Prediction of titanic nitride proved unsinkable

26-Jan-2018 - A team of experimental and computational scientists led by Carnegie's Tim Strobel and Venkata Bhadram have synthesized a long sought-after form of titanium nitride, Ti3N4, which has promising mechanical and optoelectronic properties. Standard titanium nitride (TiN), with a one-to-one ratio of ...

Sensors monitor cells at work

03-Jul-2013 - Transport proteins are responsible for moving materials such as nutrients and metabolic products through a cell's outer membrane, which seals and protects all living cells, to the cell's interior. These transported molecules include sugars, which can be used to fuel growth or to respond to ...

Graphene foam detects explosives, emissions better than today's gas sensors

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute engineering researchers overcome decade-old hurdle hampering development of nanostructure-based gas sensors

30-Nov-2011 - A new study from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute demonstrates how graphene foam can outperform leading commercial gas sensors in detecting potentially dangerous and explosive chemicals. The discovery opens the door for a new generation of gas sensors to be used by bomb squads, law enforcement ...

Putting a bull's-eye on the flu: Detailing influenza's structure for drug targeting

25-Oct-2010 - Beating the flu is already tough, but it has become even harder in recent years – the influenza A virus has mutated so that two antiviral drugs don't slow it down anymore. Reporting their findings in the journal Science, researchers from Florida State and Brigham Young move closer to ...

Highest X-ray energy used to probe materials

27-Jul-2010 - Scientists for the first time have dived into the effect that an intense X-ray free electron laser (XFEL) has on materials. Using the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) facility at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore scientists probed nitrogen gas at X-ray energies of up ...

Elemental bones

Bone samples could be the ultimate biomarker for environmental pollution

18-Jun-2010 - Exposure to chemical pollutants is of growing concern to regulators, health workers, and environmentalist groups alike. Now, researchers in the US and Russia have demonstrated that samples of human bone can act as a biological marker for dozens of metals and toxic elements across the periodic ...

Designer molecule detects tiny amounts of cyanide, then glows

26-Oct-2009 - A small molecule designed to detect cyanide in water samples works quickly, is easy to use, and glows under ultraviolet or "black" light. Although the fluorescent molecule is not yet ready for market, its Indiana University Bloomington creators report in the Journal of the American Chemical ...

Pitt researchers harness carbon nanomaterials for drug delivery systems, oxygen sensors

Researchers describe carbon nanocapsules for drug and energy storage in Advanced Materials, creation of highly sensitive oxygen sensors in Nature Chemistry

19-Aug-2009 - Two nanoscale devices recently reported by University of Pittsburgh researchers in two separate journals harness the potential of carbon nanomaterials to enhance technologies for drug or imaging agent delivery and energy storage systems, in one case, and, in the other, bolster the sensitivity of ...

New method for detecting nitroxyl will boost cardiac drug research

07-Jul-2009 - Wake Forest University scientists have developed a new research tool in the pursuit of heart medications based on the compound nitroxyl by identifying unique chemical markers for its presence in biological systems. Nitroxyl, a cousin to the blood-vessel relaxing compound nitric oxide, has been ...

Chemists synthesize herbal alkaloid

20-Apr-2009 - The club moss Lycopodium serratum is a creeping, flowerless plant used in homeopathic medicine to treat a wide variety of ailments. It contains a potent brew of alkaloids that have attracted considerable scientific and medical interest. However, the plant makes many of these compounds in ...