Chemspy chemistry news and views

(Southeastern Universities Research Association) The Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, a US Department of Energy nuclear physics research laboratory, generates more than $271 million in economic output and 2,200 jobs in the Commonwealth of Virginia, according to an economic impact study just completed for Jefferson Science Associates, LLC.In the Hampton Roads area, the lab generates $164 million in economic output and 1,239 jobs. Nationally, the lab provides $760 million in economic output and 4,734 jobs.

(Technische Universitaet Muenchen) To defend microbial attacks, the human body naturally produces a group of antibiotics, called defensins. An interdisciplinary team of biochemists and medical scientists has now deciphered the mechanism of action of a defensin, hitherto looked upon as exhibiting only minor activity. Their results might be useful in future drug development for inflammatory and infectious diseases. Nature now presents their findings online ahead of the print publication.

(European Space Agency) The Mars Express has returned images from the Jan. 9, 2011, Phobos flyby. Mars Express passed Mars' largest moon at a distance of 100km.

(University of Montreal) Around one in four Montrealers take some kind of anti-depressant, and according to new research, the drugs are passing into the waterways and affecting fish. The findings are internationally significant as the city's sewage treatment system is similar to that in use in other major cities.

(Massachusetts Institute of Technology) A water hammer can occur when a valve is suddenly opened or closed in a pipe carrying water or steam, causing a pressure wave to travel down the pipe with enough force that it can sometimes cause the pipes to burst. Now, new research shows that a similar effect takes places on a tiny scale whenever a droplet of water strikes a surface.