2024
Read summaries of cutting-edge chemistry research and news based on articles from ACS journals. Sign up to receive the weekly PressPac and other news alerts at newsroom@acs.org.
May
- ‘Forever chemicals’ found to rain down on all five Great Lakes
- Temperature, time and blueberry wine
- Scientists convert chicken fat into energy storage devices
- ‘Smart’ contact lenses could someday enable wireless glaucoma detection
- Swarms of miniature robots clean up microplastics and microbes, simultaneously (video)
- Centipedes used in traditional Chinese medicine offer leads for kidney treatment
- This highly reflective black paint makes objects more visible to autonomous cars
- Marriage of synthetic biology and 3D printing produces programmable living materials
April
- The longer spilled oil lingers in freshwater, the more persistent compounds it produces
- The secret to saving old books could be gluten-free glues
- This salt battery harvests osmotic energy where the river meets the sea
- Some plant-based steaks and cold cuts are lacking in protein
- Study finds iron-rich enamel protects, but doesn’t color, rodents’ orange-brown incisors
- Three advances in pavement technology — for safer, more sustainable roadways
- A new spin on organic shampoo makes it sudsier, longer lasting
- Four recent drug discoveries with unlikely inspirations
- Waterproof ‘e-glove’ could help scuba divers communicate
- How mosquito larva guts could help create highly specific insecticides
- Testing environmental water to monitor COVID-19 spread in unsheltered encampments
- Water-based paints: Less stinky, but some still contain potentially hazardous chemicals
- A simple way to harvest more ‘blue energy’ from waves
- Golfers’ risk from pesticides used on turfgrass is likely low, studies find
March
- Nutritional rewards and risks revealed for edible seaweed around Hawaii
- New model clarifies why water freezes at a range of temperatures
- Crawfish could transfer ionic lithium from their environment into food chain
- Cleaning up environmental contaminants with quantum dot technology
- Hitting this stretchy, electronic material makes it tougher
- Toxic metal particles can be present in cannabis vapes even before the first use
- Molecular crystal motors move like microbes when exposed to light
- Is food waste the key to sustainable, plastic-free diapers and sanitary pads?
- Artificial mucus identifies link to tumor formation
- New composite decking could reduce global warming effects of building materials
- Mimicking exercise with a pill
- The many flavors of edible ants
- Better kombucha brewing through chemistry
- Animal hair structure changes from summer to winter to fend off freezing weather
- Protein fragments ID two new ‘extremophile’ microbes — and may help find alien life
- You don’t need glue to hold these materials together — just electricity
- Lithium-ion batteries from drones might find second lives in less ‘stressful’ devices
February
- A bright idea for recycling rare-earth phosphors from used fluorescent bulbs
- Want fewer microplastics in your tap water? Try boiling it first
- ‘Artificial tongue’ detects and inactivates common mouth bacteria
- A new vibrant blue pottery pigment with less cobalt
- Highways through historically redlined areas likely cause air pollution disparities today
- Mercury levels in tuna remain nearly unchanged since 1971, study says
- Compounds in female ginseng could lead to new osteoporosis treatments
- Three unexpected foods in alternatives to traditional plastics
- Pesticides to help protect seeds can adversely affect earthworms’ health
- Cleaned surfaces may be germ-free, but they’re not bare
- Lighting up Alzheimer’s-related proteins to allow for earlier disease detection
- A sleeker facial recognition technology tested on Michelangelo’s David
- Five advances that could change heart health monitoring
January
- Lifetime of ‘biodegradable’ straws in the ocean is 8-20 months, study finds
- A non-allergenic wheat protein for growing better cultivated meat
- Puffed-up MOFs for improved drug delivery
- Using magnetized neurons to treat Parkinson’s disease symptoms
- Next-generation batteries could go organic, cobalt-free for long-lasting power
- Artificial ‘power plants’ harness energy from wind and rain
- Microplastics from natural fertilizers are blowing in the wind more often than once thought
- Glowing COVID-19 diagnostic test prototype produces results in one minute
- A more eco-friendly facial sheet mask that moisturizes, even though it’s packaged dry
- PFAS flow equally between Arctic Ocean and Atlantic Ocean, study finds
- Recent advances in medical applications of nanoparticles
- Designing the ‘perfect’ meal to feed long-term space travelers