Are designer molecules poised to take us into a new chemical dimension? This week, we explore how, long before the bunsen burner gets lit, computer aided chemistry can enable us to create in silico imaginary new molecules, reactions and designer catalysts. We also delve into how chemicals are manufactured on a massive scale with a visit to a plant making zeolites. And in the news, how hydrogen-metabolising bugs can supercharge deep-sea mussels, how reprogrammed immune system cells can hunt-down cancer, and nature's stock exchange - how plants and fungi develop a subsoil free-market economy to trade resources.
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Hydrothermal vent mussels have been found to host hydrogen-powered bacteria in their gills.
For the first time, scientists have used genetic engineering to reprogramme immune cells to successfully eliminate tumour cells in one form of human blood cancer.
How can we generate hydrogen quickly and efficiently? Nature has its own way to do this using enzymes called hydrogenases – but now, by taking a leaf out of Nature’s book and then improving upon it, researchers have developed a catalyst that works ten times faster than the biol...
It's not just humans that create market economies, exchanging one set of goods for another, plants and fungi also barter nutrients with deals kept in check by market forces, new research has revealed.
A new global initiative called the Earth Microbiome Project plans to build up a genetic picture of the billions of bacteria that inhabit every corner of the Earth and to find out how they fit into Earth’s ecosystems. Planet Earth Podcast reporter Tim Hirsch has been talking to ...
One of the most important chemical players in nature is the protein. The structure of a protein gives it specific chemical and mechanical properties. Predicting the structures of proteins could allow us to design brand new proteins and enzyems, to help catalyse a range of reac...
In order to design useful new compounds, we need to know exactly what structure any new chemical will take. Computer models, combined with more traditional crystallography, are leading the way in predicting how any given molecule will arrange itself...
How do manufacturers make chemicals on seriously large industrial scales? We sent Meera Senthilingam and Dave Ansell to find out…
How are newly created molecules tested in terms of safety?
I understand that a lot of work is done by computer modeling - how do they work out what properties a new virtual molecule has?
Do scientists ever get scared of accidentally destroying the world?
Hi.
I sometimes like a nice warm bath in the winter. After a while, the bath gets colder. I know there are a few ways that the bath can lose heat, but does a thick layer of bubbles on the top make any significant difference to the heat retention?
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