Hacker News with Generative AI: Chemistry

Modification of acetaminophen to reduce liver toxicity and enhance drug efficacy (societyforscience.org)
Chloe Yehwon Lee, 17, of Murphy, explored a way to lower the toxic effects of acetaminophen (Tylenol) on the liver for her Regeneron Science Talent Search chemistry project.
Lockheed Martin and IBM combine quantum computing with HPC in new research (ibm.com)
In a new paper published in The Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation, researchers from IBM Quantum® and Lockheed Martin demonstrate how a quantum computer can help accurately model the electronic structure of certain molecules.
Genetic-engineered bacteria break down industrial contaminants (arstechnica.com)
Over the last century or more, humanity has been developing an ever-growing number of new chemicals that have never been seen before by Earth's creatures.
Dangerously high levels of arsenic and cadmium found in store-bought rice (cnn.com)
Transformer: The Deep Chemistry of Life and Death (nick-lane.net)
What brings the Earth to life, and our own lives to an end?
Coupling furfural oxidation for H2 production using silicon photoelectrodes (nature.com)
To commercialize the technology of photoelectrochemical hydrogen production, it is essential to surpass the US. Department of Energy target of 0.36 mmol h−1 cm−2 for 1-sun hydrogen production rate.
LLMs for Materials and Chemistry: 34 Real-World Examples (arxiv.org)
Large Language Models (LLMs) are reshaping many aspects of materials science and chemistry research, enabling advances in molecular property prediction, materials design, scientific automation, knowledge extraction, and more.
BBC Elements Podcast (2014) (bbc.co.uk)
A close look at chemical elements, the basic building blocks of the universe. Where do we get them, what do we use them for and how do they fit into our economy?
Why do electrons not fall into the nucleus? (libretexts.org)
The picture of electrons "orbiting" the nucleus like planets around the sun remains an enduring one, not only in popular images of the atom but also in the minds of many of us who know better.
Scientists Develop Artificial Leaf, Uses Sunlight to Produce Valuable Chemicals (newscenter.lbl.gov)
Researchers from the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) along with international collaborators have brought us one step closer to harnessing the sun’s energy to convert carbon dioxide into liquid fuel and other valuable chemicals.
Scientists confirm vitamin B1 hypothesis from 1958 (news.ucr.edu)
Chemists have confirmed a 67-year-old theory about vitamin B1 by stabilizing a reactive molecule in water — a feat long thought impossible.
Scientists make water-repellent replacement for toxic 'forever chemicals' (phys.org)
A team of international scientists has invented a substitute for synthetic chemicals, called PFAS (perfluoroalkyl substances), which are widely used in everyday products despite being hazardous to health and the environment.
Calcium may have unlocked the origins of life's molecular asymmetry (sciencedaily.com)
A new study led by researchers at the Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI) at Institute of Science Tokyo has uncovered a surprising role for calcium in shaping life's earliest molecular structures.
Boron-Based Flame Retardants: Enabling Everyday Safety (borax.com)
On November 6, 1961, one of the most costly and destructive residential fires in California history ignited.
Japanese scientists create new plastic that dissolves in saltwater overnight (newatlas.com)
Scientists at RIKEN in Japan have developed a new type of plastic that’s just as stable in everyday use but dissolves quickly in saltwater, leaving behind safe compounds.
Scientists Discover New Heavy-Metal Molecule 'Berkelocene' (newscenter.lbl.gov)
A research team led by the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has discovered “berkelocene,” the first organometallic molecule to be characterized containing the heavy element berkelium.
Scientists break down plastic using a simple, inexpensive catalyst and air (phys.org)
Harnessing moisture from air, Northwestern University chemists have developed a simple new method for breaking down plastic waste.
Indian chemical company employees indicted for Importing of Fentanyl Precursors (justice.gov)
An India-based chemical manufacturing company and three high-level employees were charged in federal court in Washington, D.C., today related to illegally importing precursor chemicals used to make illicit fentanyl.
Chemists develop dye stack that mimics plant energy conversion (phys.org)
With artificial photosynthesis, mankind could utilize solar energy to bind carbon dioxide and produce hydrogen. Chemists from Würzburg and Seoul have taken this one step further: They have synthesized a stack of dyes that comes very close to the photosynthetic apparatus of plants. It absorbs light energy, uses it to separate charge carriers and transfers them quickly and efficiently in the stack.
The Molecule of the Month (bris.ac.uk)
Each month since January 1996 a new molecule has been added to the list on this page, which makes this one of the longest running Chemical websites on the internet!
Philly's street fentanyl contains a chemical called BTMPS used in plastic (theconversation.com)
As much as half of the fentanyl sold on Philly’s streets contains an industrial chemical used in plastics manufacturing. That’s according to our November 2024 testing of fentanyl samples collected in Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood, regarded as the largest open-air drug market on the East Coast.
Michael Faraday's illustrated notes to be posted online (theguardian.com)
He was a self-educated genius whose groundbreaking discoveries in the fields of physics and chemistry electrified the world of science and laid the foundations for Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity nearly a century later.
Artificial photosynthesis directed toward organic synthesis (nature.com)
Inspired by natural photosynthesis, artificial photosynthesis has been gaining increasing interest in the field of sustainability/green science and technology as a non-natural and thermodynamically endergonic (ΔG° > 0, uphill) solar-energy-driven reaction that uses water as an electron donor and a source material.
Benzene is not quite how we think it is (2020) (springernature.com)
Benzene is a molecule at the heart of chemical culture, and a battleground for competing views on electronic structure. We applied an algorithm to extract Kekulé structures from a wave function, finding that electron correlation causes electrons of each spin to occupy alternate Kekulé structures.
A New, Chemical View of Ecosystems (quantamagazine.org)
Rare and powerful compounds, known as keystone molecules, can build a web of invisible interactions among species.
Bird study finds larger volumes of toxic PFAS chemicals than previously reported (phys.org)
Researchers studying birds and the food they eat are now finding much larger volumes of the toxic PFAS chemicals than before.
What Rosalind Franklin contributed to the discovery of DNA's structure (nature.com)
Chemist Rosalind Franklin independently grasped how DNA’s structure could specify proteins.
Chemists find greener path to making ethylene oxide, a key industrial chemical (phys.org)
Scientists have discovered a potentially greener way to produce a crucial industrial chemical used to make many everyday products, from plastics and textiles to antifreeze and disinfectants, according to a study published in Science and co-authored by Tulane University chemical engineer Matthew Montemore.
As China sweeps top spots, chemistry seems to be dying in the US (scmp.com)
There is a seismic shift happening in global scientific leadership: China is cementing its dominance in chemistry research, while Western institutions are facing cutbacks.
Brewing tea removes lead from water (news.northwestern.edu)
Good news for tea lovers: That daily brew might be purifying the water, too.