NEW YORK - industrial chemical Scientists have developed a new method to break down plastic waste, using moisture from the air. By exposing a common type of plastic to an inexpensive catalyst and leaving it exposed to ambient air, researchers broke down 94% of the material in just four hours. The plastic transformed into terephthalic
NEW YORK. - Our immune system is talented at telling the difference between the chemistry of our own body and that of an invading pathogen. When it malfunctions, our body can become host to an intense civil war. Scientists are keen to understand this in more detail, and a newly identified 'switch' that deactivates a
NEW YORK - Scientists have discovered a new way to destroy cancer cells. Stimulating aminocyanine molecules with near-infrared light caused them to vibrate in sync, enough to break apart the membranes of cancer cells. Aminocyanine molecules are already used in bioimaging as synthetic dyes. Commonly used in low doses to detect cancer, they stay stable in water and are
Mars may have been more similar to the Earth than we knew, with wet and dry seasons conducive to life, according to scientists. Researchers have discovered fossil evidence suggesting the Red Planet had a cyclical climate more than three billion years ago. Scientists believe wet and dry seasons would have provided ideal conditions for the formation of complex ancient
NEW YORK - The last decade has seen great strides in the application of artificial intelligence to scientific discovery, but practitioners need to know when and how to improve their use of AI and must challenge poor data quality. From drug discovery, material science, astrophysics and nuclear fusion, scientists using AI are seeing results in improved accuracy
COLOGNE - A new study from Germany has potentially found the answers to time-old questions: what drives ageing and what can we do to reverse it? Despite centuries of research and progress in medicine, there are still many mysteries that remain unresolved, chief among them being an understanding of what causes ageing and how can
NEW YORK - Due to global warming, a deep ocean current around Antarctica that has been relatively stable for thousands of years could head for "collapse" over the next few decades. Such a sudden shift could affect the planet's climate and marine ecosystems for centuries to come. So says a recent study that was published in the peer-reviewed
NEW YORK - Humans' historical greenhouse gas emissions have caused the climate crisis the world is in today. But it's the amount emitted now and in coming years that will determine whether humanity can avert catastrophic climate changes. That's the main finding of a new study published in the journal Nature Climate Change on Monday, which
DETROIT - Lithium-ion batteries are the backbone of most of today’s electronic devices, including electric vehicles. But for all of their game-changing benefits, the batteries still have an inherent flaw: dendrites. These thin, snaking, tree-like pieces of lithium form sharp points and end up piercing the battery, causing short circuits and other problems. This ultimately
