Jan 18, 2023 (Nanowerk News) A team of scientists, led by researchers from the Max Born Institute in Berlin and Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin in Germany and from Brookhaven National Laboratory and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States has developed a revolutionary new method for capturing high-resolution images of...
Distinguishing between right and left with magnets
Jan 18, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Chirality control of molecules and crystals is critical to multiple fields of research such as drug development and display device research. In recent years, new attempts have been made to take advantage of magnets to separate handedness (left or right) of chiral molecules in a...
The effects of tightening a molecular knot
Jan 18, 2023 (Nanowerk News) A study conducted by Anne-Sophie Duwez and Damien Sluysmans from the NANOCHEM group at the University of Liège has made it possible to decode the mechanical response of small-molecule synthetic overhand knots by single-molecule pulling experiments. The results, published in the journal Chem ("Mechanical tightening...
The mechanism of cosmic magnetic fields explored in the laboratory
Jan 18, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Plasma is matter that is so hot that the electrons are separated from atoms. The electrons float freely and the atoms become ions. This creates an ionized gas—plasma—that makes up nearly all of the visible universe. Recent research shows that magnetic fields can spontaneously emerge...
Modified CRISPR-based enzymes improve the prospect of inserting entire genes into the genome to overcome disease-causing mutations
Jan 18, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Many genetic diseases are caused by diverse mutations spread across an entire gene, and designing genome editing approaches for each patient’s mutation would be impractical and costly. Investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) recently developed an optimized method that improves the accuracy of inserting large...
RNA lipid nanoparticle engineering stops liver fibrosis in its tracks, reverses damage
Jan 18, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Since the success of the COVID-19 vaccine, RNA therapies have been the object of increasing interest in the biotech world. These therapies work with your body to target the genetic root of diseases and infections, a promising alternative treatment method to that of traditional pharmaceutical...
Researchers develop optical method to verify topological phases in magnetic materials
Jan 17, 2023 (Nanowerk News) Much recent research has focused on ‘topological’ materials – an intriguing type of solids which fall outside the standard classification into insulators and conductors. While their bulk is insulating, these phases are characterized by electrically conducting channels which appear at their edges. These resulting so-called...
Nanoparticles make it easier to turn light into solvated electrons
Jan 17, 2023 (Nanowerk News) There are many ways to initiate chemical reactions in liquids, but placing free electrons directly into water, ammonia and other liquid solutions is especially attractive for green chemistry because solvated electrons are inherently clean, leaving behind no side products after they react. In theory, solvated...
A systematic framework to compare performance of plastics recycling approaches
Jan 17, 2023 (Nanowerk News) With only a small percentage of plastics recycled, determining the best way to recycle and reuse these materials may enable higher adoption of plastics recycling and reduce plastic waste pollution. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) examined the...
Biomolecular analyses now have an expanded chemical toolkit
Jan 17, 2023 (Nanowerk News) The 2022 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded in part for what can be a quite difficult problem: precisely altering one aspect of biomolecules without affecting the rest of the cell. Now, in a study recently published in Organic Letters ("Synthesis of functionalized dibenzoazacyclooctynes by...