Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: chemistry

Ultrathin clay membrane layers offer low-cost alternative for extracting lithium from water

Lithium, the lightest metal on the periodic table, plays a pivotal role in modern life. Its low weight and high energy density make it ideal for electric vehicles, cellphones, laptops and military technologies where every ounce counts. As demand for lithium skyrockets, concerns about supply and reliability are growing.

To help meet surging demand and possible supply chain problems, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory have developed an innovative technology that efficiently extracts lithium from water. Several team members also hold joint appointments with the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (PME) at the University of Chicago.

The findings appear in the journal Advanced Materials.

Scientists Confirm The Existence Of Element 117

The official Periodic Table of the Elements is one step closer to adding element 117 to its ranks. That’s thanks to an international team of scientists that was able to successfully create several atoms of element 117, which is currently known as Ununseptium until it’s given an official name.

The paper for this experiment has been published in Physical Review Letters.

Element 117 was first created in a joint collaboration between American and Russian scientists back in 2010. However, before an element can be officially added to the Periodic Table of Elements, its discovery must be independently confirmed.

Wristband sensor provides all-in-one monitoring for diabetes and cardiovascular care

A new wearable wristband could significantly improve diabetes management by continuously tracking not only glucose but also other chemical and cardiovascular signals that influence disease progression and overall health. The technology was published in Nature Biomedical Engineering.

The flexible wristband consists of a microneedle array that painlessly samples interstitial fluid under the skin to measure glucose, lactate and alcohol in real time using three different enzymes embedded within the tiny needles. Designed for easy replacement, the microneedle array can be swapped out to tailor wear periods. This reduces the risk of allergic reactions or infection while supporting longer-term use.

Simultaneously, the wristband uses an ultrasonic sensor array to measure and arterial stiffness, while ECG sensors measure heart rate directly from wrist pulses. These physiological signals are key indicators of cardiovascular risk, which is often elevated in people with diabetes but is rarely monitored continuously outside of a clinical setting.

AI-assisted technique can measure and track aging cells

A combination of high-resolution imaging and machine learning, also known as artificial intelligence (AI), can track cells damaged from injury, aging, or disease, and that no longer grow and reproduce normally, a new study shows.

These senescent cells are known to play a key role in wound repair and aging-related diseases, such as cancer and heart disease, so tracking their progress, researchers say, could lead to a better understanding of how tissues gradually lose their ability to regenerate over time or how they fuel disease. The tool could also provide insight into therapies for reversing the damage.

The study included training a computer system to help analyze animal cells damaged by increasing concentrations of chemicals over time to replicate human aging. Cells continuously confronted with environmental or biological stress are known to senesce, meaning they stop reproducing and start to release telltale molecules indicating that they have suffered injury.

Inflammasome Molecular Insights in Autoimmune Diseases

Autoimmune diseases (AIDs) emerge due to an irregular immune response towards self- and non-self-antigens. Inflammation commonly accompanies these conditions, with inflammatory factors and inflammasomes playing pivotal roles in their progression. Key concepts in molecular biology, inflammation, and molecular mimicry are crucial to understanding AID development. Exposure to foreign antigens can cause inflammation, potentially leading to AIDs through molecular mimicry triggered by cross-reactive epitopes. Molecular mimicry emerges as a key mechanism by which infectious or chemical agents trigger autoimmunity. In certain susceptible individuals, autoreactive T or B cells may be activated by a foreign antigen due to resemblances between foreign and self-peptides. Chronic inflammation, typically driven by abnormal immune responses, is strongly associated with AID pathogenesis. Inflammasomes, which are vital cytosolic multiprotein complexes assembled in response to infections and stress, are crucial to activating inflammatory processes in macrophages. Chronic inflammation, characterized by prolonged tissue injury and repair cycles, can significantly damage tissues, thereby increasing the risk of AIDs. Inhibiting inflammasomes, particularly in autoinflammatory disorders, has garnered significant interest, with pharmaceutical advancements targeting cytokines and inflammasomes showing promise in AID management.

Caltech’s New Smart Pill Can Read Your Gut Like Never Before

Researchers are gaining a deeper appreciation for the critical role the gastrointestinal (GI) tract plays in maintaining overall health. Beyond its primary responsibilities in digestion, the GI system contributes to the production of hormones, immune cells, and neurotransmitters that influence brain function and emotional well-being.

Because of this, the GI tract contains a wide array of biomarkers that are valuable for diagnosing, tracking, and managing disease—from short-chain fatty acids associated with metabolic syndrome to cytokines linked to inflammation.

However, current technologies fall short when it comes to capturing this biochemical information directly from the GI tract. Existing methods, such as fecal sampling and tissue biopsies, are often invasive, costly, and unable to deliver continuous or comprehensive real-time data throughout the length of the digestive system.

MIT engineers develop electrochemical sensors for cheap, disposable diagnostics

Using an inexpensive electrode coated with DNA, MIT researchers have designed disposable diagnostics that could be adapted to detect a variety of diseases, including cancer or infectious diseases such as influenza and HIV.

These electrochemical sensors make use of a DNA-chopping enzyme found in the CRISPR gene-editing system. When a target such as a cancerous gene is detected by the enzyme, it begins shearing DNA from the electrode nonspecifically, like a lawnmower cutting grass, altering the electrical signal produced.

One of the main limitations of this type of sensing technology is that the DNA that coats the electrode breaks down quickly, so the sensors can’t be stored for very long and their storage conditions must be tightly controlled, limiting where they can be used. In a new study, MIT researchers stabilized the DNA with a polymer coating, allowing the sensors to be stored for up to two months, even at high temperatures. After storage, the sensors were able to detect a prostate cancer gene that is often used to diagnose the disease.

Cheap Catalyst Turns Acids Into Pharmaceutical Gold

Carboxylic acids are common components in bioactive compounds and serve as widely available building blocks in organic synthesis. When transformed into carboxy radicals, these acids can initiate the formation of valuable carbon-carbon and carbon-heteroatom bonds, a key step in the creation of new materials and pharmaceutical agents. Despite their utility, few existing methods rely on cost-effective catalysts.

Addressing this gap, a team from WPI-ICReDD and the University of Shizuoka developed a straightforward hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) strategy that selectively converts carboxylic acids into carboxy radicals. This method employs xanthone, a commercially available and inexpensive organic ketone, as the photocatalyst. The study was recently published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Astronomers say new interstellar visitor 3I/ATLAS is ‘very likely to be the oldest comet we have ever seen’

The thick disk is a band of our galaxy’s most ancient stars that sandwiches the thin disk, which formed more recently and contains our relatively young star, the sun, and the solar system.

“This is an object from a part of the galaxy we’ve never seen up close before,” University of Oxford astrophysicist Chris Lintott said. “We think there’s a two-thirds chance this comet is older than the solar system, and that it’s been drifting through interstellar space ever since.”

If 3I/ATLAS originates from the Milky Way’s thick stellar disk, and thus formed around an ancient star, this also has implications for its chemical composition. Hopkins and crew suggest the interstellar interloper may be rich in water ice.