Chemistry News

Micro MRI

By measuring how atoms oscillate in a magnetic field we have learnt a huge amount of chemistry using nuclear magnetic resonance machines, and they have been adapted to form Ma...

Self Distilling Vodka

A way of distilling drinks without even heating them has been developed...

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Explosive X-ray diffraction

A new method of determining the structure of a crystal has been developed which can measure the structure even though it causes the samples to explode...

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Designer plastics

Plastics may soon be able to be designed to a specification for an individual job

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DEET Scrambles Sense of Smell

DEET is one of the most common chemicals in insect repellents, but since its invention scientists have been unable to settle a decision about exactly how it works. Now, work published in Nature suggests that DEET not only confuses scientists, but confuses insects too by scrambling the code they use to identify odours...

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Computers gamers solve protein puzzle

Online computer gaming is sometimes viewed as a mere pastime without much outward benefit, but new research reveals how gamers playing an online game called Foldit have managed to crack the 3-dimensional structure of an important protein produced by the Mason-Pfizer Monkey virus, which causes a disease similar to AIDS in monkeys...

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Tainted TNT Soils Treated with Weeds

Plants able to grow on toxic explosive components could clean up contaminated compounds.

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Ginseng extract may help cancer sufferers

Synthesised derivatives of a compound extracted from ginseng appear to reduce the destructive side-effects of cancer therapies, according to a report this week in the journal PNAS...

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Histamine Receptor Offers Hayfever Sufferers Hope

Good news for hayfever sufferers – by cracking the crystal structure of the histamine receptor, scientists are on the road to developing more effective antihistamine drugs to treat allergy and inflammation.

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Porous Molecules By Design

Porous molecules, useful in a huge range of applications including separating chemicals and catalysing reactions, may be designed on demand thanks to a new method published in the journal Nature this week.

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