A new biosensor invented at the University of British Columbia could help optimize bio-refining processes that produce fuels, fine chemicals and advanced materials by sniffing out naturally occurring bacterial networks that are genetically wired to break down wood polymer.

For the ever-shrinking transistor, there may be a new game in town. Cornell University researchers have demonstrated promising electronic performance from a semiconducting compound with properties that could prove a worthy companion to silicon

Scientists have found how the electric fish evolved its jolt.

You wouldn’t think that mechanical force — the simple kind used to eject unruly patrons from bars, shoe a horse or emboss the raised numerals on credit cards — could process nanoparticles more subtly than the most advanced chemistry.

Green-chemistry researchers at McGill University have discovered a way to use water as a solvent in one of the reactions most widely used to synthesize chemical products and pharmaceuticals.

Stanley Miller, the chemist whose landmark experiment published in 1953 showed how some of the molecules of life could have formed on a young Earth, left behind boxes of experimental samples that he never analyzed. The first-ever analysis of some of Miller’s old samples has revealed another way that important molecules could have formed on early Earth.

The American Chemical Society (ACS) named 10 semifinalists in its Chemistry Champions contest on June 24. The contest aims to find and train promising science communicators — perhaps even find the Carl Sagan of chemistry.

In 2006, Austin, Texas, became the first city in the country to ban a commonly used pavement sealant over concerns that it was a major source of cancer-causing compounds in the environment. Eight years later, the city’s action seems to have made a big dent in the targeted compounds’ levels — researchers now report that the concentrations have dropped significantly.

A simple, scalable method of making strong, stretchable graphene oxide fibers that are easily scrolled into yarns and have strengths approaching that of Kevlar is possible, according to Penn State and Shinshu University, Japan, researchers.

Chemists let fluorescent sugar sensors ‘calculate’

Elastic Invisibility Cloak Allows to Hide from Touching / Mechanical Meta-material Can Be Produced in Millimeter Size

Explore color science as this ACS video explores the chemistry of pyrotechnics