OMG science
fromNature
5 days agoDaily briefing: The air is full of DNA - here's what it can teach us
Airborne DNA and penguins are being used to study ecosystems and monitor environmental pollutants.
#acs
#acs
[ follow ]
#environmental-regulation #materials-science #education #public-lectures #uc-berkeley #reproducibility
fromNature
2 weeks agoNow is the time for scientific societies to guide global research
Modern scientific societies are increasingly vulnerable due to their dependence on membership fees and journal subscriptions, which are being challenged by the rise of virtual networking and open-access publishing.
Science
Higher education
fromArs Technica
1 month agoNational Academies of Sciences says no to demands it remove climate info
State attorneys general challenged the National Academies' climate science chapter as unbalanced, but the NAS responded with a two-sentence defense citing standard procedures, leaving no clear enforcement mechanism for the critics.
fromwww.nature.com
1 month agoDirect conversion from alkenes to alkynes
Alkynes are widely used as feedstock chemicals and functional groups in organic chemistry. However, while the hydrogenation from an alkyne to an alkene is well established, typical methods for the reverse reaction—conversion of an alkene to an alkyne—are based on elimination chemistry reported in the 1860s and use forcing conditions (strong base or high temperatures).
fromwww.nature.com
2 months agoCollective intelligence for AI-assisted chemical synthesis
The exponential growth of scientific literature presents an increasingly acute challenge across disciplines. Hundreds of thousands of new chemical reactions are reported annually, yet translating them into actionable experiments becomes an obstacle1,2. Recent applications of large language models (LLMs) have shown promise3,4,5,6, but systems that reliably work for diverse transformations across de novo compounds have remained elusive. Here we introduce MOSAIC (Multiple Optimized Specialists for AI-assisted Chemical Prediction), a computational framework that enables chemists to harness the collective knowledge of millions of reaction protocols.
Environment
fromwww.independent.co.uk
2 months agoNew filtration technologies could absorb forever chemicals' at ultrafast' rate
A copper‑aluminium layered double hydroxide (LDH) can absorb long‑chain PFAS up to 100 times faster than current filters, offering pollution control improvements despite deployment challenges.
Artificial intelligence
fromwww.scientificamerican.com
1 month agoHow one chemist is using AI and robots to automate lab experiments
AI-driven laboratory automation like Coscientist accelerates chemistry by reducing repetitive work, improving accuracy, and enabling experiments previously limited by human error or fatigue.
Science
fromwww.nature.com
2 months agoAuthor Correction: An autonomous laboratory for the accelerated synthesis of inorganic materials
Prediction platform correctly identified 36 of 40 synthesized compounds; four were inconclusive, and novelty claims were clarified as 'new to the prediction platform', not new to science.
fromNature
2 months agoAct now to clean up air
There is nothing more fundamental to human existence than breathing. Without air, people die in a matter of minutes. As well as the oxygen that is essential for survival, air contains pollutants of increasingly anthropogenic origin. These contaminants are emitted into outdoor air by combustion, which is essential for generating energy, and by the industrial and agricultural processes that underpin every element of modern life. Contaminants also penetrate buildings, in which they mingle with indoor air pollutants, rendering homes and offices not entirely safe.
Public health
fromNature
2 months agoThis AI has chemical expertise - and helps synthesize 35 new drugs and materials
Now, researchers have created an artificial-intelligence system that vastly simplifies and accelerates the process of chemical synthesis. The system, which is called MOSAIC and is described in a study published in Nature on 19 January, recommended conditions that researchers were able to use to generate 35 compounds with the potential to become products like pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals or cosmetics without needing to do any further trawling or tweaking.
Artificial intelligence
Higher education
fromNature
2 months ago'Every aspect of my work life has changed' - scientists reflect on a year of Trump
Executive orders and funding changes during Trump's first year intensified campus censorship, worsened higher-education inequity, and risked access for low-income and LGBTQ+ students.
fromTheregister
2 months agoTurns out AI agents are good for something: science
"We didn't do any LLMs. There is significant interest in that. There are lots of people trying those ideas out, but I think they're still in the exploratory phase," Desai told El Reg. As it turned out, the researchers didn't need them. "We used a simpler model called a variational auto encoder (VAE). This model was established in 2013. It's one of the early generative models," Desai said.
OMG science
fromArs Technica
1 month agoResearch roundup: Six cool science stories we almost missed
Scientists revived Edison's nickel-iron battery design using protein scaffolding and graphene oxide, creating an aerogel structure for improved renewable energy storage with extended range and longevity.
fromNature
2 months agoNanoscience is latest discipline to embrace large-scale replication efforts
Calling nanoscientists: your field needs you to try to replicate a landmark finding that quantum dots can act as biosensors inside living cells. As part of the first large-scale effort in the physical sciences to tackle the reproducibility crisis, researchers in France and the Netherlands are offering funds and resources in exchange for a few months of work. "We are trying to use
Science
[ Load more ]