Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: chemistry

Chemicals from turmeric and rhubarb could help fight antibiotic-resistant bacteria lurking in wastewater

When people take antibiotics, some of the dose is excreted with urine and feces and ends up in our wastewater. The presence of this low dose of antibiotic creates an opportunity for resistant bacteria to evolve.

Scientists studying antibiotic-resistant bacteria in wastewater at a treatment plant discovered multi-drug-resistant strains of bacterial species which are usually not dangerous to healthy people, but which could transmit genes for antibiotic resistance to much more dangerous bacteria like E. coli.

The scientists then challenged the bacteria with natural compounds which could potentially be included in to kill off bacteria and fight antibiotic resistance. The most effective were curcumin, which comes from turmeric, and emodin, from rhubarb.

New Chemistry Discovery Promises More Effective Cancer Drugs With Fewer Side Effects

Researchers discovered how to flip the structure of complex drug compounds using a simple reagent, offering a game-changing approach for making better medicines. For the first time, chemists have developed a novel method to manipulate a type of chemical compound that plays a crucial role in many

Why some genes are more error-prone: Scientists uncover hidden rule in DNA transcription

Every living cell must interpret its genetic code—a sequence of chemical letters that governs countless cellular functions. A new study by researchers from the Center for Theoretical Biological Physics at Rice University has uncovered the mechanism by which the identity of the letters following a given nucleotide in DNA affects the likelihood of mistakes during transcription, the process by which DNA is copied into RNA. The discovery offers new insight into hidden factors that influence transcription accuracy.

The work is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The study was authored by Tripti Midha, Anatoly Kolomeisky and Oleg Igoshin. It shows why genetic sequences are not equally prone to errors. Instead, the identity of the two nucleotides immediately downstream of a site significantly alters the error rate during transcription. This discovery builds on prior insights by the same authors on enzymatic proofreading mechanisms, factoring in the effects of distinct kinetics for different nucleotide additions.

Novel AI method sheds light on how enzyme linked to Alzheimer’s selects its targets

Researchers from DZNE, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU), and Technical University of Munich (TUM) have found that the enzyme “gamma-secretase”—implicated in Alzheimer’s disease and cancer—selects its reaction partners according to a complex scheme of molecular features.

Their study, published in Nature Communications, introduces a methodology that decodes the enzyme’s recognition logic by bridging biochemistry with explainable artificial intelligence (AI). This novel approach could help to better understand the role of in diseases and aid drug development.

Gamma-secretase is an enzyme belonging to the category of “proteases” that plays a key role in Alzheimer’s disease and cancer. It occurs in the membrane of numerous cells, including neurons, where—acting like a pair of scissors—it cleaves other membrane-bound proteins.

New understanding of how red blood cells are created could make artificial blood easier to make

A breakthrough in the understanding of how mammals create red blood cells by Dr Julia Gutjahr, who began her research into the mechanisms of blood production in the lab of Professor Antal Rot in the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, could lead to opportunities for articifical blood to be created at scale for the first time.

Dr Gutjahr is now a biologist at the Institute of Cellular Biology and Immunology Thurgau at the University of Konstanz in Germany. She identified the molecular signal, chemokine CXCL12, that triggers the expulsion of the nucleus by the red blood cell precursors, a key step in the development of red blood cells.

Studies undertaken by researchers at Queen Mary and University of Konstanz have identified a critical chemical signal in the development of red blood cells. The discovery will help make the manufacture of artificial blood more efficient.

Child walks again after receiving experimental treatment for rare genetic condition

In what experts are calling a “dream come true,” scientists used a recent biochemical discovery to help an 8-year-old boy with a rare genetic condition regain mobility.

Researchers from NYU Langone demonstrated, in a study published in Nature on Wednesday, how a chemical precursor to a commonly available enzyme, CoQ10, can help brain cells overcome a rare genetic condition that severely hobbles cells’ energy production process. Without treatment, the boy’s condition is known to deteriorate rapidly and could be fatal.

NYU Langone researchers have helped an 8-year-old boy regain mobility using an experimental treatment.

Need a new 3D material? Build it with DNA

When the Empire State Building was constructed, its 102 stories rose above midtown one piece at a time, with each individual element combining to become, for 40 years, the world’s tallest building. Uptown at Columbia, Oleg Gang and his chemical engineering lab aren’t building Art Deco architecture; their landmarks are incredibly small devices built from nanoscopic building blocks that arrange themselves.

“We can now build the complexly prescribed 3D organizations from self-assembled nanocomponents, a kind of nanoscale version of the Empire State Building,” said Gang, professor of chemical engineering and of applied physics and at Columbia Engineering and leader of the Center for Functional Nanomaterials’ Soft and Bio Nanomaterials Group at Brookhaven National Laboratory.

“The capabilities to manufacture 3D nanoscale materials by design are critical for many emerging applications, ranging from light manipulation to neuromorphic computing, and from catalytic materials to biomolecular scaffolds and reactors,” said Gang.

A mysterious mineral in asteroid Ryugu may rewrite planetary history

Serendipitous discovery of djerfisherite in Ryugu grain challenges current paradigm of the nature of primitive asteroids. A surprising discovery from a tiny grain of asteroid Ryugu has rocked scientists’ understanding of how our Solar System evolved. Researchers found djerfisherite—a mineral typically born in scorching, chemically reduced conditions and never before seen in Ryugu-like meteorites—inside a sample returned by Japan’s Hayabusa2 mission. Its presence suggests either Ryugu once experienced unexpectedly high temperatures or that exotic materials from other parts of the solar system somehow made their way into its formation. Like discovering a palm tree fossil in Arctic ice, this rare find challenges everything we thought we knew about primitive asteroids and the early mixing of planetary ingredients.

The pristine samples from asteroid Ryugu returned by the Hayabusa2 mission on December 6, 2020, have been vital to improving our understanding of primitive asteroids and the formation of the Solar System. The C-type asteroid Ryugu is composed of rocks similar to meteorites called CI chondrites, which contain relatively high amounts of carbon, and have undergone extensive aqueous alteration in their past.

A research team at Hiroshima University discovered the presence of the mineral djerfisherite, a potassium-containing iron-nickel sulfide, in a Ryugu grain. The presence of this mineral is wholly unexpected, as djerfisherite does not form under the conditions Ryugu is believed to have been exposed to over its existence. The findings were published on May 28, 2025, in the journal Meteoritics & Planetary Science.

Ultra-processed foods linked to higher chronic disease risks, even at low intake

Even in moderation, consumption of ultra-processed foods is linked with measurable increases in risk for chronic diseases, according to research from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. Processed meat, sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), and trans fatty acids (TFAs) were associated with an increased disease risk, such as type 2 diabetes, ischemic heart disease (IHD), and colorectal cancer.

Multiple previous studies have linked ultra-processed foods, particularly processed meats, sugar-sweetened beverages, and trans fatty acids, with elevated chronic disease risks. Estimates suggest that diets high in processed meat contributed to nearly 300,000 deaths worldwide in 2021, while diets rich in sugar-sweetened beverages and trans fats accounted for millions of disability-adjusted life years.

Processed meats preserved through smoking, curing or chemical additives often contain compounds such as N-nitroso agents, and heterocyclic amines—compounds implicated in tumor development.

Targeting MXenes for sustainable ammonia production

In a hunt for more sustainable technologies, researchers are looking further into enabling two-dimensional materials in renewable energy that could lead to sustainable production of chemicals such as ammonia, which is used in fertilizer.

This next generation of low-dimensional materials, called MXenes, catalyzes the production of air into ammonia for foods and transportation for high-efficiency energy fertilizers.

MXenes has a wide range of possibilities that allow for highly flexible chemical compositions, offering significant control over their properties.