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Refrigeration just got a sustainable upgrade, and it didn’t come from a Silicon Valley startup or a government lab — it came from the brilliant minds of three teenagers. These young innovators recently won the 2025 Earth Prize for creating a refrigerator that runs on just salt and water. That’s right — no electricity, no fossil fuels, just simple science and groundbreaking ingenuity. Their invention isn’t just a clever science fair project — it’s already being deployed in hospitals to safely store medicine and even organs. The potential applications in developing nations, disaster zones, and remote areas are enormous. This...

Michael Faraday’s illustrated notes that show how radical scientist began his theories at London’s Royal Institution to go online He was a self-educated genius whose groundbreaking discoveries in the fields of physics and chemistry electrified the world of science and laid the foundations for Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity nearly a century later. Now, the little-known notebooks of the Victorian scientist Michael Faraday have been unearthed from the archive of the Royal Institution and are to be digitised and made permanently accessible online for the first time. The notebooks include Faraday’s handwritten notes on a series of lectures given by...

Behind that aroma is a complex cheese packed full of flavor.Just because an ingredient or dish is polarizing doesn’t mean it’s not worth your time. As a child I didn’t like mushrooms — their somewhat slippery texture can be off-putting — but learning to love them over the years has opened up new opportunities to enjoy a meaty, umami-packed, and versatile ingredient. What would I do without buttery mushroom pastas and crispy fried fungi in my life now? Among the world of misunderstood ingredients, perhaps none is as renowned stinky cheeses. Taleggio, Limburger, Époisses, raclette, and Gruyère are all varieties...

Studies of rock and dust from asteroid Bennu delivered to Earth by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification and Security–Regolith Explorer) spacecraft have revealed molecules that, on our planet, are key to life, as well as a history of saltwater that could have served as the “broth” for these compounds to interact and combine. The findings do not show evidence for life itself, but they do suggest the conditions necessary for the emergence of life were widespread across the early solar system, increasing the odds life could have formed on other planets and moons. “NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission already is...

Mexican drug cartels are now recruiting university chemistry students to enhance fentanyl production, according to a New York Times investigation. Fentanyl, responsible for 74,702 deaths in the US in 2023 alone, is a synthetic opioid notorious for its potency and addictive properties. To maintain their supply chains and increase product potency, cartels like the Sinaloa cartel are targeting young, skilled chemists to independently synthesize precursor chemicals traditionally imported from China.

Moscovium and nihonium have been identified as more reactive than flerovium, demonstrating the significance of relativistic effects in superheavy elements. Research on moscovium and nihonium shows they are more reactive than flerovium and subject to notable relativistic effects, broadening our understanding of superheavy elements and their potential uses. An international team led by scientists from GSI/FAIR in Darmstadt, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, and the Helmholtz Institute Mainz has successfully determined the chemical properties of the artificially produced superheavy elements moscovium and nihonium (elements 115 and 113). Moscovium is now the heaviest element ever to be chemically studied. Their research, published...

A way to link carbon rings thought impossible for a century has now been done, and could have medical applications. For exactly 100 years, chemists have considered double bonds impossible – or nearly so – in organic chemistry under specific circumstances. Known as Bredt’s rule, this axiom was based not on theory, but decades of previous observations of molecules where such bonds were lacking. Confidence was high enough that it has widely been published in textbooks. New research shows it’s not true, and will encourage chemists to look for molecules they previously thought couldn’t exist. Carbon is such an immensely...

Scientists have invented tough, chemically recyclable polymers that maintain high performance under stress but can be precisely broken down and reused with no loss in quality. Their method uses a metal catalyst to trigger decomposition, potentially revolutionizing plastic recycling. =================================================================== Researchers at Osaka University have developed a new type of polymer that marries the toughness needed for demanding applications with the ability to be easily recycled into like-new material. Using a unique directing group that acts under specific conditions, this polymer withstands harsh environments yet breaks down effortlessly in the presence of a nickel catalyst. This innovation could make plastics...

There’s a surprise twist in the battle to control genome editing. In the decade-long fight to control CRISPR, the super-tool for modifying DNA, it’s been common for lawyers to try to overturn patents held by competitors by pointing out errors or inconsistencies. But now, in a surprise twist, the team that earned the Nobel Prize in chemistry for developing CRISPR is asking to cancel two of their own seminal patents, MIT Technology Review has learned. The decision could affect who gets to collect the lucrative licensing fees on using the technology. ­­The request to withdraw the pair of European patents,...

Harnessing these molecules can significantly impact agriculture, pharmaceuticals, and electronics. Chemists at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities College of Science and Engineering have successfully synthesized a highly reactive chemical compound that has eluded sicentists for over 120 years. This breakthrough may pave the way for the development of innovative drug treatments, safer agricultural products, and enhanced electronics. For decades, researchers have been investigating molecules called N-heteroarenes, which are ring-shaped chemical compounds that contain one or more nitrogen atoms. Bio-active molecules having a N-heteroarene core are widely used for numerous medicinal applications, lifesaving pharmaceuticals, pesticides and herbicides, and even electronics....

A new study has discovered that tattoo inks could be linked to cancer or organ failure. An analysis of 54 inks commonly used in tattoo parlors across America has uncovered that a staggering 45 of them contained unlisted additives, including chemicals known to pose alarming health risks. Multiple inks contained 2-phenoxyethanol, which can cause toxic effects in high doses. Researchers involved in the study found the most common additive to be polyethylene glycol, which is a compound that can cause acute renal failure. The study was led by Jonn Swierk from the Department of Chemistry at Binghamton University, and was...

How On Earth Did Ancient Civilisations Get MERCURY? | 13:03Chemistorian | 7.07K subscribers | 255,286 views | Premiered January 14, 2024

The EU’s chemical strategy, unveiled in 2020, included pledges to “ban [non-essential uses] of the most harmful chemicals in consumer products” such as toys, babies’ nappies, cosmetics, detergents, food packaging and textiles. “It is especially important to stop using the most harmful chemicals in consumer products, from toys and child care products to textiles and materials that come in contact with our food,” said EU Green Deal chief Frans Timmermans back in 2020. “Our health should always come first,” said EU health commissioner Stella Kyriakides also said — three years ago. But internal documents have shown these commitments are unlikely...

Crucial science topics will no longer be taught to a large swath of Indian students, according to new government guidance. Most young learners in India will no longer be exposed to key science topics in school textbooks — unless they voluntarily major in science in higher classes. On June 1, India cut a slew of foundational topics from tenth grade textbooks, including the periodic table of elements, Darwin's theory of evolution, the Pythagorean theorem, sources of energy, sustainable management of natural resources and contribution of agriculture to the national economy, among others. A small section explaining Michael Faraday’s contributions to...

Supramolecular assemblies of six rubidium and one iron atom. Scanning tunneling microscopy revealed the clear signal of the one iron atom. (Ajayi et al., Nature, 2023) ***************************************************************************** Atoms may not have bones, but we still want to know how they are put together. These tiny particles are the basis on which all normal matter is built (including our bones), and understanding them helps us understand the larger Universe. We currently use high-energy X-ray light to help us understand atoms and molecules and how they're arranged, catching diffracted beams to reconstruct their configurations in crystal form. Now, scientists have used X-rays...

Earlier this month I wrote about organic chemistry professor Maitland Jones. Jones, who is now 84-years-old taught at Princeton until 2007 and then retired and became an adjunct professor at NYU. He’s considered one of the leading teachers in the field and his textbook on organic chem is now in its 5th edition. But his class is not easy. In fact, it had become known as a weed out class for students who wanted to go into medicine. But last spring a group of his students revolted.…as the campus emerged from pandemic restrictions, 82 of his 350 students signed a...

New York University fired Maitland Jones Jr. because his organic chemistry course was “too hard.” The man wrote the textbook on the subject, now in its fifth edition, and had been a star teacher at Princeton. He went out of his way to tape his lectures, at his own cost, to mitigate some of the attendance problems attributed to the pandemic. Yet students revolted because they feared, according to the New York Times, that “they were not given the grades that would allow them to get into medical school.” The professor, meanwhile, saw a different problem: “They weren’t coming to...

Bent alkyne (left), diradical (center) and cyclobutadiene molecules under atomic force microscopy. (Leo Gross/IBM) If chemists built cars, they'd fill a factory with car parts, set it on fire, and sift from the ashes pieces that now looked vaguely car-like. When you're dealing with car-parts the size of atoms, this is a perfectly reasonable process. Yet chemists yearn for ways to reduce the waste and make reactions far more precise. Chemical engineering has taken a step forward, with researchers from the University of Santiago de Compostela in Spain, the University of Regensburg in Germany, and IBM Research Europe forcing a...

Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry Most Downloaded Articles The most downloaded articles from Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry in the last 9 months. Preliminary survey on cold fusion: It’s not pathological science and may require revision of nuclear theory Luciano Ondir Freire, Delvonei Alves de Andrade Open Access December 2021 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1572665721008973 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jelechem.2021.115871 rights and content Under a Creative Commons license ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Highlights • After three decades, “cold fusion” field is alive with thousands of publications technologies. • Nuclear reactions in solids are more complex than simple fusion. • They also seem to need energy triggers like background radiation. • The field does...

...Bushway, a science teacher at Barrie Middle and Upper School, wondered aloud to her upper-level high school chemistry class if there was a little filter — similar to the ones that are made for camping to purify water — that they could make from inexpensive components to easily remove lead. The students were excited about the idea, and they started thinking about the project in 2020 when COVID-19 restrictions kept them out of the classroom. While at home, the team met virtually and discussed designs for an attachment to screw a filter onto a sink’s faucet. Then in the spring...