chemistry – Quanta Magazine https://www.quantamagazine.org Illuminating science Mon, 16 Sep 2024 14:10:47 -0400 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2 The Enduring Mystery of How Water Freezes https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-enduring-mystery-of-how-water-freezes-20240617/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-enduring-mystery-of-how-water-freezes-20240617/#respond Mon, 17 Jun 2024 14:15:32 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=138530 The post The Enduring Mystery of How Water Freezes first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> We learn in grade school that water freezes at zero degrees Celsius, but that’s seldom true. In clouds, scientists have found supercooled water droplets as chilly as minus 40 C, and in a lab in 2014, they cooled water to a staggering minus 46 C before it froze. You can supercool water at home: Throw a bottle of distilled water in your freezer, and it’s unlikely to crystallize until you shake it.

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-enduring-mystery-of-how-water-freezes-20240617/feed/ 0 Nobel Prize Honors Inventors of ‘Quantum Dot’ Nanoparticles https://www.quantamagazine.org/nobel-prize-honors-inventors-of-quantum-dot-nanoparticles-20231004/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/nobel-prize-honors-inventors-of-quantum-dot-nanoparticles-20231004/#respond Wed, 04 Oct 2023 09:52:24 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=130784 The post Nobel Prize Honors Inventors of ‘Quantum Dot’ Nanoparticles first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> Imagine a nanocrystal so minuscule that it behaves like an atom. Moungi G. Bawendi, Louis E. Brus and Alexei I. Ekimov have been awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering a category of such minute marvels, now known as quantum dots, and for developing a precise method of synthesizing them. Quantum dots are already playing important roles in electronics and in biomedicine...

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/nobel-prize-honors-inventors-of-quantum-dot-nanoparticles-20231004/feed/ 0 How the Brain Protects Itself From Blood-Borne Threats https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-the-brain-protects-itself-from-blood-borne-threats-20230620/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-the-brain-protects-itself-from-blood-borne-threats-20230620/#respond Tue, 20 Jun 2023 14:22:02 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=126966 The post How the Brain Protects Itself From Blood-Borne Threats first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> Enough pints of beer can have you falling off your bar stool or loudly reciting lyrics to early 2000s jams to total strangers, because alcohol can get past one of the strongest defenses in the body. If you’ve ever been drunk, high or drowsy from allergy medication, you’ve experienced what happens when some molecules defeat the defense system called the blood-brain barrier and make it into the...

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-the-brain-protects-itself-from-blood-borne-threats-20230620/feed/ 0 How a Human Smell Receptor Works Is Finally Revealed https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-a-human-smell-receptor-works-is-finally-revealed-20230501/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-a-human-smell-receptor-works-is-finally-revealed-20230501/#respond Mon, 01 May 2023 13:40:02 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=125393 The post How a Human Smell Receptor Works Is Finally Revealed first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> For the first time, researchers have determined how a human olfactory receptor captures an airborne scent molecule, the pivotal chemical event that triggers our sense of smell. Whether it evokes roses or vanilla, cigarettes or gasoline, every scent starts with free-floating odor molecules that latch onto receptors in the nose. Multitudes of such unions produce the perception of the smells we love...

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-a-human-smell-receptor-works-is-finally-revealed-20230501/feed/ 0 Inside Ancient Asteroids, Gamma Rays Made Building Blocks of Life https://www.quantamagazine.org/inside-ancient-asteroids-gamma-rays-made-building-blocks-of-life-20230104/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/inside-ancient-asteroids-gamma-rays-made-building-blocks-of-life-20230104/#respond Wed, 04 Jan 2023 15:28:36 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=121879 The post Inside Ancient Asteroids, Gamma Rays Made Building Blocks of Life first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> In 2021, the Hayabusa2 space mission successfully delivered a morsel of the asteroid 162173 Ryugu to Earth — five grams of the oldest, most pristine matter left over from the solar system’s formation 4.5 billion years ago. Last spring, scientists revealed that the chemical composition of the asteroid includes 10 amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. The discovery added to the evidence that...

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