News
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EnglishTicks owe their tenacity to glycine-rich proteins
Thanks to colloid chemistry, ticks can suck our blood at their leisure. By chance, two groups from Maastricht and Wageningen were the first to shed light on this, as they report in Nature Chemistry.
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EnglishAn X-ray lens on catalysts
Researchers in Ghent have found a method to determine the temperature of a catalyst very locally during a reaction, as reported in Nature Catalysis. Their work offers a new fundamental view of catalytic reactions.
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EnglishDrug probe fishes for off-targets
Attaching a biotin tail to a cancer drug makes it possible to see very specifically which proteins the drug targets in lysed cancer cells, as a Dutch team shows in ChemBioChem.
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EnglishWashing your laundry in hydrochloric acid
Researchers in Amsterdam, together with technology company Avantium, have developed a process to extract glucose from polycotton and recycle the remaining polyester. It is already working on a pilot scale, Nature Communications reports.
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EnglishStereospecific superglue
Simple molecules can be used to make a biodegradable glue that is stronger than current petroleum-based mass products. And it does not have to be much more expensive, write US researchers in Science.
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EnglishEphemeral active sites form super acid
Research into plastic recycling with sulphated zirconium oxide took an interesting fundamental turn when a team of Dutch and American chemists found signs of transient superacidity, as reported in Angewandte Chemie International Edition.
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EnglishDelivery for the bone marrow
Dutch researchers have developed a lipid anode particle that can be used to deliver nucleic acids into the bone marrow. They report in Nature Nanotechnology that it already works in mice.
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EnglishDiels-Alder database for computing and experimenting
Researchers at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel have created a database for chemists working with Diels-Alder reactions, focusing on covalent adaptive networks, they state in Macromolecules.
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EnglishPolymers that like to move
Soft materials for surgical robotics, that’s the goal of a group in Groningen. They have recently made a surprising step in the right direction.
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EnglishPolymer skeleton keeps artificial cell in shape
Using diacetylene-based building blocks, researchers in Eindhoven have succeeded in creating an artificial cytoskeleton that closely mimics the mechanical properties of its living counterpart.
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EnglishGold and sugar to fight ovarian cancer
Combine gold atoms, thioglucosides and N-heterocyclic carbenes and you get a complex that targets ovarian cancer cells in vitro while leaving healthy tissue untouched.
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EnglishTurbocharger for photosynthesis
Hornwort, a moss, is capable of highly efficient photosynthesis thanks to a ‘turbocharger’ that allows this tiny plant to concentrate CO2 in its cells.
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EnglishENW-XL and ENW-M: Christmas presents for Dutch science
The Open Competition ENW-XL offers funding for groundbreaking fundamental research projects set up by collaborative consortia of scientists from various universities and institutes. In this round, 21 proposals have been granted, ranging from €1-3 million per project. Here, we present those that involve members from the KNCV and/or NVBMB. ...
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EnglishUK launches £37m programme to uncover cultural heritage through chemistry
The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) will fund 31 innovative projects designed to protect and grow the UK’s £29 billion heritage sector.
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EnglishSmall variations, serious consequences
Genetic variants of the BIM protein increase therapy resistance in leukaemia cells, researchers in Singapore show. Important findings for East Asian populations, where these variants are relatively common.
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EnglishBanned pigments found in tattoo inks sold in the EU
Several common tattoo inks sold and used in Europe contain pigments banned under the region’s chemicals regulatory framework, according to a new analysis.
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EnglishOne-electron covalent bond between two carbons pushes limits of bonding
Scientists in Japan have made a groundbreaking discovery: they have identified a covalent bond between two carbon atoms that share only a single electron.
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English€5 million for better imaging
Amsterdam-based Confocal.nl has received a €5 million investment to make its live cell imaging more accessible. As a foretaste of what is possible, they have produced this stunning image of a mouse ear.
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English3D printed sustainable cat
A team from Amsterdam has 3D printed a catalyst made entirely of stainless steel and aluminium that works extremely well for borohydride hydrolysis.