Nature's carbonate system, the dynamic chemistry involving carbon dioxide (CO2), carbonate (CO32-), bicarbonate (HCO3-), and carbonic acid (H2CO3), is a vital component of the biosphere. Carbonate, bicarbonate, and carbonic acid emerge when atmospheric carbon dioxide dissolves in the oceans, which is the largest sink for this greenhouse gas. Researchers are interested in better understanding the carbonate system to potentially help facilitate carbon sequestration schemes, especially with carbon-bonding minerals, to help mitigate climate change. The carbonate system is also central to biological respiration systems, another reason why researchers are interested in this chemistry.

Recently, a group of chemists from the University of California, Berkeley teamed up with scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and made breakthrough discoveries about the carbonate species' behavior at saltwater surfaces, like that of the ocean. They report their findings this week in The Journal of Chemical Physics, from AIP Publishing.

According to one of the paper's authors, UC Berkeley chemistry professor Richard Saykally, a strong motivation for this research was understanding the chemical processes involved in carbon sequestration. They found that while neutral carbonic acid was most heavily present at the surface, as was expected, the more highly charged carbonate ion was more abundant than the weaker bicarbonate.

"We want to generally advance our understanding of the global carbon cycle," Saykally said. "The aspects of this cycle that we have been focusing on begin with carbon dioxide in the atmosphere dissolving into salt water, followed by some very interesting chemistry."

Carbon dioxide is captured by the water surface and hydrated to form carbonic acid or bicarbonate, which can then ionize into either bicarbonate or carbonate where carbonate may react with dissolved magnesium or calcium ions to form limestone.

"We want to know all those steps going from gaseous carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to limestone," Saykally said. "Our goal is to understand all the details in all the steps in that process."

UC Berkeley chemistry doctoral candidate Royce Lam, a co-author of the paper who led much of the research, wanted to build on earlier examinations of the hydration structure of carbonic system species, focusing on the relative abundances of carbonate species at the liquid surface.

Collaborating with LBNL's Dr. Hendrik Bluhm, Lam and co-authors made use of the ambient pressure photoemission spectroscopy (APPES) beamline (11.0.2) at the Advanced Light Source synchrotron at LBNL, to conduct X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) measurements -- a way to probe the molecular makeup of materials using an intense beam of high-energy X-rays. The XPS system enabled them to probe different aspects of the carbonate system they could not access before.

"What is special about XPS is that it allows us to probe at different depths into the water surface," Lam said. "This is one of the few beamlines in the world that can do this class of experiments on liquids."

For samples, Lam combined solutions of the carbonate species and hydrochloric acid, which fortuitously resembled the ocean system. With a liquid microjet device, the researchers injected these samples into a vacuum chamber and probed them at multiple X-ray energies to deduce the relative abundances of the carbonate species from the photoemitted electrons.

At the liquid surface, both carbonate and carbonic acid were more abundant than biocarbonate. The most significant surprise was that the more highly charged carbonate was more abundant at the surface than the less charged bicarbonate, which conflicts with expectations from existing theoretical models.

This raises important question about where the bicarbonate could be moving in the system, with a possibility that the carbonate could be "ion pairing" with sodium, changing the chemistry, and causing bicarbonate to move to lower depths.

"We are still working on the theory and we hope that this paper will stimulate further theoretical discussion that may actually yield definitive insights about what is going on here," Lam said.

Lam hopes that this research will also lead to more direct research on carbon sequestration possibilities.

"So, the next step would be to look further into ion pairing, and essentially limestone or mineral formation, specifically, looking at the interaction of calcium and magnesium ions with carbonate," Lam said of one carbon sequestration possibility he discussed.

Saykally feels this research connects with the whole system of aqueous carbonate chemistry, with applications ranging from carbon sequestration to biomedical research.

"In order to achieve these kinds of advances, I believe you have to know every detail of the chemistry involved in all those steps of the water-carbonate system." Saykally said. "It is a very intricate chemistry with profound practical implications."

Go here to see the original:
Synchrotron sheds (X-ray) light on carbon chemistry at ocean ... - Science Daily

A quantum microscope that uses a sensor built from diamonds could allow researchers to study such nanoscale mysteries as how DNA folds in a cell, why drugs work or how bacteria metabolize metals. Crucially, the microscope can image individual ions in a solution and reveal biochemical reactions as they occurwithout interfering in the process. The team behind the system described the results in a February 14 preprint on the arXiv server.

Researchers have long wanted an imaging system for molecular structures that works like hospital magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines, which reveal structures inside the human body without harming them. The idea behind a quantum MRIwhich images at the quantum level using electron spinsis to do the same for chemical reactions including those involving metal ions. Current magnetic resonancetechniques can only reveal structures measuring 10 micrometres or more, and the only way to detect metal ions inside a cell is to add reactive chemicals or freeze the cell so it can be imaged under powerful microscopesprocedures that kill the cell.

A hospital MRI machine works by placing a patient inside a magnetic field, such that protons in the body's atoms align with the machine's magnet. The machine then sends radio pulses through the body area being imaged, which knocks the protons out of alignment. When these pulses are switched off, the protons realign and emit electromagnetic waves at a particular frequency. If the frequency emitted by the body's tissues matches that of sensors in the machine, the two frequencies will resonate like guitar strings tuned to the same note. The machine uses this resonance to reconstruct an image of the body.

A team led by physicists Lloyd Hollenberg and David Simpson at the University of Melbourne, Australia, wanted to use this technique to detect metal ions in cells. Some metal ions can be harmful to cells, whereas others are necessary for biochemical reactions, such as those involved in metabolism. The catch is that an MRI sensor needs to be about the same size as the item being imaged, which is currently impossible when trying to look at a single atom.

To make their quantum MRI microscope, the researchers used 2-millimetre-wide diamonds that containedatomic-sized flaws in their crystal structure. These flaws are sensitive to changes in magnetic fields and can be 'tuned' to resonate with the spin of the molecule or ion that is being detected. When the diamond's flaws are illuminated with a green laser, the diamond fluoresces red, and the brightness of that fluorescence depends on the strength and direction of an applied magnetic field.

Hollenberg, Simpson and their colleagues used a diamond that had an array of flaws in specific locations just below its surface and placed it at the end of a microscope next to a sample. The researchers tuned the defects to a frequency that resonated with the spin of an ionized form of copper that is missing two electrons (Cu2+). By touching the diamond probe to the surface of a sample containing copper ions, the resonance between the two stimulated fluorescence in the diamond flaws. The researchers used a computer program to examine the colour coming off the diamond flaws and to reconstruct an image of the sample, revealing the precise location of each copper ion.

Next, the researchers flooded the sample with an acid that adds an electron to Cu2+, turning it into Cu+. As they added the acid, they imaged the sample and watched the Cu2+spin pattern disappear. The pattern then reappeared over the course of an hour as the sample was oxidized to Cu2+on exposure to air. Such a method could one day allow researchers to watch biochemical reactions as they occur in cells.

Because the method is non-invasive, it could theoretically be used to image the interior of living cellssomething that Simpson and Hollenberg's team is working towards. The main obstacle is that the diamond probe needs to be physically close to the sample to produce a signal. But the team says that the current method will still be useful for understanding drug mechanisms and investigating proteins found on the cell membrane. The researchers are also trying to adapt the system so it can detect different metals, including iron.

Friedemann Reinhard, a physicist at the Technical University of Munich in Germany, praises the work. The innovations here bring it a lot closer to the application, he says. His group is also working with diamond microscopy, creating a system that could image molecules in 3D.

He adds that although the new technique still needs improvements, such as the ability to find copper ions in low-concentration solutions, it is definitely a great step ahead.

This article is reproduced with permission and wasfirst publishedon March 6, 2017.

Read the original:
Quantum Microscope Spies on Chemical Reactions in Real Time - Scientific American

YourObserver.com

Lakewood Ranch basketball tasked with redeveloping chemistry YourObserver.com They have been the core of the team for two seasons so Schiller's challenge for next season will be creating the same chemistry among the players who will have to fill their roles. The good news for Lakewood Ranch is next year's team will include Evan ...

Excerpt from:
Lakewood Ranch basketball tasked with redeveloping chemistry - YourObserver.com

The Welch Foundation, one of the largest funding resources for chemical research, recognized associate professor Delia Milliron for her contribution to controlling sunlight from entering buildings, according to the foundations website.

Last Wednesday, The Welch Foundation announced Milliron as one of the two recipients of the 2017 Norman Hackerman Award in Chemical Research. The award was established to honor Norman Hackerman, the foundations scientific advisory board member, with the purpose of supporting Texas scientists who are dedicated to increasing the fundamental understanding of chemistry.

Milliron said it is a great honor to be recognized by The Welch Foundation, and she is very proud to receive this award.

(The Welch Foundation is) a very important supporter of chemistry across the state of Texas, and they found some of the research in my lab and in many others across campus and around the state, Milliron said over the phone. Its a really important driver of innovation in Texas to have the Welch foundation supporting us with grants and with awards like this one.

Milliron is also an associate editor of Nano Letters, a journal of the American Chemical Society, which includes publications related to nanomaterial chemistry.

Thomas Truskett, chair of the McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering, said Milliron is a rising star in the chemical sciences, and she is well-deserved of the award.

The Hackerman Award is a fiercely competitive prize, Truskett said in an email. The fact that Dr. Milliron was chosen for it this year, as well as another colleague from our Department last year, points toward the excellence of our young faculty, who represent the future of the Department.

The Welch Foundation is based in Houston and has contributed to the advancement of chemistry by supporting institutions in Texas with research grants and special projects, according to the foundations website.

Chemistry freshman Andrea Torres said its inspiring to see Millirons recogniton, because she represents a strong female leader in the scientific community.

For a long time chemistry and sciences in general were predominantly male, and to have a woman win an award like that its a pretty big deal, Torres said. It shows that we have a program thatpushes innovation.

Read the original here:
Associate chemical engineering professor recognized by The Welch ... - UT The Daily Texan

kfor.com

Good chemistry is important for good fudge and good business for this mom and daughter operation in Bethany kfor.com For much of the past 4 years the alchemy of fudge has been her chief area of study, a huge departure from her past studies in law and teaching law at the university level. "I needed something that would give me some flexibility," says Annette. Okay, so ...

Read more:
Good chemistry is important for good fudge and good business for this mom and daughter operation in Bethany - kfor.com

Jiayin Yuan was recently appointed associate professor of chemistry and biomolecular science at Clarkson University.

Yuan received his bachelor of engineering degree in applied chemistry from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, P. R. China, his master of science in macromolecular chemistry from the University of Siegen, Germany, and his Ph.D. in polymer chemistry, graduating summa cum laude, from the University of Bayreuth, Germany.

Before coming to this position, Yuan did research in polymer/colloid/materials chemistry at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam, Germany.

He has teaching experience as an associate faculty member of the International Max Planck Research School and at the University of Potsdam, where he completed his habilitation in 2015, according to a press release from Clarkson.

His recent honors include receiving the Otto-Warburg Award, the Max Planck Society Postdoc Fellowship, the European Research Council starting grant award, the Dr. Hermann-Schnell Award of the German Chemical Society and the Dozentenpreis des Fonds from the Foundation of the German Chemical Industry, the release said.

Yuan has organized scientific gatherings and presentations in Europe as well as the United States. He has published about 120 articles and five book chapters, and has been guest editor and served on editorial boards of professional journals. He also has provided referee service for journals and funding agencies.

He has presented his work in many countries, including Germany, France, Poland, Switzerland, Belgium, China, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

View original post here:
Clarkson University appoints professor of chemistry and biomolecular science - North Country Now

VARANASI: The holy city Varanasi is not turning out to be the cakewalk the BJP might have hoped for its Assembly candidates in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Lok Sabha constituency.

Factors like consolidation of opposition votes and well-entrenched rival candidates against BJP's perceived fumbling in picking its nominees have come together to make contests close in this high-profile seat.

BJP President Amit Shah might have dismissed opposition's suggestions that multiple public events by Modi here besides deployment of a number of union ministers and top party leaders in campaigning is indicative of "desperation" in his ranks but it is clear that his party is going out of the way to ensure a good saffron show.

"I am a little critical. There is an excess effort from the BJP and people can feel it. Everybody has a role and stature and I think it (Modi's numerous events) diminishes the prime minister's chair," said Ashok Kumar Upadhyay, a professor in Political Science Department of Banaras Hindu University.

He, however, told that the overdrive may end up helping the saffron party by winning over floating voters who are guided by the "wave".

The BJP had won three of the five seats falling in the Varanasi parliamentary constituency in 2012 and has changed two of the three winners this time round.

Neelkanth Tiwari is making his electoral debut replacing seven-time MLA Shyamdev Roy Chaudhari in Varanasi South seat and Saurabh Srivastava takes the baton from his mother Jyotsana Srivastava in Varanasi Cantonment. Both changes have not gone down well with sections of party cadres.

The party leadership has worked overtime to placate Chaudhari, well-regarded for his affability and accessibility, with Shah reaching out to him.

The change in Cantonment has invited allegations of dynasty politics as the Srivastava family has long held the constituency and even Saurabh Srivastava's late father was an MLA before his mother stepped in his shoes.

In Varanasi North, Muslims are in substantial numbers and have rallied around the Samajwadi Party-Congress candidate and former MLA Abdul Samad Ansari.

Ravindra Jaisawal of the BJP had won from here by a narrow margin and the combined votes of the two alliance partners has made matters difficult for him.

Read the original here:
BJP hopes Modi chemistry will prevail over Congress-SP in Varanasi - Economic Times

House's insight into athletic success has allowed him to not only impact baseball, where he currently works with many of the game's top pitchers, but also to extend his efforts into college football and the NFL.

House is the subject of this week's Q&A:

MLB.com: How did you become so involved in the football world?

House: When we first started doing motion analysis, we captured any movement we could capture. We have Dan Marino in the computer. We have Joe Montana, Steve Beuerlein. Remember Todd Marinovich, robo quarterback? We had a bunch of elite quarterbacks captured. All the data measured, but I didn't know what we were looking at. Then obviously we threw footballs in a baseball environment when I was a coach in the Padres' system and at the big leagues with the Rangers. I got that from the trainer in San Diego, Dick Dent. He figured out you have to have proper throwing mechanics to throw a spiral.

MLB.com: But that was taking football to baseball. Where, along the line, did you get involved in dealing with the football players?

House: Cam Cameron was the offensive coordinator with the San Diego Chargers, and I had been working with his boys in baseball. Both his sons pitched. Drew Brees was his quarterback. He said, "You know, do you think you might be able to talk to Drew?" I worked with him for about a year and a half. Then in the last game of his tenure with the Chargers, he blew his shoulder out really bad. He dislocated the right shoulder and suffered a 360-degree tear of the rotator cuff and labrum.

Dr. [James] Andrews put him back together, but didn't think Drew would ever throw a professional pass again. I got seriously involved with the rehab, and one thing leads to another. Nine months later, he signed with the Saints. And as they say, the rest is history. In sports, the word of mouth has an impact. I started with Drew, and one day another quarterback showed up, and all of a sudden I'm working with six or seven guys. Over the last four years, we've been working with 26 of the No. 1 quarterbacks in the NFL, a bunch of backups and most of the elite college quarterbacks.

MLB.com: I guess it's that old saying about timing. You were considered the nutty professor with the Rangers back in the 1980s, but you are readily accepted in the new century in the NFL.

House: Somebody's got to take a shot at being first. I've always been looking for a better way. It's finally starting to pay off. The really cool thing is we've figured out that rotational athletes -- hitters, golfers, tennis, football, softball, baseball -- are pretty much the same animal. The preparation and the movements are all really, really close. If you can teach pitching, you can teach quarterbacking. If you can teach quarterbacking, you can teach the physical movements and the physical preparations to hit like tennis, whatever. It got kind of easy once we started looking at the analytics of outcome and moving back to the process.

MLB.com: The process?

House: Sports are all about outcomes. You get contracts and big money if you're a pro guy because of outcomes. You get college scholarships because of outcome. The analytics out there are really good for that, but the confidence intervals and the standard deviations when you're measuring outcome aren't as good as when you're measuring process. Our confidence intervals and our standard deviations are more measurable, more quantifiable and more defendable than what the analytics guys are doing. Analytics are really good. We're just a little bit more predictable, because we're measuring process, not outcome.

We do movement analysis. We do functional strength. We do nutrition and sleep, and we do mental emotions. I was doing that with the Rangers. We've just gotten better and better and better working with the process, not the outcome.

MLB.com: You were a pioneer in analytics.

House: I was fortunate to run across Craig Wright. We did a book, "Diamond Appraised." We actually preceded Bill James and all those guys. We really didn't know what we were doing. Timing is everything. I just happened to be sitting at the bus stop when three dimensional motion analysis showed up, wireless CMG, sleeping monitor, what muscles were doing. Then obviously I went to school and got my Ph.D. in psychology and a master's in nutrition. It was just pretty much luck of the draw. Blind squirrels find an acorn.

MLB.com: Did it ever get frustrating that you had such a hard time being accepted with what's now commonplace?

House: It frustrated me that I wasn't a good enough communicator to make people understand the value involved with what we were doing. There were times when I had my feelings hurt, but it didn't stop me from pushing, because I knew we were doing something that was measurable and quantifiable for the first time in sport. That held me together.

MLB.com: What about how the human element plays into it? That's one thing that people seem to lose some sight of.

House: We're genetically predisposed for affiliation and failure. We are born with overwhelming need to be affiliated with something, and we learn more from our failures than we do from our successes. Where people have trouble identifying team chemistry, it basically boils down to those two things: the affiliation process, we want to belong to something, a team, and if that affiliation returns positive, you stay affiliated. Then the failure side of the equation -- if you're with a team that doesn't embrace failure as part of the learning process, then the attachment of feelings to failure or success gets in the way of the process.

The perfect example is what the Patriots do. On their wall, when you walk in their locker room, it basically says three things: do your job, trust the process, trust your teammate. That's it. Think about this: When people go to the Patriots, who do you think reframes to be affiliated? The Belichick boys or the new guys? The new guys. When you go to the Patriots, no matter what your personality, Randy Moss or whoever.

That's what creates chemistry. Going to the Cleveland Browns right now, they really don't have a process the kids can hang their hats on, so they're going in with kind of a question mark on how affiliated they're going to be to the Cleveland Brown Way until there's either a pre-sold chemistry like Belichick has, because his process is proven to everybody it works. Unless an organization can create a process that a player wants to be affiliated with -- and unless those players can reframe performance, success or failure, around that process -- they don't have chemistry.

MLB.com: Hal Keller used to say when he scouted amateurs he liked to see them have a bad day, because everybody fails at some point and the successful players deal with failure.

House: That's affiliation. Remember, you asked if I had my feelings hurt at the lack of acceptance 30, 40 years ago? I bought into the process I was involved with, not how it was being perceived. My value proposition was in my process, not the outcome of me being a great pitching coach or a great communicator or whatever. Eventually, if you're confident of your process and you have a belief system, your process is measurable, quantifiable and dependable, eventually it wins out.

MLB.com: As young player, how did you get so involved in the analytics aspect?

House: I never expected to play past college. When I left USC and signed with the Braves, I figured it was going be a real good summer job while I went ahead and got my Ph.D. I was pursuing baseball, living, breathing, dying baseball. That was my passion. But as a parallel process, I was in the classroom doing academics and research. Looking back, everybody had the same goals down, but they weren't talking to each other as they were approaching that goal. If I have a value to sports right now, it's connecting dots between different disciplines and making everybody aware that we all want to win the Super Bowl and we all want to win a Wor
ld Series, let's not be fractured with the process. Let's make sure we're all on the same page, so we have organizational process and team chemistry.

MLB.com: Is that exciting for you?

House: When I first started realizing how big the disconnects were in baseball, I didn't think there was any hope that I would see this in my lifetime, but now I do. The awareness now that there's a better way is starting to change throughout the game. I'm talking from Rookie ball to the Major Leagues, from the front-office analytics guys all the way down to the clubhouse. Other sports have figured it out a little quicker. Baseball's coming along, and it's going to be just fine. I've been involved in the game 50 years, and I'd like to think I carried the torch a little bit, and the kids that are standing on my shoulders now will take it home.

Tracy Ringolsby is a columnist for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Here is the original post:
Q&A: House on team chemistry, analytics - MLB.com