A new report from the National Research Council recommends that government agencies enhance their efforts to incorporate genomic data into risk assessments of chemicals and medicines, and calls for a concerted effort to fully develop these methods' potential to protect public health.

Researchers at the University of Illinois have developed a method for culturing mammalian neurons in chambers not much larger than the neurons themselves. The new approach extends the lifespan of the neurons at very low densities, an essential step toward developing a method for studying the growth and behavior of individual brain cells.

It appears that chemical warfare has been around a lot longer than poison arrows, mustard gas or nerve weapons – about 100 million years, give or take a little.

Known to the alchemists and long used as a detonator to set off dynamite—mercury fulminate has a checkered past. Now, more than 300 years after the discovery of this explosive compound, German researchers have been able to characterize its crystal structure and thus finally reveal the molecular structure of mercury fulminate.

The multi-billion-dollar global cosmetics and skin-care-product industry sometimes is beset by a me-too mindset in which research and development focuses on matching the competition rather than applying sound science to improve products, a scientist told the 234th national meeting of the American Chemical Society.

Bitter taste can ruin a cup of coffee. Now, chemists in Germany and the United States say they have identified the chemicals that appear to be largely responsible for java's bitterness, a finding that could one day lead to a better tasting brew.

Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory are uniting theory, computation and experiment to discover exactly how heavy elements, such as uranium and technetium, interact in their environment.

This week, Kanemaru et al. explore the signaling pathway between spontaneous Ca2+ oscillations in cultured astrocytes and the promotion of neurite growth. Their results reveal a role for the membrane-bound adhesion molecule N-cadherin.

In an advance toward the long-sought ability to deliver medication directly to diseased tissue, while minimizing side effects and damage to healthy parts of the body, scientists are reporting development of a new dosing system that is controlled by light. The study is scheduled for the August 15 issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society, a weekly journal.

One of the fundamental challenges facing organic synthesis in the 21st century is the need to significantly increase the efficiency with which carbon frameworks can be constructed and functionalized. Chemists at the University of Illinois are helping to meet this challenge by developing a class of carbon-hydrogen catalysts that are highly selective, reactive and tolerant of other functionality.

Picture a cool place, teeming with a multitude of hot bodies twirling about in rapidly changing formations of singles and couples, partners and groups, constantly dissolving and reforming.

New University at Buffalo research demonstrates that some solvents can significantly enhance certain acid-base interactions and strengthen the bonding interaction between two molecules when one is electron-deficient and one is electron-rich.