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Archive for the ‘chemistry’ category: Page 216

Sep 29, 2021

Self-replicating protocells created in lab may be life’s “missing link”

Posted by in categories: biological, chemistry, evolution

A possible explanation for life from nonliving material.


Exactly how life first emerged from non-living matter is one of the most enduring mysteries of science. In a new study, Japanese scientists have created self-replicating protocells in the lab, which they say could represent the “missing link” between chemistry and biology.

Primitive Earth was covered with a sludgy mix of chemicals, containing organic molecules that formed the precursors for vital biological components like proteins and amino acids. There are several different hypotheses for how and where life sprang out of this soup, but one of the first ideas was known as chemical evolution, which is what the new study investigated.

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Sep 29, 2021

Clues to the Origins of Life in Our Solar System

Posted by in categories: chemistry, drones, space

When people think about the search for life beyond Earth they often think about looking beyond our solar system and even beyond our galaxy. But what about looking closer to home? Titan, Saturn’s largest moon has a dense atmosphere, an internal liquid water ocean, and stable bodies of liquid methane on its surface. While we have not found any evidence of life on Titan, its chemistry and environment make it an interesting place to explore. Europa is a moon of Jupiter with a water-ice crust and liquid ocean underneath. Its atmosphere is very thin, but it’s composed mostly of oxygen.

Zibi (Elizabeth) Turtle is the principal investigator of the Dragonfly mission which will land a drone-like vehicle on Titan to conduct sorties to sample and examine sites around Titan. Morgan Cable is also on the Dragonfly Team, and both Zibi and Morgan are working on the Europa Clipper mission which will perform reconnaissance of Europa to investigate whether it could have conditions suitable for life. Join Zibi and Morgan, along with SETI Institute planetary astronomer Franck Marchis for their discussion about what makes Titan and Europa such intriguing places to search for clues about the origins of life in our solar system.

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Sep 29, 2021

Liquid metal coating creates effective antiviral, antimicrobial fabric

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, chemistry, engineering

An international team of researchers has used liquid gallium to create an antiviral and antimicrobial coating and tested it on a range of fabrics, including facemasks. The coating adhered more strongly to fabric than some conventional metal coatings, and eradicated 99% of several common pathogens within five minutes.

“Microbes can survive on the fabrics hospitals use for bedding, clothing and face masks for a long time,” says Michael Dickey, co-corresponding author of a paper on the work and Camille & Henry Dreyfus Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at North Carolina State University. “Metallic surface coatings such as copper or silver are an effective way to eradicate these pathogens, but many metal particle coating technologies have issues such as non-uniformity, processing complexity, or poor .”

Dickey and colleagues from NC State, Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU) in Korea and RMIT University in Australia set out to develop a simple, cost-effective way to deposit metal coatings on fabric.

Sep 29, 2021

New method makes starch from CO₂ faster than plants can

Posted by in categories: chemistry, food, sustainability

Feeding the world uses enormous amounts of land, water, fertilizer, pesticide, and fuel. In a step towards a more sustainable solution, researchers have designed a method to make starches from carbon dioxide more efficiently than plants do (Science 2,021 DOI: 10.1126/science.abh4049).

The new technique, which relies on chemical catalysts and a curated combination of natural and engineered enzymes, converts CO2 to starch 8.5 times as efficiently as corn plants can.


The advance hints at sustainable, efficient factory production of food and industrial chemicals by.

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Sep 28, 2021

Consciousness & Information | Part II of the Documentary Consciousness: Evolution of the Mind

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, chemistry, computing, education, engineering, information science, neuroscience, quantum physics

Quantum physics is directly linked to consciousness: Observations not just change what is measured, they create it… Here’s the next episode of my new documentary Consciousness: Evolution of the Mind (2021), Part II: CONSCIOUSNESS & INFORMATION

*Subscribe to our YT channel to watch the rest of documentary (to be released in parts): https://youtube.com/c/EcstadelicMedia.

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Sep 27, 2021

Dr Jennifer Garrison, PhD — Global Consortium for Reproductive Longevity & Equality — Buck Institute

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, chemistry, life extension, neuroscience

Dr. Jennifer Garrison, PhD (http://garrisonlab.com/) is Assistant Professor, Buck Institute for Research on Aging, Founder & Faculty Director, Global Consortium for Reproductive Longevity & Equality (https://www.buckinstitute.org/gcrle/), Assistant Professor in Residence, Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, UCSF and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Gerontology, USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology.

Dr. Garrison’s lab is interested in understanding how neuropeptides (a large class of signaling molecules which are secreted from neurons and transmit messages within the brain and across the nervous system) regulate changes in normal and aging animals as well in understanding how they control behavior at both the cell biological and neural circuit level.

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Sep 26, 2021

Attempting To Further Reduce Biological Age: hs-CRP

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, chemistry, life extension

Join us on Patreon!
https://www.patreon.com/MichaelLustgartenPhD

Levine’s Biological age calculator is embedded as an Excel file in this link:
https://michaellustgarten.com/2019/09/09/quantifying-biological-age/

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Sep 25, 2021

New Solid-State Battery Surprises Researchers Who Created It

Posted by in categories: chemistry, energy, engineering

The study had been supported by LG Energy Solution’s open innovation, a program that actively supports battery-related research. LGES has been working with researchers around the world to foster related techniques.


Silicon anodes are famous for their energy density, which is 10 times greater than the graphite anodes most often used in today’s commercial lithium ion batteries. On the other hand, silicon anodes are infamous for how they expand and contract as the battery charges and discharges, and for how they degrade with liquid electrolytes. These challenges have kept all-silicon anodes out of commercial lithium ion batteries despite the tantalizing energy density. The new work published in Science provides a promising path forward for all-silicon-anodes, thanks to the right electrolyte.

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Sep 23, 2021

Liquid experiments show how beautiful things can happen when chemicals meet

Posted by in categories: chemistry, energy

See how dormant potential energy explodes in psychedelic swirls when chemicals meet by combining oils, alcohols and inks in Petri dishes. Via the dazzling, colourful patterns that emerge, Gatti draws a line back to the surface of the Sun, where the constant churn of a volatile chemical reaction makes life on Earth possible.

Sep 22, 2021

Bacteria Makes Contaminated Water Drinkable

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, chemistry, engineering, health

Bacteria may get a bad reputation in general, yet it’s actually generally healthy and serves an important role in many habitats, including human bodies. From supporting life on Earth to being employed in industrial and medicinal processes, bacteria have their figurative fingers in many pots — some varieties of bacteria can even filter tainted water and make it safe for human consumption.

A team of researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University (IIT-BHU) has found a bacteria that can do just that — Named “microbacterium paraoxydans strain VSVM IIT (BHU)” by the scientists, it can separate toxic hexavalent chromium from water in an effective and eco-friendly manner, according to a research published in the Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering.

Hexavalent chromium is a heavy metal ion that is used in electroplating, welding, and chromate painting, among other things. It’s said to be responsible for health problems in humans like cancers, kidney and liver malfunctioning, and infertility. When compared to current approaches, the scientists believe that this bacterial strain, which can tolerate high amounts of hexavalent chromium, is particularly successful at eliminating the harmful substance from wastewater.