Zeolitic ice ITT (left) and aeroice 4xFAU (right) are illustrated. Their structure can be regarded as combinations of a couple of polyhedral building blocks. In molecular scale, each polygonal face of the polyhedra is made of water molecules (left bottom). Yellow lines are hydrogen bonds. Credit: Masakazu Matsumoto/CC BY 2.0

Researchers from Japan have discovered a new form of ice crystal from theoretical modeling of its formation under negative pressure. Not much is known about the effects of extreme negative pressure on water molecules. Exploring a significant region of negative pressure through molecular dynamic simulations, researchers have now theoretically discovered a new family of ice phases. Called aeroices, these ices have the lowest density of all known ice crystals.

“Our resear...

Schematic of a two-step method for the synthesis of transition metal carbide nanoparticles dispersed on a carbon material

Researchers have developed a new technology that could speed up the commercialization of fuel cell vehicles. A team of engineers at the University of Delaware has made a catalyst of tungsten carbide, which goes for around $150/kg instead of using expensive platinum at $30,000/kg. They produced tungsten carbide nanoparticles in a novel way, much smaller and more scalable than previous methods.

“The material is typically made at very high temperatures, about 1,500 Celsius, and at these temperatures, it grows big and has little surface area for chemistry to take place on,” said Dionisios Vlachos, director of UD’s Catalysis Center for Energy Innovation...

Discovering paths the chemicals of life likely took on Earth could make it possible to calculate probabilities of life on other planets. Credit: NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech

The evolutionary path to first proteins may have been paved with relatively easy, small steps. Ancestors of the first protein molecules, key components of all cells, could have been bountiful on pre-life Earth, according to a new study led by researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology, who formed hundreds of possible precursor molecules in the lab. Then they meticulously analyzed the molecules with latest technology and new algorithms.

They found that the molecules, called depsipeptides, formed quickly and abundantly under conditions that would have been common on prebiotic Earth, and with ingredients that would have ...