The Sciences
Snow Fleas Pack a Chemical Weapon
The cold-weather loving insect produces a never-before-seen chlorinated natural product to deter predators
Stories by Chemical & Engineering News
Mind
Fructose May Motivate People to Seek Out Food
Compared with glucose, fructose activates brain regions that enhance the psychological reward of eating
Tech
3-D Printer Turns Graphene into Electric Ink
The process could be used to print structures with applications in energy storage and tissue regeneration
The Sciences
Head of U.S. Chemical Safety Board Resigns
Rafael Moure-Erasa resigned under White House Pressure amid charges of mismanagement
The Sciences
Opossum Compounds Isolated to Help Make Antivenom
And researchers have engineered a common bacteria to inexpensively create the snakebite treatment
The Sciences
Pesky Packing Peanuts Baked and Crushed to Make Battery Electrodes
Chemical engineers flooded with the foam pieces figured out how to transform them into electrodes that work better than conventional ones
The Sciences
Moths Inspire Antireflective Coating that Could Help Devices Capture Light
A plastic film that mimics the microsized lenses in the compound eye of a moth could help boost solar cell efficiency and sharpen image sensors' views
The Sciences
Crop Pests Stopped by Plants That Cripple Attackers' RNA
The Colorado potato beetle, an "international super pest," has been stopped in its tracks by preventing the insect from synthesizing essential proteins
The Sciences
Drugs for Metabolism Could Reverse Lupus
Immune cells in mice with lupus symptoms have overactive metabolisms, so scientists inhibited two metabolic pathways and succeeded in reversing lupus symptoms in mice
The Sciences
General Mills to Remove Antioxidant BHT from Its Cereals
The action follows a campaign by blogger Food Babe, even though there is no scientific evidence showing that the additive is harmful in small quantities
Health
Sun Damages DNA in Skin Cells Long After Exposure
Certain damaging reactions that can lead to melanoma-causing mutations may take hours to evolve and mostly occur after you get out of the sun
The Sciences
Dynamic Duo of Compounds Help LEDs Transmit Wireless Data At High Speed
A pair of semiconducting polymers helps create a pleasant white light that can both illuminate a room and transfer information
Health
Light-Based Technique Helps Surgeons Excise Brain Cancer
A handheld Raman spectroscopy probe can detect cancer cells that infiltrate healthy tissue
The Sciences
Firefighters' Blood Holds Chemicals Related to Potentially Toxic Compound
A new technique helps to identify unreported fluorinated compounds in fire-suppressing foams
The Sciences
Self-Propelled Micromotors Take Their First Swim in the Body
Microsized tubes can now zip around in a mouse’s stomach and deliver cargo, suggesting the potential for improved functions of nanoparticle drug carriers and imaging agents
The Sciences
Designed Molecules Trap Cancer Cells in Deadly Cages
Sugar-like molecules self-assemble into a nano fiber web around bone cancer cells but spare healthy ones
The Sciences
Deep-Fried Graphene Spheres Could Make Good Battery Materials
Scientists sprayed graphene precursors into hot solvent to form pom-pom-like particles suitable for battery electrodes
Sustainability
Levels of Persistent Flame Retardants Decline in San Francisco Bay
Controversial PBDEs have started to disappear in bay sediment and wildlife after industry phaseouts and government bans
Sustainability
NYC Bans Expanded Polystyrene Food Containers, Opens Market to Alternatives
The chemical industry had fought for recycling of styrofoam materials to stave off prohibition
The Sciences
Chemical Cocktail Lures Bedbugs and Coaxes Them to Stay Put
A mixture of volatile organic compounds and histamine, a compound we produce during immune responses, could enable cheaper pest detection and control
