chemistry – Lifeboat News: The Blog https://lifeboat.com/blog Safeguarding Humanity Mon, 17 Feb 2025 08:33:59 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.2 Scientists Unveil AI That Learns Without Human Labels — A Major Leap Toward True Intelligence! https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/02/scientists-unveil-ai-that-learns-without-human-labels-a-major-leap-toward-true-intelligence https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/02/scientists-unveil-ai-that-learns-without-human-labels-a-major-leap-toward-true-intelligence#respond Mon, 17 Feb 2025 08:33:59 +0000 https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/02/scientists-unveil-ai-that-learns-without-human-labels-a-major-leap-toward-true-intelligence

Researchers have created a new AI algorithm called Torque Clustering, which greatly enhances an AI system’s ability to learn and identify patterns in data on its own, without human input.

Researchers have developed a new AI algorithm, Torque Clustering, which more closely mimics natural intelligence than existing methods. This advanced approach enhances AI’s ability to learn and identify patterns in data independently, without human intervention.

Torque Clustering is designed to efficiently analyze large datasets across various fields, including biology, chemistry, astronomy, psychology, finance, and medicine. By uncovering hidden patterns, it can provide valuable insights, such as detecting disease trends, identifying fraudulent activities, and understanding human behavior.

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Perils in Protein Production https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/02/perils-in-protein-production https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/02/perils-in-protein-production#respond Sun, 16 Feb 2025 19:02:44 +0000 https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/02/perils-in-protein-production

Despite today’s AI-driven tools for modeling a bioprocess and a host of sensors to track the progress of a bioprocess in action, an expert’s hand still plays a key role in making protein-based drugs. As Hiller put it: “The science (or art!) of preparing very concentrated feed mixtures often relies on the careful order of addition of chemicals, manipulation of pH (up and down) and temperature, and separate preparation of certain concentrated solutions before addition to the bulk feed mixture.”

Culturing cells always included some art, with a bit of superstition thrown in the mix. When I worked in a cell-culture lab in the early 1980s, there were rumors of cells dying when an incubator was moved from one side of a room to another. So people rarely moved anything. Plus, if the media included horse serum, scientists shuddered if a batch came from a different herd. Maybe some of the superstition disappeared over the decades, but some of the art remains, as Hiller confirmed.

Still, science underlies the ongoing attempt to replicate a cell’s natural environment during a bioprocess. Instead of just putting the cells in a vat filled with medium, which is the essence of batch processing, perfusion can add nutrients and remove waste. As Hiller noted, perfusion culture “is somewhat analogous to the processes that occur for cells within an organ in the body.”

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How Quantum Mechanics Powers the Near-Perfect Efficiency of Photosynthesis https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/02/how-quantum-mechanics-powers-the-near-perfect-efficiency-of-photosynthesis https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/02/how-quantum-mechanics-powers-the-near-perfect-efficiency-of-photosynthesis#comments Sun, 16 Feb 2025 18:10:01 +0000 https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/02/how-quantum-mechanics-powers-the-near-perfect-efficiency-of-photosynthesis

This process, which cannot be understood satisfactorily by classical physics alone, occurs constantly in green plants and other photosynthetic organisms, such as photosynthetic bacteria. However, the exact mechanisms have still not been fully elucidated. Hauer and first author Erika Keil see their study as an important new basis in the effort to clarify how chlorophyll, the pigment in leaf green, works.

Applying these findings in the design of artificial photosynthesis units could help to utilize solar energy with unprecedented efficiency for electricity generation or photochemistry.

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‘Road map’ of how cancers spread offers hope for new treatments https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/02/road-map-of-how-cancers-spread-offers-hope-for-new-treatments https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/02/road-map-of-how-cancers-spread-offers-hope-for-new-treatments#respond Sat, 15 Feb 2025 17:13:17 +0000 https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/02/road-map-of-how-cancers-spread-offers-hope-for-new-treatments

The work highlights a growing focus on the chemical targeting of surrounding tissues as part of efforts to stop cancerous cells expanding to other organs.


Research highlights growing focus on surrounding tissues to help tackle most malignant forms of the disease.

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Atomic traffic control—researchers develop novel technology for more precise quantum sensors https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/02/atomic-traffic-control-researchers-develop-novel-technology-for-more-precise-quantum-sensors https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/02/atomic-traffic-control-researchers-develop-novel-technology-for-more-precise-quantum-sensors#respond Sat, 15 Feb 2025 12:10:16 +0000 https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/02/atomic-traffic-control-researchers-develop-novel-technology-for-more-precise-quantum-sensors

Quantum sensors can be significantly more precise than conventional sensors and are used for Earth observation, navigation, material testing, and chemical or biomedical analysis, for example. TU Darmstadt researchers have now developed and tested a technique that makes quantum sensors even more precise.

What is behind this technology? Quantum sensors, based on the wave nature of , use quantum interference to measure accelerations and rotations with extremely high precision. This technology requires optimized beam splitters and mirrors for atoms. However, atoms that are reflected in unintentional ways can significantly impair such measurements.

The scientists therefore use specially designed as velocity-selective atom , which reflect the desired atoms and allow parasitic atoms to pass through. This approach reduces the noise in the signal, making the measurements much more precise. The research is published in the journal Physical Review Research.

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Scientists Just Made a Breakthrough in Nanocrystals That Could Supercharge Solar Power https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/02/scientists-just-made-a-breakthrough-in-nanocrystals-that-could-supercharge-solar-power https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/02/scientists-just-made-a-breakthrough-in-nanocrystals-that-could-supercharge-solar-power#respond Sat, 15 Feb 2025 12:09:19 +0000 https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/02/scientists-just-made-a-breakthrough-in-nanocrystals-that-could-supercharge-solar-power

Researchers are breaking new ground with halide perovskites, promising a revolution in energy-efficient technologies.

By exploring these materials at the nanoscale.

The term “nanoscale” refers to dimensions that are measured in nanometers (nm), with one nanometer equaling one-billionth of a meter. This scale encompasses sizes from approximately 1 to 100 nanometers, where unique physical, chemical, and biological properties emerge that are not present in bulk materials. At the nanoscale, materials exhibit phenomena such as quantum effects and increased surface area to volume ratios, which can significantly alter their optical, electrical, and magnetic behaviors. These characteristics make nanoscale materials highly valuable for a wide range of applications, including electronics, medicine, and materials science.

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Replacing trial and error: Molecular methods clear the way for faster and more cost-effective separations https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/02/replacing-trial-and-error-molecular-methods-clear-the-way-for-faster-and-more-cost-effective-separations https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/02/replacing-trial-and-error-molecular-methods-clear-the-way-for-faster-and-more-cost-effective-separations#respond Sat, 15 Feb 2025 06:08:52 +0000 https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/02/replacing-trial-and-error-molecular-methods-clear-the-way-for-faster-and-more-cost-effective-separations

The process of separating useful molecules from mixtures of other substances accounts for 15% of the nation’s energy, emits 100 million tons of carbon dioxide and costs $4 billion annually.

Commercial manufacturers produce columns of porous materials to separate potential new drugs developed by the pharmaceutical industry, for example, and also for energy and chemical production, environmental science and making foods and beverages.

But in a new study, researchers at Case Western Reserve University have found these manufactured separation materials don’t function as intended because the pores are so packed with polymer they become blocked. That means the separations are inefficient and unnecessarily expensive.

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New findings on the power of enzymes could reshape biochemistry https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/02/new-findings-on-the-power-of-enzymes-could-reshape-biochemistry https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/02/new-findings-on-the-power-of-enzymes-could-reshape-biochemistry#respond Sat, 15 Feb 2025 01:22:33 +0000 https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/02/new-findings-on-the-power-of-enzymes-could-reshape-biochemistry

Using a series of more than 1,000 X-ray snapshots of the shapeshifting of enzymes in action, researchers at Stanford University have illuminated one of the great mysteries of life—how enzymes are able to speed up life-sustaining biochemical reactions so dramatically. Their findings could impact fields ranging from basic science to drug discovery, and provoke a rethinking of how science is taught in the classroom.

“When I say enzymes speed up reactions, I mean as in a trillion-trillion times faster for some reactions,” noted senior author of the study, Dan Herschlag, professor of biochemistry in the School of Medicine. “Enzymes are really remarkable little machines, but our understanding of exactly how they work has been lacking.”

There are lots of ideas and theories that make sense, Herschlag said, but biochemists have not been able to translate those ideas into a specific understanding of the chemical and physical interactions responsible for enzymes’ enormous reaction rates. As a result, biochemists don’t have a basic understanding and, therefore, have been unable to predict rates or design new enzymes as well as nature does, an ability that would be impactful across industry and medicine.

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Scientists create hydrogen with no direct CO₂ emissions at source https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/02/scientists-create-hydrogen-with-no-direct-co%e2%82%82-emissions-at-source https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/02/scientists-create-hydrogen-with-no-direct-co%e2%82%82-emissions-at-source#respond Sat, 15 Feb 2025 01:16:53 +0000 https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/02/scientists-create-hydrogen-with-no-direct-co%e2%82%82-emissions-at-source

A new way of creating hydrogen, which eliminates direct CO2 emissions at source, has been developed by an international team of scientists.

The process reacts hydrogen-rich and sustainably sourced bioethanol taken from agricultural waste with water at just 270°C using a new bimetallic catalyst. Unlike traditional methods, which operate between 400°C and 600°C, are energy-intensive and generate large amounts of CO2, the catalyst shifts the chemical reaction to create hydrogen without releasing as a byproduct.

Instead, the process co-produces high-value , an organic liquid used in , household cleaning products, manufacturing and medicine, and has an annual global consumption exceeding 15 million tons.

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NASA Scientific Visualization Studio https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/02/nasa-scientific-visualization-studio https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/02/nasa-scientific-visualization-studio#respond Fri, 14 Feb 2025 16:06:34 +0000 https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/02/nasa-scientific-visualization-studio

This periodic table depicts the primary source on Earth for each element. In cases where two sources contribute fairly equally, both appear. || PeriodicTableOrigins2_print.jpg (1024x682) [251.7 KB] || PeriodicTableOrigins2_Large.png (25042x16695) [52.0 MB] || PeriodicTableOrigins2.png (6000x4000) [3.4 MB] || PeriodicTableOrigins2.jpg (6000x4000) [2.2 MB] || PeriodicTableOrigins2_searchweb.png (320x180) [82.4 KB] || PeriodicTableOrigins2_thm.png (80x40) [7.6 KB].

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