News

Particles of soot floating through the air and comets hurtling through space have at least one thing in common: 0.36. That, reports a research group at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), is the measure of how dense they will get under normal conditions, and it’s a value that seems to be constant for similar aggregates across an impressively wide size range from nanometers to tens of meters.*

Merck Millipore, the Life Science division of Merck, today (June 17) launched Simplicon™ RNA Reprogramming Technology, which uses synthetic self-replicating RNA to create large numbers of human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) using a single transfection step. This efficient reprogramming of somatic cells is accomplished without viral intermediates or host genome integration, offering a more defined and safer system for iPSC generation.

A new laboratory technique developed by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists could speed the search for soybean plants with resistance to the fungus that causes Phomopsis seed decay (PSD) in the legume crop.

Much as human DNA can be used as evidence in criminal trials, genetic information about microorganisms can be analyzed to identify pathogens or other biological agents in the event of a suspicious disease outbreak. The tools and methods used to investigate such outbreaks belong to an emerging discipline known as microbial forensics, but the field faces substantial scientific and technical challenges, says a new report from the National Research Council.

From such courses as Pesticides, Insecticides and the Environment to Philosophy of Science, Cornell University’s newest chemistry majors have a wide range of electives they can now choose from to fill out the 60-credit major.

By levitating a bead of ceramic oxide, heating it with a 400-watt carbon dioxide laser, then shooting the molten material with X-rays and neutrons, scientists with the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge and Argonne national laboratories have revealed unprecedented detail of the structure of high-temperature liquid oxides.















