Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: chemistry – Page 8

Research shines light on ‘double-yielding’ behavior in soft materials

For decades, scientists have observed, but been unable to explain, a phenomenon seen in some soft materials: When force is applied, these materials exhibit not one, but two spikes in energy dissipation, known as overshoots. Because overshoots are generally thought to indicate the point at which a material yields, or transitions from solid-like to fluid-like behavior, the dual response was therefore assumed to indicate “double yielding”—the idea that to fully fluidize a material, it needed to yield twice.

Now, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have shown that this behavior is different than previously hypothesized. Their paper, “Resolving Dual Processes in Complex Oscillatory Yielding,” is published in Physical Review Letters.

In the study, chemical and biomolecular engineering professor Simon A. Rogers and his team, led by then-graduate student James J. Griebler show that the two-step response is the result of two independent processes: first, a softening of the material’s elastic structure, and later, true yielding.

Astronomers discover the most ‘pristine’ star in the known universe

Not all stars are created equally. Astronomers believe that the first stars to form after the Big Bang were mostly made of only hydrogen and helium with trace amounts of lithium, as the heavier elements formed later on by nuclear fusion inside the stars. When these stars went supernova, heavier elements spread throughout space and formed more stars. Each successive generation contained more heavy elements, and these elements also became successively heavier.

While most stars still contain mostly hydrogen and helium, they now contain many as well, especially as they get older. These elements show up in spectrographic data when astronomers gather light from these . Stars are considered “pristine” when the data shows a lack of heavy elements—meaning they are likely very rare, older stars from earlier generations. And now, a group of astronomers, led by Alexander Ji from the University of Chicago, believe they have found the most pristine star on record. The group has documented their findings on the arXiv preprint server.

The star, referred to as SDSS J0715-7334, is a red giant purported to have the lowest metallicity—or heavy element content—ever found. The team’s detailed spectral and shows that SDSS J0715-7334 has a total metallicity “Z” of less than 7.8 × 10-7. This is compared to the next lowest metallicity star currently known, a star located in the Milky Way with a total metallicity of around 1.4 × 10-6.

Cassini proves complex chemistry in Enceladus ocean

Scientists digging through data collected by the Cassini spacecraft have found new complex organic molecules spewing from Saturn’s moon Enceladus. This is a clear sign that complex chemical reactions are taking place within its underground ocean. Some of these reactions could be part of chains that lead to even more complex, potentially biologically relevant molecules.

Published in Nature Astronomy, this discovery further strengthens the case for a dedicated European Space Agency (ESA) mission to orbit and land on Enceladus.

In 2005, Cassini found the first evidence that Enceladus has a hidden ocean beneath its icy surface. Jets of water burst from cracks close to the moon’s south pole, shooting ice grains into space. Smaller than grains of sand, some of the tiny pieces of ice fall back onto the moon’s surface, while others escape and form a ring around Saturn that traces Enceladus’s orbit.

Physicists detect water’s ultraviolet fingerprint in interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS

For millions of years, a fragment of ice and dust drifted between the stars—like a sealed bottle cast into the cosmic ocean. This summer, that bottle finally washed ashore in our solar system and was designated 3I/ATLAS, only the third known interstellar comet. When Auburn University scientists pointed NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory toward it, they made a remarkable find: the first detection of hydroxyl (OH) gas from this object, a chemical fingerprint of water.

Swift’s space-based telescope could spot the faint ultraviolet glow that ground observatories can’t see—because, high above Earth’s atmosphere, it captures light that never reaches Earth’s surface.

Detecting water—through its ultraviolet by-product, hydroxyl—is a major breakthrough for understanding how interstellar comets evolve. In solar-system comets, water is the yardstick by which scientists measure their overall activity and track how sunlight drives the release of other gases. It’s the chemical benchmark that anchors every comparison of volatile ices in a ’s nucleus.

Flash Joule heating lights up lithium extraction from ores

A new one‑step, water‑, acid‑, and alkali‑free method for extracting high‑purity lithium from spodumene ore has the potential to transform critical metal processing and enhance renewable energy supply chains. The study is published in Science Advances.

As the demand for lithium continues to rise, particularly for use in , smartphones and power storage, current extraction methods are struggling to keep pace. Extracting lithium from is a lengthy process, and traditional methods that use heat and chemicals to extract lithium from rock produce significant amounts of harmful waste.

Researchers led by James Tour, the T.T. and W.F. Chao Professor of Chemistry and professor of materials science and nanoengineering at Rice University, have developed a faster and cleaner method using flash Joule heating (FJH). This technique rapidly heats materials to thousands of degrees within milliseconds and works in conjunction with chlorine gas, exposing the rock to intense heat and chlorine gas, they can quickly convert spodumene ore into usable lithium.

Eco-friendly technology removes toxic PFAS from water

Rice University researchers, in collaboration with international partners, have developed the first eco-friendly technology to rapidly capture and destroy toxic “forever chemicals” (PFAS) in water. The findings, recently published in Advanced Materials, mark a major step toward addressing one of the world’s most persistent environmental threats.

The study was led by Youngkun Chung, a postdoctoral fellow under the mentorship of Michael S. Wong, a professor at Rice’s George R. Brown School of Engineering and Computing, and conducted in collaboration with Seoktae Kang, professor at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), and Keon-Ham Kim, professor at Pukyung National University in South Korea.

PFAS, short for per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are synthetic chemicals first manufactured in the 1940s and used in products ranging from Teflon pans to waterproof clothing and food packaging. Their ability to resist heat, grease and water has made them valuable for industry and consumers. But that same resistance means they do not easily degrade, earning them the nickname “forever chemicals.”

/* */