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This issue of the American Chemical Society (ACS) News Service Weekly Press Package (PressPac) is a special edition with selections from scientific presentations scheduled for the ACS’ 233rd national meeting in Chicago. Our regular coverage of reports from 35 major peer-reviewed journals and Chemical & Engineering News will resume with the April 4, 2007 edition.
ACS NEWS SERVICE - March 28, 2007
Weekly PressPac - CONTENT IS EMBARGOED FOR VARIOUS TIMES AS INDICATED
SPECIAL NATIONAL MEETING EDITION
PressPac Archive: http://www.chemistry.org/news/presspac.html
Contact: Michael Woods
202-872-4400
m_woods@acs.org
Note for reporters’ use only: For full information about the Chicago meeting, including full-length press releases on these and other topics, and access to abstracts of more than 9,000 scientific papers and non-technical summaries, visit http://www.acspresscenter.org. News release images are available at http://acswebcontent.acs.org/communications/chicago07/images/index.html.
Please cite the American Chemical Society as the source of this information or indicate that the research was presented at a meeting of the American Chemical Society.
In this Special Edition:
- Sweet solution for chromium toxicity in industrial waste
- Antidote for fuel cell poisoning: Gold and Silver Nanoparticles
- Toward a new generation of protective clothing
- "Cold fusion" rebirth? Reports on "low energy nuclear reactions (LENR)"
- Fleischmann, Miles report new evidence of excess heat from cold fusion
- Leveraging Disorder
Journalists’ Resources
- * "Huh, a what?" Find out "what" in a Chemistry Glossary
- 60-Second Science: Podcasts of Press Releases
- Earth Day, April 22:
- ACS Video Contest for College Students
- Earth Day Poetry Contest for grades K-12
- ACS Earth Day Fact Sheet
- Video Public Service Announcement
- Research in one hot field: ACS Chemical Biology
- Mark Your Calendars: ACS Regional Meeting, May 16-19, Philadelphia
ARTICLE #1 EMBARGOED FOR: Wednesday, March 28, at 9:35 a.m. Central Time
Sweet solution for chromium toxicity in industrial waste
Sugar shows promise in laboratory studies as a environmentally-friendly, economical alternative for reducing the toxicity of chromium waste products from the plating, mining and leather industries, according to a report by scientists in the United States and Mexico.
Chromium is normally converted to a less toxic form by treating industrial wastewater with large amounts of acid, which can foul lakes and rivers. In the current study, Bryan Bilyeu and colleagues showed that they could achieve a similar reduction in toxicity, up to 94 percent, by using natural sugars like fructose and sucrose.
CONTACT:
Bryan Bilyeu, Ph.D.
Xavier University of Louisiana
New Orleans, Louisiana
Cell: 214-215-3681
Office: 504-520-5414
Fax: 504-520-7992
ARTICLE #2 EMBARGOED FOR: Wednesday, March 28, at 9:35 a.m. Central Time
Antidote for fuel cell poisoning: Gold and Silver Nanoparticles
With hydrogen emerging as the most promising energy sources for fuel cells, scientists in Illinois are reporting progress toward overcoming a major barrier to tapping hydrogen’s potential as a clean, abundant energy source.
Jose Rodriguez and colleagues explain that a major problem facing today’s most promising fuel-cell technologies is that the same hydrogen-rich materials feeding the reaction often contain carbon monoxide (CO), which is formed during hydrogen production. CO "poisons," or inactivates, the expensive platinum catalysts that convert hydrogen into electricity, reducing efficiency over time and requiring replacement.
"We’re trying to find a catalyst that achieves two things — produces hydrogen while removing a large amount of CO," Rodriguez explained. The researchers discovered that nanoparticles of either gold or copper, supported on a metal, can perform this catalytic role. In particular, they found that the greatest catalytic activity is achieved with extremely small nanoparticles – less than 4 nanometers (4 billionths of a meter) —supported on the metal cerium oxide, or ceria. "Metal nanoparticles alone are not able to do the catalysis," Rodriguez said. "But when you put them on the ceria, you see tremendous catalytic activity."
CONTACT:
Karen McNulty Walsh
Brookhaven National Laboratory
Upton, NY 11973
Phone: 631 344-8350
Email: kmcnulty@bnl.gov
ARTICLE #3 EMBARGOED FOR: Wednesday, March 28, at 9:05 a.m. Central Time
Toward a new generation of protective clothing
Scientists in Virginia have shown for the first time that their new films, membranes and elastomers are compatible with certain organic and inorganic molecules and will adopt properties of those "guest" molecules.
Tim Long and colleagues developed a nanostructured membrane last year that incorporates DNA base pairs. The DNA imparts molecular recognition and binding ability to the synthetic material.
With the guest molecules widely dispersed throughout the membrane, it then takes on the properties of the guest molecules. "For example," said Long, "if the guest molecules have ionic sites (sites with positive and negative charges), you will be able to transfer water through a film because you would have ion channels at the nanoscale. It’s similar to the way a cell membrane works to control the flow of specific ions into a cell. You can create protective clothing — against chemicals — that would still allow water vapor through."
CONTACT:
Susan Trulove
Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, VA 24061
Phone: 540-231-5646
Email: Strulove@vt.edu
ARTICLE #4 EMBARGOED FOR: Thursday, March 29, at 8:30 a.m. Central Time
Overview: "Cold fusion" rebirth? Symposium on "low energy nuclear reactions (LENR)"
In 1989, ‘cold fusion’ was hailed as a scientific breakthrough with the potential to solve the world’s energy problems by providing a virtually unlimited energy source. But subsequent experiments largely failed to replicate the initial findings and the controversial concept was dismissed by most people in the scientific community.
"Although ‘cold fusion’ is considered controversial, the scientific process demands of us to keep an open mind and examine the new results once every few years," says Gopal Coimbatore, program chair of the American Chemical Society’s Division of Environmental Chemistry, which organized this symposium.
Some researchers say they have new evidence that the phenomena — now called ‘low energy nuclear reactions’ — has evolved and is supported by rigorous, repeatable experimental data. Nearly a dozen scientists will present their findings during a daylong symposium, "New Energy Technology."
CONTACT:
Gopal Coimbatore, Ph.D.
Texas Tech University
Lubbock, Texas
Phone: 806-885-0310
Fax: 806-885-4577
E-mail: gopal.coimbatore@tiehh.ttu.edu
ARTICLE #5 EMBARGOED FOR: Thursday, March 29, at 8:30 a.m. Central Time
Fleischmann, Miles report new evidence of excess heat from cold fusion
Some scientists dismissed the original 1989 cold fusion experiments by Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann as "bad" science due to alleged errors in calorimetric systems, or heat measurement, that could have led to erroneous reports that the excess heat produced was nuclear in origin.
Using more precise calorimetric techniques, a new study by Fleischmann and colleague Melvin Miles reports evidence that the excess heat generated is nuclear and not the result of calorimetric errors. "Our work shows that cold fusion effects are real, but we cannot assess if this excess heat can become useful. Much more research work is needed to answer such questions," says co-author Miles.
CONTACT:
Melvin H. Miles, Ph.D.
University of LaVerne in Calif.
LaVerne, Calif.
Phone: Office: 760-375-9258
Email: mmiles@ulv.edu
ARTICLE # 6 EMBARGOED FOR 9 A.M., EASTERN TIME, April 2, 2007
Leveraging Disorder
Chemical & Engineering News
One of the basic tenets of biology is that the structure of a protein determines its function, but intrinsically disordered proteins, which are unstructured or contain highly unstructured regions, don’t seem to follow this rule. Now, a growing number of researchers are finding that these disordered proteins have important biological functions and are involved in disease processes ranging from cancer to Alzheimer’s disease. An article on these mysterious proteins is scheduled for the April 2 issue of Chemical & Engineering News, the ACS’ weekly newsmagazine.
Researchers now believe that these disordered proteins confer plasticity and flexibility to proteins, thereby allowing the signaling networks these proteins control to rapidly respond to their cell’s environment, according to the article by C&EN Associate Editor Sarah Everts. She interviewed several scientists who have provided new insights into these fascinating proteins, which make up at least 30 percent of human proteins and play key roles in everything from cell division to gene transcription.
Interest in the field of intrinsically disordered proteins is growing, with the number of papers published annually more than tripling in the past few years, according to the article. Fueling this growth is simultaneous advances in biological NMR, Everts notes. A better understanding of these proteins could lead to improved drug treatments for a wide variety of diseases, including diabetes, cancer and heart disease, the article suggests.
ARTICLE # 5 EMBARGOED FOR 9 A.M., EASTERN TIME, April 2, 2007
"Leveraging Disorder"
This story will be available on April 2 at http://pubs.acs.org/cen/science/85/8514sci1.html
FOR ADVANCE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Michael Bernstein
ACS News Service
Phone: 202-872-6042
Fax: 202-872-4370
Email: m_bernstein@acs.org
Journalists’ Resources
General Chemistry Glossary
http://antoine.frostburg.edu/chem/senese/101/glossary.shtml
60-Second Science: ACS Audio Clips
http://acswebcontent.acs.org/communications/chicago07/podcasts/index.html
Earth Day, April 22 — http://chemistry.org/earthday
ACS Video Contest for Students
April 10 is the deadline for entries in the ACS’ video contest for college and university students. For information and entry forms on the cash-award competition, which is part of the "Chemists Celebrate Earth Day" observance, visit: http://www.chemistry.org/portal/a/c/s/1/acsdisplay.html?DOC=oca%5cearthday%5c07_cced_videocontest.html
ACS Earth Day Poetry Contest
Information on ACS’ illustrated haiku contest for students in grades Kindergarten-12: http://www.chemistry.org/portal/a/c/s/1/acsdisplay.html?DOC=oca%5cearthday%5c07_cced_haiku_contest.html
ACS Earth Day Fact Sheet
Video Public Service Announcement
http://acswebcontent.acs.org/earthday/air05/alt/ACSearthday.mpg
ACS Chemical Biology
Highlights from the American Chemical Society journal, ACS Chemical Biology, are now available on EurekAlert!, the online science news service for reporters. ACS Chemical Biology is a monthly journal exploring cellular function from both chemical and biological perspectives. In addition to research papers and reviews, the journal also publishes "Spotlight" — current research in chemical biology from other journals; "Profile" — experts in the field; and "Points of View" — comments from leading scientists. The journal web site is updated weekly with new content, and features a WIKI and an "Ask the Expert" section. http://www.eurekalert.org/jrnls/acs/index.php?page=chemicalbiology
Theme Topic: Sustainability of energy, food and water
With the theme of sustainability in energy, food and water, the American Chemical Society national meeting in Chicago this month offers an excellent opportunity for journalists to update knowledge and sources on this increasingly important topic. ACS President Catherine T. ("Katie") Hunt, who organized the program, along with representatives from academia, government and industry, will discuss a wide range of topics within this theme, including alternative energy sources, genetically-engineered crops and new water purification processes. To view abstracts and nontechnical summaries of the papers listed, visit: http://acswebcontent.acs.org/communications/chicago07/sustainability.html. To see ACS President Hunt’s comments on sustainability and details of the program, go to http://www.acspresident.org.
Mark Your Calendars
On the Horizon: ACS Regional Meeting, May 16-19, Philadelphia The Philadelphia Section, American Chemical Society, and Ursinus College will host the 39th ACS Middle Atlantic Regional Meeting. http://www.marmacs.org
The American Chemical Society — the world’s largest scientific society — is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.