Chemistry
- Health & Medicine
Scientists Say: Calorie
These little units help us measure energy transfer in chemistry, nutrition and beyond.
- Chemistry
Pollution power? A new device turns carbon dioxide into fuel
Scientists made a device that converts the greenhouse gas into formate. This salt can then run a fuel cell to make electricity.
- Environment
New ultrathin materials can pull climate-warming CO2 from the air
To slow global warming, we’ll need help from CO2-trapping materials. Enter MXenes. They’re strong and reactive — and they love to eat up CO2.
- Tech
Particles from tree waste could prevent fogged lenses, windshields
A new coating made from a renewable resource — water-loving nanoparticles made from wood — could keep glass surfaces fog-free.
- Plants
Young corn leaves can ‘smell’ danger
As they mature, these leaves lose their ability to detect threatening scents.
- Climate
Hydrogen energy could help our climate — depending on its source
Hydrogen energy doesn’t emit greenhouse gases when it’s used. But how it’s produced will affect how useful it can be in slowing climate change.
- Tech
Explainer: The hydrogen rainbow
Hydrogen works the same, regardless of its source. But how clean or “green” it is very much hinges on its color-coded name — which points to how it was made.
- Tech
Engineers cook up a new way to tackle CO2: Make baking soda
Engineers have found a material that can collect carbon dioxide from the air. When later mixed with water, it forms baking soda that can be shed in the sea.
- Chemistry
Scientists turn plastic wastes into soap
Chemists developed a way to turn plastic waste into surfactants. Those chemicals could one day become key recruits in a greener war on grime.
- Chemistry
Scientists Say: Lignin
This rigid polymer transports water and gives trees their strength.
- Environment
Ultrasound waves can help remove polluting microplastics in water
The innovative process concentrates microplastics within a flowing liquid. A two-step process then removes the potentially toxic bits.
- Chemistry
Experiment: Kimchi chemistry
In this cooking and food science project, we make kimchi from scratch and investigate changes in pH and glucose as it ferments.
