News by Subject Chemistry & Physics

Organic chemists have figured out how to synthesize the most common molecule arrangement in medicine, a scientific discovery that could change the way a number of drugs -- including one most commonly used to treat ovarian cancer -- are produced. Their discovery, published today in the journal Chem, gives drug makers a crucial building block for creating medicines that, so far, are made with complex processes that result in a lot of waste.

Alzheimer's disease and the accompanying personality breakdown frighten many of us. Unfortunately, the drugs currently available are ineffective. Thanks to the work of a team headed by Dr. Piotr Pieta of the IPC PAS, it may be possible to develop new and more effective pharmaceuticals to fight this disease. The scientists have shown how the size of beta-amyloid molecules affects the way they interact with model brain cell membranes.

According to research published today by Nature Journal NPG Asia Materials, a group of researchers -- led by Edwin Fohtung, an associate professor of materials science and engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute -- have found a new way to optimize nickel by unlocking properties that could enable numerous applications, from biosensors to quantum computing.

Researchers open a new avenue to quantum computing with a breakthrough experiment: a large-scale quantum processor made entirely of light.

More accurate clocks and sensors may result from a recently proposed experiment, linking an Einstein-devised paradox to quantum mechanics. University of Queensland physicist Dr Magdalena Zych said the international collaboration aimed to test Einstein's twin paradox using quantum particles in a 'superposition' state.