#Molecules

Perhaps the biggest mystery we face is life on Earth started. One hypothesis says that comets, which are known to carry important chemicals in abiogenesis, delivered these compounds to Earth, leading to the appearance of life.…

Most comets would have hit Earth with too much speed and at too sharp an angle for life-giving molecules to survive impact, a new study suggests.

Researchers at Kyushu University have developed a photocatalytic system that can selectively capture reacting molecules and hold them close to the active sites that absorb energy from light.…

Making complex molecules often means joining smaller chemical building blocks together, a process facilitated by catalysts, compounds that make such reactions possible or speed them up without being consumed themselves.…

Molecules are never still. Driven by thermal energy, they are constantly moving through space, while their individual parts also rotate relative to one another.…

Human cells contain billions of molecules. To prevent complete chaos, these molecules and the reactions between them are organized within structures known as organelles.…

Discovery validates quantum picture of polarity and has implications for ultracold chemistry

Custom-made molecules are advancing medicine, materials, and agriculture, but producing them is slow and expensive. A new Nature paper highlights RetroChimera, a predictive model that helps accelerate chemical synthesis, helping researchers explore a wide…

Scientists have achieved a quantum breakthrough by creating an ultra-clean surface where individual molecules can maintain their delicate quantum properties at the fundamental limit.…

Two physical constraints — surface area and diffusion — explain why cells are (usually) tiny.

Biomolecules are naturally occurring molecules that form the basis of living systems. They are widely used in the production of a diverse range of materials.…

Complex organic molecules (COMS) are at the heart of life. They're created where jets from protostars slam into the interstellar medium, environments that scientists call natural laboratories.…

The search for life elsewhere focuses on biosignatures. These are chemicals in atmospheres that can only be attributed to life. But despite the prowess of the JWST, finding slam-dunk proof of life on other worlds is a confounding exercise.…

Researchers have developed three new antibiotics from scorpion venom and habanero peppers to combat tuberculosis and other drug-resistant pathogens.

From Live Science: Quantum battery charges in a quadrillionth of a second with a laser — larger prototypes could last for years after charging for just a minute

Drug discovery still too often relies on expensive trial and error. Researchers from ICTER show there is another way—building molecules step by step and observing their behavior at atomic resolution.…

The company that built TikTok’s recommendation algorithm, the system that predicts with unsettling accuracy what a person wants to watch next, is now using a related class of AI to predict how molecules will behave inside a human body.…

Mechanochemistry is a growing field for chemical reactions that proceed in the solid state in the absence, or with minuscule amounts, of solvent added.…

Researchers from the Department of Physical Chemistry at the Fritz Haber Institute and Freie Universität Berlin have revealed the arrangement of water molecules at the interface between liquid water and air.…

Finding molecules in places we will never visit is no simple task. Vetting and sometimes correcting such observations is a continual process.