Lifeboat Foundation

A team of metallurgists and geochemists at Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, working with a mechanical engineer from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has improved their previous electrokinetic mining technique by scaling it up to industrial levels. In their paper published in Nature Sustainability, the group describes the changes they made to their system, and the results of testing they conducted at a mine.

Modern technology is reliant on multiple rare earth elements —they are used in EVs, smartphones and computers, for example. Unfortunately, mining such elements is extremely environmentally unfriendly. Huge machines are used to dig dirt and rock from large mines, where it is mixed with water and a host of toxic chemicals in order to extract the desired elements.

The process produces thousands of metric tons of toxic waste. The team in China has been working for several years to develop a cleaner way to extract the elements. It involves generating an electric field underground that coaxes the desired elements closer together and concentrates them, making for a much easier and cleaner separation process.

Researchers have developed a new method for quickly detecting and identifying very low concentrations of gases. The new approach, called coherently controlled quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy, could form the basis for highly sensitive real-time sensors for applications such as environmental monitoring, breath analysis and chemical process control.

“Most gases are present in small amounts, so detecting gases at low concentrations is important in a wide variety of industries and applications,” said research team leader Simon Angstenberger from the University of Stuttgart in Germany. “Unlike other trace gas detection methods that rely on photoacoustics, ours is not limited to specific gases and does not require prior knowledge of the gas that might be present.”

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Shaping The Culture & Conduct Of Science — Dr. Marcia McNutt Ph.D. — President, National Academy Of Sciences

Dr. Marcia McNutt, Ph.D. is President of the National Academy of Sciences (https://www.nasonline.org/directory-e…), where she also chairs the National Research Council, the operating arm of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and serves a key role in advising our nation on various important issues pertaining to science, technology, and health.

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A breakthrough in decoding the growth process of hexagonal boron nitride (hBN), a 2D material, and its nanostructures on metal substrates could pave the way for more efficient electronics, cleaner energy solutions and greener chemical manufacturing, according to new research from the University of Surrey published in the journal Small.

Only one atom thick, hBN—often nicknamed “white graphene”—is an ultra-thin, super-resilient material that blocks electrical currents, withstands extreme temperatures and resists chemical damage. Its unique versatility makes it an invaluable component in advanced electronics, where it can protect delicate microchips and enable the development of faster, more efficient transistors.

Going a step further, researchers have also demonstrated the formation of nanoporous hBN, a novel material with structured voids that allows for selective absorption, advanced catalysis and enhanced functionality, vastly expanding its potential environmental applications. This includes sensing and filtering pollutants—as well as enhancing advanced energy systems, including hydrogen storage and electrochemical catalysts for fuel cells.

Ferroelectrics are special materials with polarized positive and negative charges—like a magnet has north and south poles—that can be reversed when external electricity is applied. The materials will remain in these reversed states until more power is applied, making them useful for data storage and wireless communication applications.

Now, turning a non-ferroelectric material into one may be possible simply by stacking it with another ferroelectric material, according to a team led by scientists from Penn State who demonstrated the phenomenon, called proximity ferroelectricity.

The discovery offers a new way to make ferroelectric materials without modifying their chemical formulation, which commonly degrades several useful properties. This has implications for next-generation processors, optoelectronics and quantum computing, the scientists said. The researchers published their findings in the journal Nature.

Researchers at the University of Oklahoma have developed a breakthrough method of adding a single nitrogen atom to molecules, unlocking new possibilities in drug research and development. Now published in the journal Science, this research is already gaining international attention from drug manufacturers.

Nitrogen atoms and nitrogen-containing chemical structures, called heterocycles, play a pivotal role in medicinal chemistry and drug development. A team led by OU associate professor Indrajeet Sharma has demonstrated that by using a short-lived chemical called sulfenylnitrene, researchers can insert one nitrogen atom into bioactive molecules and transform them into new pharmacophores that are useful for making drugs.

This process is called skeletal editing and takes inspiration from Sir Derek Barton, the recipient of the 1969 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Just like your body has a skeleton, every cell in your body has a skeleton—a cytoskeleton to be precise. This provides cells with mechanical resilience, as well as assisting with cell division. To understand how real cells work, e.g. for drug and disease research, researchers create artificial cells in the laboratory.

However, many artificial cells to date cannot be used to study how cells respond to forces as they don’t have a cytoskeleton. TU/e researchers have designed a polymer-based network for artificial cells that mimics a real cytoskeleton, thus making it possible to study with greater accuracy in artificial cells how cells respond to forces.

The research is published in the journal Nature Chemistry.

While most of us are familiar with magnets from childhood games of marveling at the power of their repulsion or attraction, fewer realize the magnetic fields that surround us—and the ones inside us. Magnetic fields are not just external curiosities; they play essential roles in our bodies and beyond, influencing biological processes and technological systems alike. A recent arXiv publication from the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering and Argonne National Laboratory highlights how magnetic fields in the body may be analyzed using quantum-enabled fluorescent proteins, with hopes of applying to cell formation or early disease detection.

Detecting subtle changes in magnetic fields may equate to beyond subtle impacts in certain fields. For instance, quantum sensors could be applied to the detection of electromagnetic anomalies in data centers, potentially revealing evidence of malicious tampering. Similarly, they might be used to study changes in the brain’s electromagnetic signals, offering insights into neurological diseases such as the onset of dementia. However, these applications demand sensors that are not only sensitive but also capable of operating reliably in real-world conditions.

Spin qubits, known for their notable sensitivity to magnetic fields, are introduced in the study as a compelling solution. Traditionally, spin qubits have been formed from nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamonds. While these systems have demonstrated remarkable precision, the diamonds’ bulky size in relation to molecules and complex surface chemistry limit their usability in biological environments. This creates a need for a more adaptable and biologically compatible sensor.

Per-and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) earn their “forever chemical” moniker by persisting in water, soil and even the human brain. This unique ability to cross the blood-brain barrier and accumulate in brain tissue makes PFAS particularly concerning, but the underlying mechanism of their neurotoxicity must be studied further.

To that end, a new study by University at Buffalo researchers has identified 11 genes that may hold the key to understanding the brain’s response to these pervasive chemicals commonly found in everyday items. The paper is published in the journal ACS Chemical Neuroscience.

These genes, some involved in processes vital for neuronal health, were found to be consistently affected by PFAS exposure, either expressing more or less, regardless of the type of PFAS compounds tested. For example, all compounds caused a gene key for neuronal cell survival to express less, and another gene linked to neuronal cell death to express more.