We live in a time when scientific applications are growing by leaps and bounds. This exponential growth has been possible, among other tools, thanks to the application of nanotechnology. There is something that nanotechnology has taught us: In science, size matters. When studying matter at nanometric levels, we find that the properties are completely different […]
Electrons do not move around nuclei in defined curved orbits. Our current understanding of how electrons are to be found in atoms and molecules is based on clouds of probability called orbitals as it is not possible to give a definite path for an electron. Thus, an orbital is a region in which an electron […]
Catalysis-based approaches for the activation of anticancer rely on the use of metal catalysts capable of deprotecting inactive precursors of organic drugs or transforming key biomolecules available in the cellular environment. Nevertheless, the efficiency of most of the schemes described so far is rather low, limiting the benefits of catalytic amplification as a strategy for […]
The advent of on-surface chemistry under vacuum has vastly increased our capabilities to synthesize carbon nanomaterials with atomic precision. Among the types of target structures that have been synthesized by these means, one-dimensional graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) have probably attracted the most attention, and for a good reason: t he enormous tunability of GNRs’ electronic properties […]
The reason that ibuprofen treats headaches and ice cream tastes sweet is that their chemical components fit perfectly into certain receptors in your body. The better a drug or flavor molecule fits with its matching receptor, the more effective the medicine or tastier the treat. But an interesting quirk of nature is that many […]
The eastern North American population of monarch butterflies are famous for their annual, multi-generational, round-trip migration from the oyamel fir forests of Central Mexico through the United States to Canada and back. Sadly, the population of monarch butterflies is declining, and the future of the monarch migratory phenomenon is uncertain. Scientists can study migrations by […]
Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is the genetic material of most living organisms, being a major constituent of the chromosomes within the cell nucleus and playing a central role in the determination of hereditary characteristics by controlling protein synthesis in cells. DNA is, thus, a nucleic acid composed of two chains of nucleotides in which there is […]
A cement is any of various substances used for bonding or setting to a hard material. A popular one, Portland cement, is a mixture of calcium silicates and aluminates made by heating limestone (CaCO3) with clay (that contains aluminosilicates) in a kiln. The product is then ground to a fine powder. When Portland cement is […]
People might once have considered oxygen a human right. But the pandemic has revealed that access to oxygen – in a pure form, for medical use – is a luxury in most low and middle-income countries. Getting access to pure oxygen for medical treatments is a complicated, expensive and often very dangerous business. The current […]
Molecules when excited from their ground state (S 0 ) to their lowest electronically excited states often change their electronic structure considerably, which impacts on a range of important molecular properties. For example, the reactivity of a molecule in its excited state often differs markedly from that in its S 0 state. Also, the charge […]