In The News: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Astronauts now print their own parts in space to repair the International Space Station. Scientists at Harvard just discovered a way to print organ tissue — an important step toward possibly creating 3D-printed biological organs. These are just two examples of how 3D printing, or additive manufacturing, is revolutionizing science and technology.
Argonne scientists look to 3D printing to ease separation anxiety, which paves the way to recycle more nuclear material.
Astronauts now print their own parts in space to repair the International Space Station. Scientists at Harvard just discovered a way to print organ tissue ― an important step toward possibly creating 3D-printed biological organs. These are just two examples of how 3D printing, or additive manufacturing, is revolutionizing science and technology.
Tech red, an enigmatic technetium compound that has resisted characterisation for half a century, has been identified using chemical detective-work and computer modelling. The molecule’s unusual chemistry may explain why it has proven so difficult to unmask.1
San Diego native Jacqueline Phan passed on opportunities to study in California so she could contribute to biochemistry research here in Las Vegas.
The tiny nation of Denmark has just three stations for monitoring atmospheric radiation. Each week, scientists change out air filters in the detectors and take the used ones to a technical university near Copenhagen.
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
It’s a beekeeper’s nightmare: She lifts the lid on her carefully tended hive and is greeted with a whiff of rotting flesh. Further inspection finds that the young bees of the colony, who should be plump, pearly-white larvae, have melted into a puddle of brownish goo at the bottom of their cells. This colony is infected with American foulbrood disease—most likely a death sentence.
Efforts to improve safety standards and practices in academic labs are multiplying at universities and colleges across the country, but teaching safety as rules and compliance is insufficient, experts agree. Instead, students need to learn and practice a range of safety skills, according to guidelines for undergraduate education issued last year by the American Chemical Society (ACS). Among other skills, students must be taught how to understand categories of hazards, “recognize … hazards in laboratories, assess the risks from these hazards, know how to minimize the risks, and prepare for emergencies,” the guidelines say.
Electric car company Tesla is forging a formal research partnership with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
UNLV and Tesla Motors have teamed up to give a jolt to Nevada’s economy and UNLV’s engineering program.
After nearly a year of construction on its gigafactory near Reno, the electric car and battery company Tesla is extending its influence to the southern half of the state.