Tularemia is a rare but highly infectious disease caused by Francisella tularensis, a bacterium that can evade immune defenses. Symptoms of infection can include fever, swollen lymph nodes, and—in some cases—pneumonia. What makes the pathogen especially concerning is how little it takes to cause infection—fewer than 10 bacterial cells can be enough. Scientists at Arizona State University have taken a key step toward understanding how this bacterium survives inside the human body. For the first time, the team has isolated and studied a set of proteins that play a central role in infection, revealing a potential weakness that could eventually be targeted with new treatments. The study is published in the journal Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA)–Biomembranes.
Chemical reactions drive life. They ensure that cells obtain energy, proteins perform their functions, and DNA changes under certain conditions. However, many of these processes occur on extremely small scales—so small and so fast that they are difficult to observe directly through experiments.
Simulating how atoms and molecules move over time is a central challenge in computational chemistry and materials science. Classical machine learning approaches to molecular dynamics (MD) encode fundamental physical principles directly into their model architectures, most notably energy conservation and equivariance, the requirement that predicted forces remain consistent regardless of how a molecule is oriented in space. These so-called inductive biases have long been considered essential for reliable, physically meaningful MD models. But are they truly indispensable?
The molecules of a highly toxic plant, known for its bell-shaped purple and pink flowers and found in some home gardens, have long been used to regulate human heart muscles.
As the weather cools in the southern hemisphere and energy prices climb, many of us are trying to stay warm without cranking the heating.
A new study published in Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biorefining highlights an innovative approach to transforming apple pomace—an often-discarded by-product of apple processing—into valuable bioethanol and animal feed ingredients. Apple pomace, which represents 25%–30% of processed apples, is typically treated as waste despite its rich carbohydrate content and strong potential for bioconversion.
Researchers from the University of Liverpool, Japan, and Argentina have captured atomic-resolution images of an important copper-containing enzyme using advanced X-ray Free Electron Laser (XFEL) technology at SACLA in Japan. XFEL technology generates ultra-bright, ultra-short X-ray pulses, enabling atomic-scale imaging and real-time observation of chemical, biological, and physical processes.
Short-chain perfluorinated and polyfluorinated alkyl compounds (PFAS) such as perfluorobutanoic acid (PFBA) are increasingly entering the environment via various pathways and contaminating groundwater and drinking water. Because PFAS are highly mobile, removing them has so far required a great deal of effort. But a research team at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) has developed a new technology to do so. According to an article recently published in Chemical Engineering Journal, the new process is more environmentally friendly and less energy-intensive.
In everyday life, our genetic material is constantly under attack from many factors. Environmental influences such as light, along with internal processes like inflammation, can generate oxidative stress that damages DNA and its downstream partner, RNA, which can lead to faster aging and diseases such as cancer.
A research team has developed a high-efficiency electrochemical system that simultaneously produces hydrogen and value-added chemicals using glycerol, a low-cost, abundant byproduct of biodiesel production. The findings are published in Joule.
Designing molecules is one of chemistry's most complex challenges. From life-saving drugs to advanced materials, each compound requires a precise sequence of reactions. Planning these steps demands both technical knowledge and strategic insight, making it a task that often relies on years of experience.
Researchers have demonstrated the first "all-in-one" cocatalyst for photocatalytic overall water splitting, a breakthrough that could simplify the production of clean hydrogen fuel. The discovery marks an important step toward practical technologies that use sunlight and water to generate hydrogen, a key energy carrier expected to play a major role in building a decarbonized and sustainable society.
Urea is an extremely important chemical, especially for fertilizers. But, making urea is energy intensive and relies heavily on fossil fuels. However, new findings from Griffith University and the Queensland University of Technology have highlighted new ways to produce urea electrochemically, using electricity and waste gases such as carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrogen oxides (NO) instead.
A research team led by Professor Jin Yong Lee from the Department of Chemistry of Sungkyunkwan University, with co-first author HyoungChul Ham, and in collaboration with research teams from Korea University and the National University of Singapore, has developed a next-generation phototherapeutic agent, "NDI-COE." This agent induces pyroptosis (inflammatory cell death) in hypoxic tumor tissues by directly oxidizing intracellular water.
An international research team led by DTU has developed a new magnetic material that features a stable internal magnetic structure, almost no external magnetic field, and retains these properties above room temperature. These characteristics may be important for future generations of electronic technologies, for example, within fields where magnetic properties are used instead of electrical charge to process information—so-called spintronics. The results have been published in the journal Nature Chemistry.
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