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Archive for the ‘chemistry’ category: Page 118

Feb 20, 2023

Researchers propose new mechanism for early chemical evolution

Posted by in categories: chemistry, evolution, space

Scientists from The Ohio State University have a new theory about how the building blocks of life—the many proteins, carbohydrates, lipids and nucleic acids that compose every organism on Earth—may have evolved to favor a certain kind of molecular structure.

It has to do with a concept called chirality. A geometric property inherent to certain , chirality can dictate a molecule’s shape, chemical reactivity, and how it interacts with other matter. Chirality is also sometimes referred to as handedness, as it can be best described as the dichotomy between our hands: Though they are not identical, the right and the left hand are mirror images of each other, and can’t be superimposed, or exactly overlaid on one another.

In the journal ACS Earth and Space Chemistry, researchers now propose a new model of how the molecules of life may have developed their “handedness.”

Feb 20, 2023

Supramolecular assembly assists the synthesis of highly active carbon-nitrogen-based photo/electrocatalysts

Posted by in categories: chemistry, energy

In a paper published in the journal National Science Open, the morphology and structure regulation methods of supramolecular assembly are summarized. Then, recent progresses of supramolecular assembly derived carbon-nitrogen-based materials for photo/electrocatalysis are discussed. Furthermore, the developments and challenges in future are prospected.

The sustainable energy storage and conversion technologies based on redox reactions are promising pathway to solve . However, there is still lack of low-cost, ecofriendly and highly active photo/electrocatalysts, which play a crucial role in the .

In this review, the author first summarized the effects of temperature, solvent type, pH value and monomer on the morphology and structure of the supramolecular assembly. Then, the effects of morphology and structure regulation on the physicochemical properties of supramolecular assembly-derived carbon-nitrogen-based materials were discussed, which determined the essential properties of catalysts for a specific photo/electrocatalytic reaction.

Feb 20, 2023

Just an Ordinary Material? The Last Mysteries of Mica

Posted by in categories: chemistry, materials

A well-known mineral is once again the center of attention thanks to applications in electronics: the Vienna University of Technology shows that mica still possesses some surprises.

At first glance, mica appears to be quite ordinary: it is a prevalent mineral found in materials like granite and has undergone extensive examination from geological, chemical, and technical standpoints.

At first, it may seem that there’s nothing groundbreaking that can be uncovered about such a commonplace material. However, a team from the Vienna University of Technology has recently published a study in Nature Communications.

Feb 19, 2023

Surpassing All Existing Designs — Researchers Develop High-Voltage Microbattery With Exceptional Energy and Power Density

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical, chemistry, military

A persistent technological challenge has been the difficulty in scaling down the electrochemical performance of large-format batteries to smaller, microscale power sources, hindering their ability to power microdevices, microrobots, and implantable medical devices. However, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have overcome this challenge by developing a high-voltage microbattery (9 V) with exceptional energy and power density, unparalleled by any existing battery design.

Material Science and Engineering Professor Paul Braun (Grainger Distinguished Chair in Engineering, Materials Research Laboratory Director), Dr. Sungbong Kim (Postdoc, MatSE, current assistant professor at Korea Military Academy, co-first author), and Arghya Patra (Graduate Student, MatSE, MRL, co-first author) recently published a paper detailing their findings in Cell Reports.

<em>Cell Reports</em> is a peer-reviewed scientific journal that published research papers that report new biological insight across a broad range of disciplines within the life sciences. Established in 2012, it is the first open access journal published by Cell Press, an imprint of Elsevier.

Feb 18, 2023

A molecular close-up

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, chemistry, quantum physics

Imagine going for an MRI scan of your knee. This scan measures the density of water molecules present in your knee, at a resolution of about one cubic millimeter – which is great for determining whether, for example, a meniscus in the knee is torn. But what if you need to investigate the structural data of a single molecule that’s five cubic nanometers, or about ten trillion times smaller than the best resolution current MRI scanners are capable of producing? That’s the goal for Dr. Amit Finkler of the Weizmann Institute of Science’s Chemical and Biological Physics Department.

In a recent study (Physical Review Applied, “Mapping Single Electron Spins with Magnetic Tomography”), Finkler, PhD student Dan Yudilevich and their collaborators from the University of Stuttgart, Germany, have managed to take a giant step in that direction, demonstrating a novel method for imaging individual electrons. The method, now in its initial stages, might one day be applicable to imaging various kinds of molecules, which could revolutionize the development of pharmaceuticals and the characterization of quantum materials.

The experimental set-up: A 30-micron-thick diamond membrane with one sensor, on average, at the top of each column, magnified 2,640 times (top) and 32,650 times (bottom)

Feb 17, 2023

The Syntellect Hypothesis: The Most Probable Path to Our Future Transcendent Superintelligence

Posted by in categories: biological, chemistry, internet, robotics/AI, space

Could we imagine a world where our minds are fused together and interlinked with machine intelligence to such a degree that every facet of consciousness is infinitely augmented? How could we explore the landscapes of inner space, when human brains and synthetic intelligence blend together to generate new structures of consciousness? Is it possible to interpret the ongoing geopolitical events through the lens of the awakening Gaia perspective?

#SyntellectHypothesis #cybernetics #superintelligence #consciousness #emergence #futurism #AGI #GlobalMind #geopolitics


“When we look through the other end of the telescope, however, we can see a different pattern. We can make out what I call the One Mind — not a subdivision of consciousness, but the overarching, inclusive dimension to which all the mental components of all individual minds, past, present, and future belong. I capitalize the One Mind to distinguish it from the single, one mind that each individual appears to possess.” — Larry Dossey

Is humanity evolving into a hybrid cybernetic species, interconnected through the Global Mind? When might the Web become self-aware? What will it feel like to elevate our consciousness to a global level once our neocortices are fully connected to the Web?

Continue reading “The Syntellect Hypothesis: The Most Probable Path to Our Future Transcendent Superintelligence” »

Feb 17, 2023

Obscure Biochemical Paradox May Explain Why We Can’t Find Alien Life

Posted by in categories: alien life, bitcoin, chemistry, cryptocurrencies, existential risks

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Hello and welcome! My name is Anton and in this video, we will talk about a potential resolution to Fermi paradox using another — Levinthal’s Paradox.
Links:
https://theconversation.com/ai-makes-huge-progress-predictin…ent-151181
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levinthal%27s_paradox.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_structure_prediction.
https://web.archive.org/web/20110523080407/http://www-miller…nthal.html.
Previous Fermi Paradox part: https://youtu.be/iCDM5uLYeJU
#fermiparadox #proteins #alienlife.

Continue reading “Obscure Biochemical Paradox May Explain Why We Can’t Find Alien Life” »

Feb 16, 2023

Why We May Not Be Alone on Earth w/ Janusz Petkowski

Posted by in categories: biological, chemistry, space

Visit https://brilliant.org/EventHorizon/ to get started learning STEM for free, and the first 200 people will get 20% off their annual premium subscription.
What if we’re not alone on Earth? Why We May Not Be Alone on Earth…

The shadow biosphere is a hypothetical microbial biosphere of Earth that would use radically different biochemical and molecular processes from that of currently known life.

Continue reading “Why We May Not Be Alone on Earth w/ Janusz Petkowski” »

Feb 16, 2023

Scientists are making machines, wearable and implantable, to act as kidneys

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, chemistry, nanotechnology, wearables

“It doesn’t have just a static function. It has a bank of sensors that measure chemicals in the blood and feeds that information back to the device,” Kurtz says.

Other startups are getting in on the game. Nephria Bio, a spinout from the South Korean-based EOFlow, is working to develop a wearable dialysis device, akin to an insulin pump, that uses miniature cartridges with nanomaterial filters to clean blood (Harhay is a scientific advisor to Nephria). Ian Welsford, Nephria’s co-founder and CTO, says that the device’s design means that it can also be used to treat acute kidney injuries in resource-limited settings. These potentials have garnered interest and investment in artificial kidneys from the U.S. Department of Defense.

For his part, Burton is most interested in an implantable device, as that would give him the most freedom. Even having a regular outpatient procedure to change batteries or filters would be a minor inconvenience to him.

Feb 16, 2023

Tricorder Tech: Microchip Can Electronically Detect Covid Antibodies In Just A Drop Of Blood

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, chemistry, computing, mobile phones

A single drop of blood from a finger prick. A simple electronic chip. And a smartphone readout of test results that could diagnose a Covid-19 infections or others like HIV or Lyme disease.

It sounds a bit like science fiction, like the beginnings of the medical tricorder used by doctors on Star Trek. Yet researchers at Georgia Tech and Emory University have taken the first step to showing it can be done, and they’ve published their results in the journal Small.

Postdoctoral fellow Neda Rafat and Assistant Professor Aniruddh Sarkar created a small chip that harnesses the fundamental chemistry of the gold-standard lab method but uses electrical conductivity instead of optics to detect antibodies and indicate infection.