Research shows table salt could be the secret ingredient for better chemical recycling

Table salt as the key to the plastics recycling revolution?

12-Sep-2023 - Muhammad Rabnawaz, an associate professor in Michigan State University’s top-ranked School of Packaging and recent inductee into theNational Academy of Inventors, has always believed that the most brilliant solution is also the simplest. That belief is reflected in his team’s new publication in ...

Say hello to a record-setting isotope

Spartans joined an international team to create an isotope of magnesium that’s never been seen before

03-Jan-2022 - In collaboration with an international team of researchers, Michigan State University has helped create the world’s lightest version, or isotope, of magnesium to date. Forged at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory at MSU, or NSCL, this isotope is so unstable, it falls apart before ...

Examining puzzling sizes of extremely light calcium isotopes

13-Feb-2019 - Michigan State University researchers have measured for the first time the nuclei of three proton-rich calcium isotopes. One of the most fundamental properties of the nucleus is its size. The nuclear radius generally increases with the number of proton and neutron constituents. However, when ...

Is there an end to the periodic table?

11-Jun-2018 - Next year will mark the 150th anniversary of the formulation of the periodic table created by Dmitry Mendeleev. Accordingly, the United Nations proclaimed 2019 as the International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements (IYPT 2019). At 150 years old, the table is still growing. In 2016, ...

Recreating interstellar ions with lasers

07-Jul-2017 - Trihydrogen, orH3+, has been called the molecule that made the universe, where it plays a greater role in astrochemistry than any other molecule. WhileH3+ is astronomically abundant, no scientist understood the mechanisms that form it from organic molecules. Until now. Using lasers, Michigan ...

Bubble nucleus discovered

31-Oct-2016 - Research conducted at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory at Michigan State University has shed new light on the structure of the nucleus, that tiny congregation of protons and neutrons found at the core of every atom. Headed by a French research group, the work found that the ...

Making a smart material smarter

Researchers are manipulating vanadium dioxide, making it useable in small size

17-Sep-2015 - "My research team works on integrating smart materials in small devices and systems," said Nelson Sepulveda, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering who is heading up the work. "Think about shrinking a robot and making it fit inside a human hair." More recently, the MSU ...

More to biofuel production than yield

15-Jan-2014 - When it comes to biofuels, corn leads the all-important category of biomass yield. However, focusing solely on yield comes at a high price. In the current issue of the Proceedings for the National Academy of Sciences, Michigan State University researchers show that looking at the big picture ...

New method to remove phosphorous from wastewater

An MSU professor is part of team developing new method of removing phosphorous from wastewater

17-Aug-2012 - A professor at Michigan State University is part of a team developing a new method of removing phosphorous from our wastewater – a problem seriously affecting lakes and streams across the country. In addition, Steven Safferman, an associate professor of biosystems and agricultural engineering, ...

Process can cut the cost of making cellulosic biofuels

27-Jan-2009 - A patented Michigan State University process to pretreat corn-crop waste before conversion into ethanol means extra nutrients don't have to be added, cutting the cost of making biofuels from cellulose. The AFEX (ammonia fiber expansion) pretreatment process, developed by Bruce Dale, University ...