PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Just add water: How diluting ouzo liquor could lead to better emulsions

2023-03-08
(Press-News.org) It sounds like a party trick: Add water to the clear, licorice-flavored ouzo liquor, and watch it turn cloudy. This “ouzo effect” is an example of an easy way to make highly stable emulsions — or mixtures of liquids that don’t like being together, like vinaigrettes — but nobody has yet fully understood how it works. Now, researchers report in ACS Central Science that the secret may lie in the unique structure of the emulsion’s droplets.

Ouzo is a popular liquor enjoyed throughout Greece, often served as an aperitif before a meal. Its “effect” happens because the anise extract used to flavor it is soluble in alcohol but not in water. So, when water is added to ouzo or other anise-flavored liquors, such as absinthe, the extract precipitates into tiny, light-scattering droplets that make the drink take on a murky, opaque appearance. But exactly how these beads of liquid achieve such high stability in ouzo without the addition of any other substances, aside from water, isn’t well understood. Knowing how this works could help manufacturers more quickly and easily create stable emulsions, such as cosmetics and paints, on a large scale. Previously, researchers had examined pre-formed ouzo droplets, but no one has yet been able to view them up-close as they form. So, Nathan Gianneschi and colleagues wanted to take a more detailed look at this effect by using a high-resolution microscopy technique known as liquid phase transmission electron microscopy (LPTEM).

The researchers formed droplets by slowly adding water to a simulated ouzo solution, then watched them grow using LPTEM. They found that rather than consistently getting bigger, the droplets tended to reach a certain size then increase in “intensity” instead, with a dark ring on the outside. The spheres formed an internal, bubble-like structure, with a large concentration of the anise extract at the edge, and water and ethanol in the center. Even using commercially available ouzo, the same behavior was observed, though the droplets were smaller. The researchers say that this first-of-its-kind work both establishes the utility of the LPTEM technique and could help create other highly stable emulsions.

The authors acknowledge funding from the Army Research Office, the National Science Foundation, the Packard Foundation, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Sloan Foundation, the Northwestern University Graduate Research Fellowship, the Dr. John N. Nicholson Fellowship, and Procter & Gamble.

The paper’s abstract will be available on Mar. 8 at 8 a.m. Eastern time here: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acscentsci.2c01194

For more of the latest research news, register for our upcoming meeting, ACS Spring 2023. Journalists and public information officers are encouraged to apply for complimentary press registration by completing this form.

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 all its people. The Society is a global leader in promoting excellence in science education and 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 leader in scientific information solutions, its CAS division partners with global innovators to accelerate breakthroughs by curating, connecting and analyzing the world’s scientific knowledge. 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 | LinkedIn | Instagram

END


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Paving a smoother path to manuscript publication

Paving a smoother path to manuscript publication
2023-03-08
Shane Harper, DMS, PA-C, knows how difficult it is to launch a medical research journal and get it into the orbit of the scientific community. In 2022 he became the founding editor-in-chief for the West Texas Journal of Medicine, which published its inaugural issue in December. By establishing a medical research publication, Harper and the journal’s editorial board seek to provide an online publication that distributes original medical and health sciences-related research in a forum free of common predatory publication practices to ...

Paleontologists flip the script on anemone fossils

Paleontologists flip the script on anemone fossils
2023-03-08
Billions of sea anemones adorn the bottom of the Earth’s oceans — yet they are among the rarest of fossils because their squishy bodies lack easily fossilized hard parts. Now a team of paleontologists has discovered that countless sea anemone fossils have been hiding in plain sight for nearly 50 years. In a newly published paper in the journal Papers in Palaeontology, University of Illinois Chicago’s Roy Plotnick and colleagues report that fossils long-interpreted ...

Mezcal worm in a bottle: DNA evidence suggests a single moth species

Mezcal worm in a bottle: DNA evidence suggests a single moth species
2023-03-08
A new study published in PeerJ Life & Environment looked to identify the species of larva found in bottles of Mezcal. Mezcal is a distilled alcoholic beverage made from any type of agave.  Are people consuming larvae of the skipper butterfly Aegiale hesperiaris, or the larva of the moth Comadia redtenbacheri, the latter which is thought to be declining in numbers in recent years? Or is the worm the larva of a weevil, or another unidentified insect species? Researchers used DNA-based identification analysis of larvae inside 21 commercially ...

New device for lower extremity rehabilitation receives FDA approval!

New device for lower extremity rehabilitation receives FDA approval!
2023-03-08
COTRAS Co., Ltd. (hereon referred to as COTRAS), an innovative medical-device firm focused on rehabilitation products, has secured approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for MOBILISE, a medical device to help degenerative knee arthritis patients. MOBILISE has been promoted among UNIST (Professor Sang Hoon Kang), COTRAS Co., Ltd. (hereon referred to as COTRAS), Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), and Seoul National University Bundang Hospital (SNUH). The aim is to further develop the original technology created by UNIST ...

First nasal monoclonal antibody treatment for COVID-19 shows promise for treating virus, other diseases

2023-03-08
In a pilot trial and clinical sample-based investigations, the drug Foralumab decreased inflammatory markers in patients with COVID-19 Similar reduction in inflammatory markers were seen when given to patients with multiple sclerosis A pilot trial by investigators from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, tested the nasal administration of the drug Foralumab, an anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody. Investigators found evidence that the drug dampened the inflammatory T cell response and decreased lung inflammation in patients with COVID-19. Further analysis showed the same gene expression modulation in patients ...

Scientists show how gene expression controls synaptic plasticity in the aging human brain

Scientists show how gene expression controls synaptic plasticity in the aging human brain
2023-03-08
Scientific evidence shows how the cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is caused by the buildup of amyloid beta proteins, which promote synaptic malfunction. One of the neuropathological features in the brains of patients with AD is the degeneration of the basal forebrain cholinergic neurons, leading to a decrease in the number of cholinergic projections to the hippocampus. As a symptomatic treatment of AD, cholinergic neurotransmission is enhanced by the use of certain drugs, known as acetylcholinesterase inhibitors. For better prevention and treatment of cognitive disorders like AD and schizophrenia, it is necessary to understand how acetylcholine regulates synaptic transmissions.   Higher ...

UTSA ScooterLab receives $1.7M NSF award to deploy a fleet of data collecting e-scooters

UTSA ScooterLab receives $1.7M NSF award to deploy a fleet of data collecting e-scooters
2023-03-08
When a speedy campus scooter nearly collided with Murtuza Jadliwala, he had an epiphany. The micro-mobility form of transportation could be a vehicle for change. Scooters carry people as well as sensors—sensors that can collect a wealth of data. This data is key to improving the quality of life. With that in mind, Jadliwala, an associate professor in the UTSA Department of Computer Science, created the ScooterLab, which has received a $1.7M grant from the National Science Foundation. “This funding is critical for ScooterLab as it enables us to take this community research infrastructure from vision to reality,” Jadliwala said. “We are hoping that our new research ...

Two-year mission to study human impact on Europe’s seas and coastal regions

Two-year mission to study human impact on Europe’s seas and coastal regions
2023-03-08
Europe’s coastlines are environments rich in biodiversity that also represent important sites of  industry, culture, and heritage. Forty per cent of Europe’s population live within a coastal region, and many European societies have been, and still are, defined by their relationships with the sea.   Our seas and coasts represent key ecosystems that host an extremely rich diversity of life and play critical roles in the stability and sustainability of wider ecosystems. However, anthropogenic interferences such as pollution, farming, and building ...

Do school shootings increase stress-related emergency department visits in local communities?

2023-03-08
New research in Contemporary Economic Policy reveals that school shootings may worsen mental health in surrounding communities and increase health system costs. For the study, investigators compared the number of stress-related emergency department visits by California residents in zip-codes within 5 miles of school shootings and by California residents in zip-codes 10–15 miles from school shootings, both before and after these violent events. Compared with before school shootings, exposure to school shootings and to fatal school shootings was associated with increases of 0.7 and 1.5 ...

Blocking gene that inhibits root growth may enhance drought resistance in crops

2023-03-08
A strong root system allows crops to absorb water and nutrients from the soil, but scientists have little information about the genes that control root development. Recent research published in New Phytologist reveals that blocking a negative regulator gene of root development leads to enhanced root growth in plants. The gene, called RRS1 (Robust Root System 1), encodes an R2R3-type MYB family transcription factor that activates the expression of another gene (OsIAA3) that inhibits root growth. Knocking out RRS1 in plants led to longer root length, longer lateral root length, and larger lateral root density. Also, a natural variant of RRS1 ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Exercise as an anti-ageing intervention to avoid detrimental impact of mental fatigue

UMass Amherst Nursing Professor Emerita honored as ‘Living Legend’

New guidelines aim to improve cystic fibrosis screening

Picky eaters by day, buffet by night: Butterfly, moth diets sync to plant aromas

Pennington Biomedical’s Dr. Leanne Redman honored with the E. V. McCollum Award from the American Society for Nutrition

CCNY physicists uncover electronic interactions mediated via spin waves

Researchers’ 3D-printing formula may transform future of foam

Nurture more important than nature for robotic hand

Drug-delivering aptamers target leukemia stem cells for one-two knockout punch

New study finds that over 95% of sponsored influencer posts on Twitter were not disclosed

New sea grant report helps great lakes fish farmers navigate aquaculture regulations

Strain “trick” improves perovskite solar cells’ efficiency

How GPS helps older drivers stay on the roads

Estrogen and progesterone stimulate the body to make opioids

Dancing with the cells – how acoustically levitating a diamond led to a breakthrough in biotech automation

Machine learning helps construct an evolutionary timeline of bacteria

Cellular regulator of mRNA vaccine revealed... offering new therapeutic options

Animal behavioral diversity at risk in the face of declining biodiversity

Finding their way: GPS ignites independence in older adult drivers

Antibiotic resistance among key bacterial species plateaus over time

‘Some insects are declining but what’s happening to the other 99%?’

Powerful new software platform could reshape biomedical research by making data analysis more accessible

Revealing capillaries and cells in living organs with ultrasound

American College of Physicians awards $260,000 in grants to address equity challenges in obesity care

Researchers from MARE ULisboa discover that the European catfish, an invasive species in Portugal, has a prolonged breeding season, enhancing its invasive potential

Rakesh K. Jain, PhD, FAACR, honored with the 2025 AACR Award for Lifetime Achievement in Cancer Research

Solar cells made of moon dust could power future space exploration

Deporting immigrants may further shrink the health care workforce

Border region emergency medical services in migrant emergency care

Resident physician intentions regarding unionization

[Press-News.org] Just add water: How diluting ouzo liquor could lead to better emulsions