The biggest chemistry stories of 2020
2021-01-06
(Press-News.org) 2020 was an eventful year, with science at the front and center of most news cycles. As this seemingly long year wraps up, Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, is highlighting the biggest chemistry stories, top research trends and predictions for the coming year.
Predictably, research on the novel coronavirus was the biggest chemistry story of the year, beginning in January when the genetic code for SARS-CoV-2 was published. Since then, thousands of papers have been published on the subject, with topics like mask efficacy, disinfectants and virus transmission getting the most attention. Other popular chemistry subjects included new insights about the atmospheres of other planets and how climate change fueled the year's wildfires. New lab tools and discoveries also caught the attention of C&EN editors, including a magnetic stir bar that measures a solution while it mixes, a mobile robot that can do the lab's "grunt work," a 3D printed fluorescent material considered the world's brightest and a metallic berry that could help researchers design new materials.
With 2020 in the rearview mirror, C&EN asked experts to weigh in on what might be in store for the coming year. Predictions for 2021 include advances in artificial intelligence, connectivity and automation, as well as increased interdisciplinary projects, all of which will help tackle big issues in a socially distanced world. Other guesses include new technologies that will make urban water supplies safer and increase recycling capabilities while reducing energy use. The ongoing pandemic also has researchers applying lessons learned from 2020 into the new year, from chemistry education strategies to the key role of nanoscience in scientific collaboration.
INFORMATION:
The article, "C&EN's Year in Chemistry 2020," is freely available here.
The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. ACS' mission is to advance the broader chemistry enterprise and its practitioners for the benefit of Earth and its people. The Society is a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related information and research through its multiple research solutions, peer-reviewed journals, scientific conferences, eBooks and weekly news periodical Chemical & Engineering News. ACS journals are among the most cited, most trusted and most read within the scientific literature; however, ACS itself does not conduct chemical research. As a specialist in scientific information solutions (including SciFinder® and STN®), its CAS division powers global research, discovery and innovation. ACS' main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.
To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org.
Follow us: Twitter | Facebook
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2021-01-06
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death associated with smoking cigarettes. But as use of e-cigarettes ("vaping") becomes more popular, including as a way to cut back on cigarettes, little is known about its effect on cardiovascular health.
Now, a new Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) study, published in the journal Circulation, finds that vaping may not cut risk of cardiovascular disease in the way that most adults use them--in combination with cigarettes.
"Dual use of cigarettes and e-cigarettes appears to be as harmful to cardiovascular health as exclusive cigarette smoking," says study lead author Dr. Andrew Stokes, assistant professor of global health at BUSPH.
Stokes ...
2021-01-06
New Rochelle, NY, January 6, 2021--Women physicians feel pressured to spend more time in work-related citizenship tasks, based largely on their age and race. Nearly half of women perceived that they spent more time on citizenship tasks than their male colleagues, according to a study in Journal of Women's Health. Click here to read the article now.
"When compared to their younger counterpart, women physicians older than 49 years stated to feel obligated to volunteer for these tasks because of their age," state Priscila Armijo, MD, University of Nebraska Medical Center, and coauthors. "We also found that a higher proportion of women of color physicians perceived race as a factor in feeling obligated to volunteer for work-related citizenship ...
2021-01-06
They are as thin as a hair, only a hundred thousand times thinner--so-called two-dimensional materials, consisting of a single layer of atoms, have been booming in research for years. They became known to a wider audience when two Russian-British scientists were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010 for the discovery of graphene, a building block of graphite. The special feature of such materials is that they possess novel properties that can only be explained with the help of the laws of quantum mechanics and that may be relevant for enhanced ...
2021-01-06
Starting as a single cell, organisms undergo millions of generations of divisions to ultimately generate the bones, heart, brain and other components that make up a living being. The mainspring within this intricate process is the transfer of DNA through each subsequent cell split within discrete packets called chromosomes.
It's critical that all chromosomes are duplicated and precisely distributed through every generation of cell division. If the inherited chromosome components are altered, even slightly, birth defects and certain cancers can result.
A new study published in the journal Science by postdoctoral scholar Pablo Lara-Gonzalez, Division of Biological Sciences Professor Arshad Desai and their colleagues addresses ...
2021-01-06
Irvine, Calif., Jan. 6, 2021-- In the United States, Black, Latino and low-income communities have historically lacked nearby access to pharmacy services. To provide the first record of these "pharmacy deserts" in Los Angeles County, a University of California, Irvine study identified communities where the nearest pharmacy was at least one mile away.
Unlike previous studies, this one describes pharmacy deserts in terms of social determinants of health - such as owning a vehicle, crime rates and poverty - to determine which communities have the greatest need for pharmacy access. Published in the Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, ...
2021-01-06
The small GTPases of the ADP-ribosylation factor (Arf) family are key initiators of various physiological processes including secretion, endocytosis, phagocytosis and signal transduction. Arf family proteins function to mediate recruitment of cytosolic effectors to specific subcellular compartments. This process facilitates Arf effectors to perform cargo recognition, lipid modification or other cellular functions. Blocking the activities of Arf family proteins inhibits secretion of important molecules from the cell and also inhibits cellular uptake of nutrients. Defects in Arfs or their regulatory proteins are related to various inherited diseases, including X-linked intellectual disability (XLID), Joubert syndrome, Bardet-Biedl syndrome and cilia dysfunction. Thus, studying molecular ...
2021-01-06
When ridesourcing companies Uber and Lyft show up in urban areas, vehicle registrations per capita increase by 0.7% on average, increasing even more in car-dependent cities. Researchers reporting in the journal iScience on January 6 made this discovery by analyzing data from major US cities between 2011 to 2017, comparing trends in cities where Uber and Lyft entered with those where they didn't. They also found that Uber and Lyft displace transit more in cities with higher income and fewer children.
"I would have expected people to own fewer vehicles once they gain access to this alternative transportation mode," says Jeremy Michalek, a professor of engineering and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University and co-author ...
2021-01-06
Researchers have successfully used a DNA-editing technique to extend the lifespan of mice with the genetic variation associated with progeria, a rare genetic disease that causes extreme premature aging in children and can significantly shorten their life expectancy. The study was published in the journal Nature, and was a collaboration between the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health; Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Boston; and the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee.?
DNA is made up of four chemical bases -- A, C, G and T. Progeria, which is also known as Hutchinson-Gilford ...
2021-01-06
A new class of protein material that interacts with living cells without being absorbed by them can influence cell signaling, a new study shows. The material does this by binding and sequestering cell surface receptors.
The discovery could have far-reaching implications for stem cell research and enable the development of new materials designed to modulate the behavior of living systems.
The research, reported in the January 6 edition of Nature, was led by the Baker lab at the University of Washington School of Medicine and the Derivery lab at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, U.K. Their paper is titled, Design of Biologically Active Binary Protein 2D Materials.
Cells ...
2021-01-06
The westerlies--or westerly winds--play an important role in weather and climate both locally and on a global scale, by influencing precipitation patterns, impacting ocean circulation and steering tropical cyclones. So, finding a way to assess how they will change as the climate warms is crucial.
Typically, the westerlies blow from west to east across the planet's middle latitudes. But scientists have noticed that over the last several decades, these winds are changing, migrating poleward. Research suggests this is because of climate change. But, scientists have been debating whether the poleward movement of ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] The biggest chemistry stories of 2020
