Category Chemistry/Nanotechnology

The Foldit puzzle-solving game, where groups compete online to fold the best protein. In a recent study, gamers beat scientists, college students and computer algorithms to see who could identify a particular protein’s shape. Credit: Scott Horowitz

Gamers playing the popular online puzzle game Foldit beat scientists, college students and computer algorithms in a contest to see who could identify a particular protein’s shape. The study findings have implications for video game enthusiasts and classroom instruction, and showcase the positive impact citizen science can have on research...

Simona Murph’s newest research has resulted in the creation of a new hybrid nanoparticle that combines gold and rust nanoparticles. The new substance may prove to be useful in a variety of applications including hyperthermia treatment, environmental cleaning and medical imaging. Credit: Image courtesy of University of Georgia

Researchers from the University of Georgia are giving new meaning to the phrase “turning rust into gold”—and making the use of gold in research settings and industrial applications far more affordable. They combine small amounts of gold nanoparticles with magnetic rust nanoparticles to create a hybrid nanostructure that retains both the properties of gold and rust. “Medieval alchemists tried to create gold from other metals,” she said...

The new material comprising tin, iodine and phosphorus possesses a double helix structure which provides the semiconductor with extreme mechanical flexibility. Credit: Prof. Tom Nilges / TUM

New flexible semiconductor for electronics, solar technology and photo catalysis. It is the double helix, with its stable and flexible structure of genetic information, that made life on Earth possible in the first place. Now a team from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has discovered a double helix structure in an inorganic material. The material called SnIP, comprising tin (Sn), iodine (I) and phosphorus(P) is a semiconductor with extraordinary optical and electronic properties, and extreme mechanical flexibility.The centimeter-long fibers can be arbitrarily bent without breaking.

“This prope...

Developing a Gel-Based Sensor Using Crystal Morphology Prediction

A new molecular gel recipe developed at the University of Michigan is at the core of a prototype for a more accurate lead paint test to see whether a paint chip contains >5,000 parts per million of the poisonous metal that was banned from pigments in 1978. Government agencies use that threshold to define paint as “lead-based” and the EPA requires that home test kits can differentiate above and below it. Yet these home kits have a wide margin of error and they produce many false positives, the researchers say.

The new test is more clear and accurate than its counterparts. It consists of a vial that holds paint thinner and a sprinkling of certain salts that, when combined with the right concentration of lead, form a gel...