models (LLMs) with quantum chemistry software to autonomously plan, execute, and explain computational chemistry tasks. The system is capable of understanding general scientific queries, breaking them into step-by-step procedures, selecting the right tools, and solving quantum mechanical problems with minimal human intervention.

A new AI agent uses large language models to autonomously interpret natural language prompts and carry out quantum chemistry computations.