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One of the thinnest membranes ever made is also highly discriminating when it comes to the molecules going through it. Engineers at the University of South Carolina have constructed a graphene oxide membrane less than 2 nanometers thick with high permeation selectivity between hydrogen and carbon dioxide gas molecules.

The selectivity is based on molecular size, the team reported in the journal Science. Hydrogen and helium pass relatively easily through the membrane, but carbon dioxide, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon monoxide and methane permeate much more slowly.

Electrical currents born from thunderstorms are able to flow through the atmosphere and around the globe, causing a detectable electrification of the air even in places with no thunderstorm activity.

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BOULDER, Colo -- Extending evidence of quantum behavior farther into the large-scale world of everyday life, physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have "entangled"—linked the properties of—a microscopic mechanical drum with electrical signals.

To gain complete control over chemical reactions is one of the main goals of chemists around the world. Scientists at the University of Basel and the Center of Free-Electron Laser Science in Hamburg were able to for the first time successfully sort out single forms of molecules with electric fields and have them react specifically. Analysis of the reaction rates showed a relation between the spatial structure of the sorted molecules and their chemical reactivity. The results have been published in the renowned magazine Science.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Researchers report that they have created a man-made catalyst that is an "enzyme mimic." Unlike most enzymes, which act on a single target, the new catalyst can alter the chemical profiles of numerous types of small molecules. The catalyst – and others like it – will greatly speed the process of drug discovery, the researchers say.

Their findings appear in the Journal of the American Chemistry Society.

Scientists have developed a new kind of 'X-ray vision' that is able to peer inside an object and map the three-dimensional distribution of its nano-properties in real time.

University of Manchester researchers, working with colleagues in the UK, Europe and the US, say the novel imaging technique could have a wide range of applications across many disciplines, such as materials science, geology, environmental science and medical research.

RUSTON, La. – Physicists from Louisiana Tech University are part of an international team of researchers which has reported first results for the proton's weak charge based on precise new data from Jefferson Laboratory, the nation's premier electron beam facility for nuclear and particle physics research in Newport News, Va.

The results will be published in an upcoming issue of "Physical Review Letters," a prestigious and widely-referenced international journal that focuses on major advances in physics and cross disciplinary developments.

FROSTBURG, MD -- Where a stream ends is clear, but where it begins can be more difficult to discern. Researchers from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science have developed a new method to solve this problem, resulting in a new map of the Potomac River watershed stream network that significantly improves the information needed for assessing the impact of urbanization on aquatic ecosystems.

Since remote times humans have been interested in the weather and have used different strategies to predict bad storms. Some of these strategies rely on the observation that in anticipation of storms, birds fly at low heights and cows lie down. Some people even claim to feel their bones ache. These and other similar accounts have been reported but not scientifically tested.

COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- Examining a long-lived forest, researchers have found that Black Spruce trees, which dominate the northern forests of North America, succumb about five years after being weakened by environmental stresses. Without rejuvenating fire, the dead trees aren't being replaced by new ones. The result will help researchers better understand how climate change affects the health of forests, and how forests affect the severity of climate change. The study also suggests trees might be storing more carbon than currently estimated.

Boulder, Colorado, USA – In the October issue of GSA Today, Grant Young of the University of Western Ontario discusses the possible causes of the numerous glaciations that characterized the Neoproterozoic and concludes that a dramatic shift in Earth's climate may have occurred during the Ediacaran, in part due to a large marine impact. According to Young, this shift separates Proterozoic glaciations, which were likely triggered by the effect of supercontinent assembly and breakup on atmospheric carbon dioxide levels.

Three-dimensional printers can make artists' and hobbyists' dreams a reality, opening up a new world of inexpensive, on-demand plastic parts manufacturing, producing anything from garden gnome figurines to nuts and screws, but there's also a dark side. As these printers — now available at major U.S. retail stores — become more popular, concerns are growing about their use for designing and building custom plastic firearms — weapons that could conceivably go undetected.

A team of scientists from The University of Texas at Arlington and MIT has figured out how to quantitatively observe cellular processes taking place on so-called "lab on a chip" devices in a silicon environment.

The new technology will be useful in drug development as well as disease diagnosis, researchers say.

Graphene, a crystal composed of only one layer of carbon atoms arranged in a regular hexagon, is regarded as a material which is believed to be capable of performing miracles, in particular in the fields of electronics, sensor technology and display technology, but also in metrology. Only four years after the first successful preparation of graphene, its discoverers Geim and Novoselov were therefore awarded a Nobel Prize.