This week on Chemistry World
Posted by Chemistry World on Mon 4 Apr 2011Categories: News | 1 Comment
4 April 2011: Have something to say about an article you’ve read on Chemistry World this week? Leave your comments below…
This week’s stories:
One catalyst, two reactions
novel material that can catalyse two separate, sequential reactions in one pot
Pocket sized fuel cell, a step closer
Clean catalytic conversion of formic acid to hydrogen paves the way for pocket sized fuel cells
Surface plasmons create vivid holograms
Natural colour images that appear under white light could lead to moving 3D pictures and ‘revolutionary’ personalised medicine tools
Long chains give new life to RNA world hypothesis
Molecular evolution of a new enzyme made of RNA has revitalised a ‘dead end’ in RNA chemistry
Molecular fridge can reach millikelvin
A new high-performance molecular cooler capable of reaching ultra-low temperatures based on CuGd metallic clusters
Power sources get flexible
A high energy density, non-toxic battery for malleable electrochemical applications
Mars chemistry reveals how red planet cooled
Data on thorium, silicon and iron gathered by the Mars Odyssey spacecraft has been used to build a thermal history
Pfizer sells capsule business for $2.4bn
The divestment could be the first of several intended to bring about a smaller but fitter company
IP costs cut under new US scheme
The energy department hopes to boost uptake of technology from its national labs by cutting upfront costs to $1000
New cream blocks nickel allergy
Nanoparticles trap nickel on skin’s surface before it can irritate
Mighty micelles that make themselves
Ticking all the right boxes: polycarbonate polymers that are antibiotic, biodegradable – and that self assemble into bacteria busting micelles
Tue 12 Apr 2011 at 10:17 pm
The pocket sized fuel cell sounds like a cool idea, but the idea of carrying little packets of formic acid around to plug into my fuel cell sounds like a recipe for disaster. What happens if my formic acid packets are carried on my person and they burst either accidentally or from hard contact (say, for example, a fall or a car wreck)? That could be a serious problem, and it needs to be addressed head on before going into production.