In a novel study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers from the University of Twente have made significant strides in understanding the behavior of micro- and nanobubbles on electrodes during water electrolysis. This process is crucial for (green) hydrogen production. These tiny bubbles form on the electrodes, blocking the flow of electricity and reducing the efficiency of the reaction.

An increasing number of bacteria have become resistant to many commonly used antibiotics. Researchers from Bochum have discovered a fresh opportunity for a potential active molecule whose predecessor was rejected. By studying its interaction with the bacterial target protein very precisely in three dimensions, they identified a previously undetected point of attack that could be targeted by this compound.

The synthesis of metallic inorganic compound thin films typically requires high-temperature processes, which hampers their applications on flexible substrates. Recently, a research team at City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK) developed a pulse irradiation technique that synthesizes a variety of thin films in an extremely short time under ultra-low temperature.

A research team led by Prof Zhang Guoqing from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have presented a novel molecular-solid sensor that enables rapid chiral recognition of natural amino acids through room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP), overcoming the limitations of structural complementarity and generality in traditional luminescence-based methods. Their findings are published in Nature Communications.

The Southern Ocean, a region critical to Earth's climate, hosts vast blooms of microscopic ocean plants known as phytoplankton. They form the very basis of the Antarctic food web.

In most cases, antibiotics are a reliable form of protection against bacterial infections. They have saved billions of human lives since their introduction. This protection, however, is threatened by bacteria's resistance to classical antibiotics and by their aggressive pathogenicity.

Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS or "forever chemicals," have become persistent pollutants in the air, water and soil. Because they are so stable, they can be transported throughout the water cycle, making their way into drinking water sources and precipitation.

Disk-related back pain may one day meet its therapeutic match: Gene therapy delivered by naturally derived nanocarriers that, a new study shows, repairs damaged disks in the spine and lowers pain symptoms in mice.

Vanilla extract is one of the most widely used flavoring compounds in food products and cosmetics. The pleasant and sweet smell of this classic flavor is imparted by the chemical compound "vanillin" found in the seed pods of vanilla plants belonging to the orchid family. In plants, vanillin is synthesized by the conversion of ferulic acid by the enzyme—VpVAN. However, laboratory biosynthesis of vanillin from plant-derived VpVAN yields only very small quantities of vanillin, and is, therefore, commercially impractical.

Between 5 and 21% emission reductions: this is the empirically measured effect of carbon pricing systems in their first few years of operation. A research team now identifies these findings for 17 real-world climate policies around the globe, condensing the state of knowledge more comprehensively than ever. The team uses artificial intelligence to collate existing surveys, making them comparable using a novel calculation concept.