Naming an element

The Iupac has confirmed the existence of elements 113, 115, 117, and 118. According to the NY times the task for naming them is now underway. There are many people from the media influencing naming of the element such as motor head, or wolverine. The one name proposed that stands out is Godzillium, which Susan Sampson thought fit for any of the elements. She states “Godzillium is a mythical, Japanese, and worthy of an element that is unnatural, radioactive and rapidly self-destructive.” Other proposed names are that of Greek gods, such as narcissium, because according to Holly Triebe “scientist have begun to play god”.  The less likely according to the NY times is Rikenium, since that name is of an institute that founded one of the elements. With all these suggestions floating about it is still a long process to name each element, because the discoverers must decide a name and submit it to Iupac for approval. This process will take some time to confirm, also the fact that this must occur four times. It will be a little while before the periodic table is updated

Mold Batteries?

Today I will be breaking bad stigmas about mold.  Up until now, you probably only think of mold as the gross stuff that forms on old bread and keeps you from being able to eat it.  However, recent scientific experiments at the University of Dundee in Scotland have shown that there is a good side to mold that we have not seen before.  According to this article from Sciencedaily,com, a certain kind of red bread mold, called Neurospora crassa, may be able to work as a rechargeable battery, and more efficiently than other batteries currently on the market.  Geoffrey Gadd, a professor at the university, figured this out by incubating the fungi in a media containing urea and manganese chloride in order to mineralize the biomass.  After heat treatment, they were left with a mixture of carbonized biomass and manganese oxides.  This complex had properties that made it ideal for use in lithium-ion batteries and super-capacitors.  As described by the picture below, this complex allows for electrons to flow around the manganese ions in the biomass.  This type of battery showed an excellent cycling stability and retained more than 90% capacity after 200 cycles.  This discovery may change the way we think about batteries and mold as well.

 

Creation of Bio-Based Polymers from Plants

Thomas  H. Epps III, an associate professor at the University of Delaware in the Material Science and Engineering department, is working towards the creation of bio-based polymers from plants, as discussed in an article from Sciencedaily.com. His goal is to create alternatives to petroleum-based polystyrene and he has demonstrated the design of such alternatives and has shown that they could be made from several different types of wood, including pine, cedar, spruce, and cypress. One of the major issues with creating these alternatives is that they have to show that they have similar cost and chemical properties as compared to what is already on the market. In the paper industry one of the many issues is the large quantity of byproduct that is produced as waste. Removal of these waste substances is then costly to deal with, and the paper industry itself is looking for an alternative method to dispose of them to save money. In this case, Epps looks to eliminate the need for disposal of these byproducts and instead use them for the polymers. In the way of their properties, these bio-polymers can match up with the polystyrene on the market, for example the temperatures they can withstand match polystyrene on both the high and low end of the spectrum. These same polymers that were created are also useful in viscoelastic materials, which are materials that combine properties of viscous fluids and elastic solids. Materials such as this allow for the substance to have some "give" to it while at the same time maintaining its shape. In previous trials to create such substances only a few distinct monomers were used and this raised separation costs at the end. To cut these costs the teams instead builds multi-component polymers from various bio-molecules, and this also allows them to create molecules with specific properties.

Gravitational Waves

As of last month, the group known as LIGO, was able to indirectly detect something that Einstein had predicted existed nearly 100 years ago. Einstein predicted the presence of gravitational waves. One of the oldest parts of Einstein's theory of relativity was the theory that space-time in fact is a fabric that can be bent by the presence of mass and energy.Masses are then accelerated in the Universe then produce ripples in fabric itself : these ripples are called gravitational waves. The detection of these gravitational waves predicts that gravity itself could be quantum in nature. There is no experimental evidence of this but, with the findings of gravitational waves convey this idea. Any mass that accelerates in a gravitational field can produce these gravitational waves yet, the gravitational field itself has to be incredibly strong. In order to detect, extremely large masses have to accelerate short distances. The only matter in the Universe that is capable of this feat are neutron stars and black holes. The difficult part about this is that neither of those things produce any light except for a type of neutron star known as a pulsar. The way gravitational fields were able to be discovered was the presence of a pulsar accelerating in the gravitational field of another neutron star and accelerating fast enough to combine. This discovery is truly important period in all sciences especially chemistry and physics. With the new discovery of waves, we can try and figure out how reality itself is quantum in nature. The mysteries of our Universe are closer to being solved. Another aspect that is truly astonishing about this discovery is that Einstein was able to predict their existence nearly 100 years ago. It is incredible to think how much more Einstein could have uncovered if he had access to the technology today or simply if he lived 10 more years into the 1960's. 

100% Efficiency for Water-Splitting Reduction Half-Reaction

Photocatalysts of the 100% efficiency water-splitting reduction half-reaction under visible light illumination.

Credit: Lilac Amirav, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology

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Researchers Philip Kalisman, Yifat Nakibli, and Lilac Amirav at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel have published a paper on the perfect efficiency for the reduction half-reaction for splitting water in an issue of Nano Letters overshadowing previous techniques which yielded only 60% hydrogen production with visible light.

Water splitting occurs in two steps, an oxidation half-reaction where two H₂O molecules are separated into four individual hydrogen ions and an O₂ molecule, and a reduction half-reaction where the four hydrogen ions form covalent bonds into two H₂ molecules in the presence of electrons. The second step is completed at perfect efficiency using 50-nm-long nanorods in an aqueous solution under visible light illumination. The light supplies the energy required to drive the reaction forward and the nanorods act as photocatalysts for the reaction. Within a stable system, this reaction has a turnover frequency of 360,000 moles of hydrogen per hour per mole of catalyst.

The major product of water splitting, hydrogen gas, is used to deliver energy in fuel cells. This alternative to fossil fuels emits only water providing safe and clean alternative energy to power automobiles and electronic devices that will not contribute to global warming. With this breakthrough in hydrogen production, fuel cell technology becomes a more viable source of alternative energy for the future.

Article

Nano Letters

Super-Bug Killing Disinfectants

Over the course of a year more than 100,000 people die from an infection they contracted in a hospital. A team of chemists at the University of Villanova are working toward creating a frontline of defense against these preventable infections. An article from phys.corg reports that Kevin P.C. Minbiole, PhD, and his team of researchers are developing chemical disinfectants that are are able to kill the bacteria causing many of these infections, even the drug-resistant strains.  The most widely used sanitizers incorporate "quaternary ammonium compounds(QACs) to lyse, or burst, harmful bacteria cells." These molecules are usually shaped like arrows, however the researchers have produced compounds that are shaped like tridents thereby increasing its ability to kill harmful bacteria. In the course of their research, they have produced over 300 different compounds and their results seem very promising.

Quite possibly the most exciting extension of this research is with the work being done with polymer chemist, Deanna Zubrist, PhD. Over the last year they have been working together in hopes of producing a polymer that incorporates these next-generation disinfectants that could be used in hospitals around the world. They hope they can produce a plastic-like polymer that could cover various surfaces throughout hospitals to reduce the risk of infection.

This research is a prime example of the blessing and a curse that science/chemistry has been to the world. Advances in science have given us antibiotics that saves lives. But they have also made us more susceptible to contracting drug-resistant strains of infections.

Pharmacogenomics: The Necessary Evil of Medicine?

With so many advances in medicine in a world and time built on customization, it was only a matter of time before the two ideas collided. Pharmacogenomics is the study of how our genes respond to drugs, this information is then used to tailor drug regiments that are optimized for your genetic makeup. The field is fast growing and has proven to be very effective in the treatment regiments of certain cancers as well as certain autoimmune diseases. Now, although this may sound like an overall benefit it can also be dangerous. President Obama in a recent White House forum regarding his Precision Medicine Initiative (PMI), which aims to collect genetic data on a million American volunteers for this very purpose, weighed in saying that discoveries that stem from his DNA should belong to him. “I would like to think that if somebody does a test on me or my genes, that that’s mine, but that’s not always how we define these issues,” are the exact words he used to describe this complex debate and even yet with so much controversy surrounding the use of our own private genome for science the program still funded with about $200 million as of December of 2015. Why you may ask? Because the future of medicine may very well lie in pharmacogenomics. Even the NIH believe that through advancements in this field the PMI will enable and usher in a new era of medicine, not just in terms of treatment but also for prevention strategies. All in all pharmacogenomics is the necessary “evil” of medicine only when the genetic data necessary for the drug regiments is misused. However the future is bright, with several government regulation agencies involved there’s no way that the information provided will be misused. Or is there?’

President Weighs In on Data From Genes

PMI Report