An ultra-stable protein nanowire made by bacteria provides clues to combating climate change

07-Feb-2023 - Accelerated climate change is a major and acute threat to life on Earth. Rising temperatures are caused atmospheric methane which is 30-times more potent than CO2 at trapping heat. Microbes are responsible for generating half of this methane and elevated temperatures are also accelerating ...

Light accelerates conductivity in nature’s ‘electric grid’

“It is a completely different form of photosynthesis”

09-Sep-2022 - The natural world possesses its own intrinsic electrical grid composed of a global web of tiny bacteria-generated nanowires in the soil and oceans that “breathe” by exhaling excess electrons. In a new study, Yale University researchers discovered that light is a surprising ally in fostering this ...

Cooling speeds up electrons in bacterial nanowires

This is very surprising because cooling typically freezes electrons and slows them down in organic materials

13-May-2022 - The ground beneath our feet and under the ocean floor is an electrically-charged grid, the product of bacteria “exhaling” excess electrons through tiny nanowires in an environment lacking oxygen. Yale University researchers have been studying ways to enhance this natural electrical conductivity ...

A sieve for molecules

“Materials like this with selective permeability are in high demand in industry”

09-Mar-2022 - Scientists have long tried to use graphene, which is composed of carbon, as a kind of sieve. But this material doesn’t have any pores. Now, a team has found an alternative material which comes with pores from the outset. Researchers from Bielefeld, Bochum and Yale have succeeded in producing a ...

Self-healing electronics out of living cells?

Shock to bacteria activates nature's electrical grid

19-Aug-2020 - The ocean floor and the ground beneath our feet are riddled with tiny nanowires -- 1/100,000th the width of a human hair -- created by billions of bacteria that can generate electric currents from organic waste. In new research published Aug. 17 in the journal Nature Chemical Biology, Yale ...

New laser makes silicon 'sing'

11-Jun-2018 - Yale scientists have created a new type of silicon laser that uses sounds waves to amplify light. In recent years, there has been increasing interest in translating optical technologies -- such as fiber optics and free-space lasers -- into tiny optical or "photonic" integrated circuits. Using ...

A new formula for creating chemical reactions -- with carbs

New approach to glycosylation that is remarkably simple and works in water at room temperature

03-May-2018 - In the world of chemistry, good things can happen if you just add sugar. A wide range of drugs and biochemical probes -- everything from antibiotics to Alzheimer's disease biomarkers -- rely on natural or synthetic compounds that aid a reaction by adding carbohydrates. It's a process called ...

Oxide and semiconductor combination builds new device potential

12-Jan-2018 - Insulating oxides are oxygen containing compounds that do not conduct electricity, but can sometimes form conductive interfaces when they're layered together precisely. The conducting electrons at the interface form a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) which boasts exotic quantum properties that ...

As interest grows, Yale Carbon Charge leads the way in studying carbon pricing

30-Mar-2017 - From the halls of academia to the corridors of power, there is a growing list of universities, corporations, and government officials seeking out Yale’s expertise in creating and monitoring programs to mitigate climate change. Earlier this month, officials from the Yale Carbon Charge participated ...

Better catalysts make better fuel cells

Electricity-powered molecular catalysts that may prove vital for a new generation of fuel cells designed.

16-Nov-2016 - Yale chemists have created a framework for designing electricity-powered molecular catalysts that may prove vital for a new generation of fuel cells. Also called electrocatalysts, these substances boost the rate of a chemical reaction by decreasing the energy input along the way. In fuel cells, ...