Interstellar Methane as Progenitor of Amino Acids?

Gamma radiation converts methane into glycine and other complex molecules

08-Nov-2024 - Gamma radiation can convert methane into a wide variety of products at room temperature, including hydrocarbons, oxygen-containing molecules, and amino acids, reports a research team in the journal Angewandte Chemie. This type of reaction probably plays an important role in the formation of ...

Gamma radiation helps to understand the mesocrystal formation

24-Dec-2021 - Using targeted gamma radiation, researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces have revealed the appearance and the specific role of non-crystalline phases during the formation of mesocrystals – crystals consisting of aligned nanoparticles. Their findings provide fundamental ...

New ‘super light source’ should allow fascinating insights into atoms

‘Gamma Factory’ will enable not only breakthroughs in spectroscopy but also novel ways of testing fundamental symmetries of nature

24-Jul-2020 - The ‘Gamma Factory initiative’ – an international team of scientists – is currently exploring a novel research tool: They propose to develop a source of high-intensity gamma rays using the existing accelerator facilities at CERN. To do this, specialized ion beams will be circulated in the SPS and ...

New research shows how complex chemistry may be relevant to origins of life on Earth

09-Jun-2020 - Chemists have long sought to understand the origins of life, with one popular model suggesting life began when simple RNA molecules capable of copying themselves formed spontaneously in the primitive environment. How this happened exactly is fraught with difficulties. New research by a team of ...

Common table salt may have been crucial for the origins of life

30-Nov-2018 - One of the most fundamental unexplained questions in modern science is how life began. Scientists generally believe that simple molecules present in early planetary environments were converted to more complex ones that could have helped jumpstart life by the input of energy from the environment. ...

How to combat radiological weapons

Safety assistance system warns of dirty bombs

04-Sep-2017 - The threat of terrorism in Europe has been on the rise in recent years, with experts and politicians particularly worried that terrorists might make use of dirty bombs. Fraunhofer researchers have developed a new system that will be able to detect possible carriers of radioactive substances, even ...

Neutron holography technique for obtaining clear 3-D atomic images

30-Aug-2017 - People usually associate holograms with futuristic 3D display technologies, but in reality, holographic technologies are now being used to help study materials at the atomic level. X-rays, a high energy form of light, are often used to study atomic structure. However, X-rays are only sensitive to ...

New technique 'sees' radioactive material even after it's gone

05-Jul-2017 - A new technique allows researchers to characterize nuclear material that was in a location even after the nuclear material has been removed - a finding that has significant implications for nuclear nonproliferation and security applications. "Basically, we can see nuclear material that is no ...

Bright thinking leads to breakthrough in nuclear threat detection science

03-Jul-2017 - Taking inspiration from an unusual source, a Sandia National Laboratories team has dramatically improved the science of scintillators -- objects that detect nuclear threats. According to the team, using organic glass scintillators could soon make it even harder to smuggle nuclear materials ...

Neutron-rich nucleus shapeshifts between a rugby ball and a discus

27-Jun-2017 - An international team led by scientists from IPN Orsay (CNRS/Université Paris-Sud), CEA, and RIKEN (Japan) has performed the first spectroscopy of the extremely neutron-rich isotopes krypton 98 and 100. This experiment showed that there are two coexisting, competing quantum shapes at low energy ...