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Category: chemistry – Page 4

Researchers leverage their understanding of molecular motors to improve 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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Like humans, mice will compete over territory and mates, and show increased confidence in their fighting skills the more they win. At first, a brain chemical called dopamine is essential for young males to master this behavior. But as they gain experience, the chemical grows less important in promoting aggression, a new study shows.

Dopamine has been linked to male aggression for decades. How past experiences might influence this relationship, however, had until now been unclear.

In experiments in rodents, a team led by researchers at NYU Langone Health boosted activity in -releasing cells in a part of the brain called the . The findings revealed that in inexperienced male fighters, this led the animals to attack for twice as long as they would have fought naturally. When the cells were blocked, the novice mice would not fight at all.

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A new study that provides unprecedented insights into the chemical bonding of antimony could have a profound impact on materials research. The collaboration between scientists from Leipzig University, RWTH Aachen University and the DESY synchrotron in Hamburg combined experimental measurements with theoretical calculations.

The findings will help scientists to better understand phase change materials and, in particular, improve their application in and thermoelectrics. The research has now been published in Advanced Materials.

The study combined experimental measurements with , with the aim of analyzing the nature and strength of the chemical bonding in antimony. “The strength of a bond depends directly on the distance between the atoms,” says Professor Claudia S. Schnohr of the Felix Bloch Institute for Solid State Physics at Leipzig University, adding that comparisons with other materials such as metals and semiconductors show that this distance dependence is characteristic of the type of chemical bond.

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AI-powered data analysis tools have the potential to significantly improve the quality of scientific publications. A new study by Professor Mathias Christmann, a chemistry professor at Freie Universität Berlin, has uncovered shortcomings in chemical publications.

Using a Python script developed with the help of modern AI language models, Christmann analyzed more than 3,000 published in Organic Letters over the past two years. The analysis revealed that only 40% of the chemical research papers contained error-free mass measurements. The AI-based data analysis tool used for this purpose could be created without any prior programming knowledge.

“The results demonstrate how powerful AI-powered tools can be in everyday research. They not only make complex analyses accessible but also improve the reliability of scientific data,” explains Christmann.

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As humans age, their brain function can progressively decline and they become more vulnerable to developing neurodegenerative diseases, such as dementia. Dementia and other progressive neurological conditions can significantly impair their memory, thinking skills and daily functioning, significantly reducing their quality of life.

Many psychology and neurological studies have tried to identify biological markers and lifestyle factors that can contribute to the development of dementia. Yet the contribution of psychological characteristics (e.g., traits, emotional well-being and cognitive resilience) to a decline in mental functions remains poorly understood.

Researchers at University of Barcelona, University College London (UCL), Normandy University and other institutes across Europe recently set out to fill this gap in the literature, by trying to determine whether specific sets of psychological characteristics relate to brain health in middle and late adulthood. Their paper, published in Nature Mental Health, identified three key psychological profiles that were linked to different cognitive and trajectories after middle-age.

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A new tapered flow channel design for electrodes improves the efficiency of battery-based seawater desalination, potentially reducing energy use compared to reverse osmosis. This breakthrough may benefit other electrochemical devices, but manufacturing challenges need to be addressed.

Engineers have developed a solution to eliminate fluid flow “dead zones” in electrodes used for battery-based seawater desalination. This breakthrough involves a physics-driven tapered flow channel design within the electrodes, enabling faster and more efficient fluid movement. This design has the potential to consume less energy compared to conventional reverse osmosis techniques.

Desalination technology has faced significant challenges preventing widespread adoption. The most common method, reverse osmosis, filters salt from water by forcing it through a membrane, which is both energy-intensive and expensive. In contrast, the battery desalination method uses electricity to remove charged salt ions from the water. However, this approach also requires energy to push water through electrodes with tiny, irregular pore spaces, which has been a limiting factor—until now.

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Researchers developed a durable, bioinspired ZIF-67 MOF membrane that efficiently separates propylene from propane, offering high performance, long-term stability, and industrial scalability.

Polymer-grade propylene (99.5%) is a vital raw material in the chemical industry. Its production inevitably generates propane as a byproduct in the product stream. A critical step in producing polymer-grade propylene is the separation of propylene from propane—a challenging and energy-intensive process due to the molecules’ nearly identical physical and chemical properties.

Molecular sieve membranes offer an energy-efficient and effective solution for this separation. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs.

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