Chemistry

More Stories in Chemistry

  1. Climate

    As winters warm, athletes must cope with harder snow and tricky ice

    Ice arenas and artificial snow now dominate the winter Olympics. Athletes there — and everywhere — may need to adjust how they train and perform.

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  2. Materials Science

    ‘Stenciling’ tiny gold particles gives them new properties

    Decorating nanoparticles with other chemicals could give them useful properties for medicines, textiles and more.

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  3. Chemistry

    Scientists finally know why ice is so slippery

    It’s not because ice heats up and then partially melts. Rather, ice changes at the molecular level — a process scientists have finally modeled.

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  4. Animals

    Rudolph’s red nose could glow through bioluminescence

    Simple chemistry could give the reindeer his iconic red snout. But physics would make it look different colors to anyone who spied Rudolph from the ground.

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  5. Microbes

    Ants are the secret ingredient to this tasty yogurt

    The traditional yogurt-making technique was once popular in parts of Europe and Asia. But don’t try this at home!

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  6. Chemistry

    Let’s learn about surprising uses for human waste

    Around the world, scientists are investigating ways to turn poop and pee into fertilizer, fuel and construction materials.

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  7. Chemistry

    New materials yank ‘forever chemicals’ from water

    Materials known as metal-organic frameworks, or MOFs, trap some PFAS fast — and can be reused again and again.

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  8. Chemistry

    Structures that work like Hermione’s magic handbag land a chemistry Nobel

    Richard Robson, Susumu Kitagawa and Omar Yaghi developed these metal-organic frameworks, which can trap pollutants, collect water from air and more.

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  9. Physics

    New theory may at last explain a swamp’s ghostly will-o’-the-wisps

    Chemists have spotted tiny zaps of electricity moving between “swamp-gas” bubbles. Could they ignite methane gas to glow as dancing blue flames?

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