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Chemistry & Physics

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 26-Oct-2026 10:16 ET (26-Oct-2026 14:16 GMT/UTC)

Natural insecticide made by nanoemulsification of compounds found in garlic and spearmint found to be effective on adzuki bean beetles with low non-target impacts

Kyushu University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Diallyl disulfide is an organosulfur compound derived from garlic, and R-carvone is a monoterpenoid derived from spearmint. Researchers processed these compounds into oil-in-water nanoemulsions and applied it to the adzuki bean beetle—a known legume pest. The researchers found that the nanoemulsions were highly toxic against the pest, suggesting that they could be a promising environmentally friendly alternative to synthetic pest-control agents.

Journal: Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety
Funder: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

Radical, but selective: Cleaving strong bonds while preserving weak ones

Kanazawa University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Kanazawa University, Japan – Research group led by Prof. Keiichi Hirano and Assistant Prof. Akira Matsumoto have developed a novel synthetic method for the selective cleavage of strong carbon–hydrogen (C–H) bonds while preserving weaker carbon–silicon (C–Si) bonds. This transformation enables the upgrading of structurally simple α-silyl alcohols into functionalized derivatives that are difficult to access by conventional methods. The key to this success lies in utilizing a finely tuned phosphonium ylide catalyst in combination with an organophotoredox catalyst under visible-light irradiation.

Journal: ACS Catalysis

Breaking the bandwidth tradeoff: Topological coupler enables broadband coupled resonator optical waveguide

Chinese Society for Optical Engineering
Peer-Reviewed Publication

As a widely used device in photonic integrated circuits, coupled resonator optical waveguide (CROW) faces the challenge in increasing bandwidth, which is fundamentally limited by the tradeoff between the free spectral range (FSR) and finesse. Recently, by introducing topological coupler, researchers from Sun Yat-sen University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University have substantially alleviated this tradeoff and experimentally realized broadband CROW. The study is published in the journal PhotoniX.

Journal: PhotoniX
Funder: National Natural Science Foundation of China, Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation of Guangdong Province

Protein-enriched ketchup gets a boost from algae extracts

American Chemical Society
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Added protein is showing up in foods from breakfast cereal to pasta, but not many condiments … yet. Researchers reporting in ACS Food Science & Technology have now developed an enriched tomato ketchup by incorporating protein extracted from algae. A panel of taste testers preferred the recipes containing up to 3% added algal extract, saying the samples maintained the sweet, tangy taste and reddish appearance expected of the condiment.

Journal: ACS Food Science & Technology

New brain model suggests how regional chemistry shapes large-scale neural activity

EBRAINS
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers have developed a computer model of the human cortex that links its microscopic chemistry to its brain-wide patterns of activity, providing new evidence that regional differences in receptor density help shape how activity and information move across the brain.

The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). It was developed using The Virtual Brain (TVB), an open-source whole-brain simulation platform that is part of the EBRAINS research infrastructure, and was supported in part through the EBRAINS 2.0 project and The Virtual Brain Twin Project.

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Advincula named American Chemical Society Fellow

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Grant and Award Announcement

Rigoberto "Gobet" Advincula, a Governor's Chair Professor jointly appointed at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee, has been named a 2026 Fellow of the American Chemical Society's Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Division.

Green analytical chemistry and metrics for sustainable pharmaceuticals: A comprehensive review

Bentham Science Publishers
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The study, "Green Analytical Chemistry and Metrics for Sustainable Pharmaceuticals: A Comprehensive Review," was carried out by K. Archana, G. Vigneshwaran, and M. Sumithra in the Journal of Current Topics in Chemistry.

A new comprehensive review maps twenty years of progress in green analytical chemistry, critically evaluates the tools currently used to measure how environmentally sound a pharmaceutical testing method is, and makes the case that no single tool is sufficient — calling instead for an integrated multi-metric approach that covers the full environmental, safety, and resource footprint of analytical practice in the pharmaceutical industry.

Journal: Current Topics in Chemistry

Laser spectroscopy helps reveal hidden nuclear properties in fermium

Johannes Gutenberg Universitaet Mainz
Peer-Reviewed Publication

For the first time, researchers have determined the shape of the actinide nucleus of fermium‑255 and measured its structure with high precision and resolution. This breakthrough, published in Physical Review Letters, supports modern theoretical models and opens new possibilities for understanding the behavior of the heaviest atomic nuclei.

Journal: Physical Review Letters

Just 50°C decides whether an ultrathin magnetic film stays flat or falls apart

University of Toyama
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Ultrathin magnetic films for next-generation memory devices face a trade-off between atomic ordering and surface flatness. Researchers from the University of Toyama addressed this using a two-step heating method to grow highly ordered 5-nm-thick FePd films. The process involves low-temperature deposition for smooth layer-by-layer growth, followed by an annealing step to promote atomic ordering. The findings provide a simple strategy for developing energy-efficient magnetic random-access memory and high-density magnetic storage technologies.

Journal: Journal of Alloys and Compounds
Funder: JSPS Core-to-Core Program, KAKENHI, Institute of Science Tokyo, MEXT, Nagoya University, Israel Science Foundation, Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI) program