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 ...

Meat, Dietary Heme Iron, and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. American Journal of Epidemiology, 2017; 1 DOI: 10.1093/aje/kwx156

While a plant-based diet is generally considered healthier than a meat-based diet in preventing the risk of diabetes, not all meats affect the risk equally. As Professor Koh Woon Puay, Professor of Clinical Sciences at Duke-NUS Medical School (Duke-NUS), and her team found out, higher intake of red meat and poultry is associated with significantly increased risk of developing diabetes, which is partially attributed to their higher content of heme iron in these meats. This study provides the basis for evidence-based dietary recommendations to the Singapore population in mitigating diabetes risk and reducing the healthcare burden of this chronic condition.

These fi...