Category Archives: Slinn Pickings
February 22, 2012 – 4:00 am
The quest for sugars involved in origin of life - A team from University of the Basque Country have managed to isolate a sugar -- a ribose -- in the gas phase, and to characterize a number of its structures. The article has been published by the Angewandte Chemie International Edition.
February 21, 2012 – 2:00 pm
UMass Amherst Chemical Engineers Discover ‘Mini-Cellulose’ Molecule That May be Key to Maximizing Biofuel Production - Chemical engineers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have discovered a small molecule that behaves the same as cellulose when it is converted to biofuel. Studying this "mini-cellulose" molecule reveals for the first time the chemical reactions that take place in wood and prairie grasses during high-temperature conversion to biofuel. The new technical discovery was reported in the January 2012 issue of the journal Energy & Environmental Science and highlighted in Nature Chemistry.
February 21, 2012 – 1:00 pm
Scientists prove Turing's tiger stripe theory - Researchers from King's College London have provided the first experimental evidence confirming a great British mathematician's theory of how biological patterns such as tiger stripes or leopard spots are formed.
February 21, 2012 – 12:00 am
New drugs show promise for preventing 'absence seizures' in children - A team led by a University of British Columbia professor has developed a new class of drugs that completely suppress absence seizures – a brief, sudden loss of consciousness – in rats, and which are now being tested in humans.
February 20, 2012 – 10:00 am
Consistent Avogadro number a step nearer - Chemical metrologists in Canada have made the most accurate measurement of silicon's molecular weight to date in a bid to derive a consistent and internationally acceptable figure for the Avogadro constant. The work forms a key part of the redefinition of the kilogram, agreed last year by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures.
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