A ruthenium sandwich can switch on iodobenzene’s halogen-bonding ability, increasing iodine’s σ-hole potential eight-fold. Similar to hydrogen bonds, halogen bonds are non-covalent interactions. They form between a covalently-bonded halogen atom’s electrophilic region – the σ-hole – and a nucleophilic region in another (or the same) molecule. Halogens with a bigger σ-hole potential are better halogen-bond […]

A research team from Osnabrück University and the Ozouga Chimpanzee Project has, for the first time, observed chimpanzees applying insects to their own wounds and the wounds of conspecifics. The new findings have been published under the title “Application of insects to wounds of self and others in chimpanzees in the wild” in the journal Current […]

A research team led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has demonstrated tiny concentric nanocircles that self-assemble into an optical material with precision and efficiency.Their work overcomes a longstanding problem in nanoscience – molecular impurities. The researchers described their work in the journals ACS Nano and Advanced Materials. The new findings could enable the […]

The government’s long-awaited levelling-up white paper has finally arrived and R&D has a prominent role to play. While welcoming it as a ‘serious piece of work’, many research policy commentators would have liked to have seen more ambition, more funding and more focus on specific regional demands and expertise. R&D and innovation is one of […]

The government’s long-awaited levelling-up white paper has finally arrived and R&D has a prominent role to play. While welcoming it as a ‘serious piece of work’, many research policy commentators would have liked to have seen more ambition, more funding and more focus on specific regional demands and expertise. R&D and innovation is one of […]

University of Central Florida researchers are part of a new $1 million project funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research to better understand and predict how and why raindrops are affected when they cross a hypersonic shock wave. Hypersonic speeds are those at Mach 5 and higher, or five times greater than the […]

Anger is a key emotion in understanding public opinion towards crime and punishment: it is frequently mobilized in public discourse and is elicited by specific incidents. But what role do emotions play in questions of punishment for crime? In a new article published in Psychology, Crime & Law, a research team from McGill University, Institut national […]

Among many of the Tsimane’ people, who live in a remote region of the Bolivian rainforest, numbers do not play an important role in their lives, and people living in this society vary widely in how high they can count. A new study from MIT and the University of California at Berkeley has found a […]

Earth has discovered it has a secret valentine — an asteroid called 2020 XL5. An international team of astronomers confirmed this week that the asteroid shares our planet’s orbit, only the second asteroid ever discovered to do that. The revelation is important because these Earth Trojans may help explain how planets formed in the solar […]

Soil tillage on farms may significantly reduce the availability in crops of ergothioneine (ERGO), an amino acid produced by certain types of soil-borne fungi and bacteria that is known as a “longevity vitamin” due to its potent antioxidant properties, according to new research by an interdisciplinary team at Penn State. The study is among the […]