Article archives

MI weekly selection #334

MI weekly selection #334

Weekly Selection

By César Tomé

Dragonfish teeth owe translucence to nanoscale structures Nanoscale structures make the teeth of deep-sea dragonfish translucent so they’re invisible to prey. The sharp, thin teeth are obscured in the dragonfish’s mouths due to the way the nanostructures minimize the scattering of light. Science News 10M-light-year-long magnetic field detected between galaxy clusters Two galaxy clusters appear […]

Diradical character a condition for stable n-type doped organic conducting materials

Diradical character a condition for stable n-type doped organic conducting materials

ChemistryCondensed matterMaterials

By DIPC

Many aromatic compounds can be made into organic semiconductors by doping them with a substance such as iodine, thereby producing mobile carriers of electric charge. This is analogous to the doping of silicon in an ordinary semiconductor. The benefits of using organic compounds are evident, namely, the resources are available everywhere, extremely cheap, and there […]

MI weekly selection #333

MI weekly selection #333

Weekly Selection

By César Tomé

CO 2 used as water alternative in fracking experiment Researchers in China have used carbon dioxide instead of water in a fracking process that could potentially be more environmentally friendly. CO2 was used in five wells drilled in a Chinese oilfield, producing as much as 20 times more oil than the water method, researchers said […]

Hexagonal boron nitride monolayer films can be successfully grown on a curved Ni(1 1 1) substrate

Hexagonal boron nitride monolayer films can be successfully grown on a curved Ni(1 1 1) substrate

ChemistryCondensed matterMaterialsPhysics

By DIPC

Since the discovery of graphene, a wide diversity of atomic-layer-thick, two-dimensional (2D) materials with varied properties have emerged. Of particular interest are those that exhibit semiconducting behavior, such as hexagonal boron nitride (hBN). hBN is isoelectronic to graphene and has also a honeycomb lattice formed by alternating nitrogen and boron atoms, but in contrast to […]

A universal theory for heteropolymer design

A universal theory for heteropolymer design

BiochemistryChemistryMaterials

By Invited Researcher

On our unique planet, life evolved under the pressure of natural selection. The evolution theory of Darwin demonstrates the incredible plasticity of the living organism. For millions of years, living organisms explored the conformational universe of proteins introducing new structures and function through genetic mutations. The genetic modifications are translated into the sequence of amino-acids […]

MI weekly selection #332

MI weekly selection #332

Weekly Selection

By César Tomé

New tool helps scientists visualize stem cell division A tool developed by the Allen Institute for Cell Science can help scientists see what a human stem cell looks like when it’s dividing. The Integrated Mitotic Stem Cell is a colorful 3D map of an average cell during various points in the cell division process. Forbes […]

On-surface synthesis: a guide for explorers

On-surface synthesis: a guide for explorers

ChemistryCondensed matterMaterials

By DIPC

The way a particular reaction proceeds, described in terms of the steps involved, is called mechanism. The study of organic chemistry is, to a great extent, the study of reaction mechanisms and textbooks content both their description and their applications. But something has come to revolutionize the world of mechanisms: surface chemistry. On-surface synthesis is […]