Pure silica particles – which were thought to be inert and are widely used in food and cosmetics – can facilitate oxidation of cell-protecting antioxidant thiol molecules by converting them to disulfides. Although the study did not investigate the reaction in vivo, the team suggests its findings are concerning and recommends further studies to determine […]

An associate professor of physical sciences who was shot and killed in a lab at the University of North Carolina (UNC) Chapel Hill on 28 August, has been identified as Zijie Yan. A second year PhD student in his research group, Tailei Qi, has been charged with his murder. Qi has also been charged with […]

In the last episode I outlined those aspects of Aristotle’s philosophy that would go on to play a significant role of the history of physics in later centuries. Because Aristotelian philosophy came to play such a central role in medieval thought in the High Middle Ages, there is a strong tendency to think that it […]

The chairman of the US Chemical Safety Board (CSB) has warned that hurricanes and high winds could ‘significantly impact’ the US bulk-power system and trigger the release of hazardous chemicals if facilities lose power. In a letter to the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) last month, CSB chair Steve Owens urges FERC’s acting chairman […]

10 key taste compounds and 11 aroma compounds are responsible for the unique flavour of sourdough bread. Researchers from the Technical University of Munich, Germany, who made the findings, say that this knowledge could help bakers to control the quality of their breads and make their products more consistent. The work was presented at the autumn […]

Peptoids – synthetic mimics of natural antimicrobial peptides – can inactivate a broad range of enveloped viruses by directly disrupting their lipid membranes. The molecules are also effective against certain bacteria and fungi, and get around some of the problems of developing peptides into drugs. Attempts to harness the antimicrobial peptides that various organisms employ […]

One of the current UK government’s most used soundbites describes its aspiration for the country to become a ‘science superpower’. This slogan gets an airing at almost every policy announcement related to research and development. But for all the talk of its ambition for the research sector, the government often seems reluctant to take on […]

Old Hulky[2] was thinking of taking time off for the summer and retiring to an ice floe[3] in the North Atlantic for a couple of weeks to escape the heat wave, when Neil deGrasse Tyson has to go and publish a piece of history of astronomy inanity that would have to look hard to find its equal […]

A combination of computational and experimental techniques unveils ‘encrypted’ peptides in proteomes of ancient humans with potential as antibiotic agents Neanderthal proteins could be a rich new source of medicinal molecules. The finding comes from researchers who have pioneered a technique called ‘molecular de-extinction’ by analysing the proteomes of ancient hominins. The work has already […]

Human activities like tubing and swimming significantly impact river chemistry, according to preliminary results from researchers at Johns Hopkins University and Colorado School of Mines that were presented at the autumn meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS) held in San Francisco, California and virtually. Last year, the Hopkins-led team examined samples from Clear Creek […]