Adsorption commonly is understood as the reversible binding of molecules and atoms from the gaseous or liquid phase on surfaces, mostly of highly porous adsorbent media. In chemisorption a single layer of molecules, atoms or ions is attached to the adsorbent surface by chemical bonds; in physisorption only van der Waals forces are involved. The […]
Face morphing has become quite popular in the last years; from mixing the faces of two celebrities to guessing how your baby could look, many TV shows and apps use software which changes one face into another through a continuous and smooth transition. Among the different mathematical tools that can be used for face morphing […]
Modern organic industrial chemistry started when William Henry Perkin serendipitously synthesized mauveine in 1856 while he was attempting the total synthesis of quinine. Since then, thousands of new organic products have been created in the laboratory for industrial purposes. Among them, in 1913, an orange-red pigment was found, first known as Vat Orange 3 dye […]
Sometimes, scientists give very good news, and in 2017 we have had one of these occasions. Boys suffering from X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy (X-ALD), a devastating neurodegenerative disease, have been cured with gene therapy. The STARBEAM study was performed by an international team headed by David A. Williams from the Boston Children’s Hospital in Massachusetts (USA), and […]
«BPA-Free», «No Bisphenol A» and similar labels have become a sort of seal of quality for those products where they are on display, especially containers and baby products. But, what is bisphenol A? In 1936 bisphenol A (BPA) was identified as a synthetic estrogen, this is, an artificial compound that shows estrogen-mimicking action. Estrogens are […]
What only a decades ago seemed impossible for chemists, determining the chemical structure of molecules directly from experimental images, is now routinely done. Not only that, the information about bond order, intermediates, and products of on-surface chemical reactions or charge distribution within molecules can also be quantified from those images. Two main techniques have made […]
Vitamin D is an atypical vitamin because it is not a real vitamin. Vitamins are supposed to be essential, meaning that our organism cannot live without them but their synthesis cannot take place in our cells, so we must ensure an external intake through the diet. However, only 10% of vitamin D daily requirements come […]
Chemistry • Condensed matter • Energy • Materials • Physics • Quantum physics
Following the need for new and renewable sources of energy worldwide, fuel cells using electrocatalysts can be thought of as viable options. Catalyst materials modify and increase the rate of chemical reactions without itself undergoing any permanent change. An electrocatalyst is a catalyst that participates in electrochemical reactions and that functions at electrode surfaces or […]
Our society will be facing a number of health-related challenges in the near future, partly as a consequence of our own practices. Perhaps the best known examples are the (severe) health issues linked to smoking (not just to smokers, but also their children via epigenetic changes) or the abnormally high intake of carbohydrates, with the […]
The study of nuclear receptors includes a great variety of approaches and techniques: from experiments with transgenic mice assessing their roles in the organism, to three-dimensional methods at the atomic level, in which the position of each amino acid and its function are examined. Dr. Estébanez’s research line focuses in the latter feature. T he […]