When rocks lay the groundwork for the origin of life

Mineral catalysts found in deep-sea vents convert CO2 and H2 to biomolecules, showing striking parallels to known biological pathways

An international collaboration of researchers in Germany, France and Japan investigated the catalytic activities of minerals found in deep-sea hydrothermal vents. The results suggest that mineral-driven chemical reactions might be closely mapped onto microbial carbon metabolism. … Continue Reading ››

Graphene as a detective to unravel molecular self-assembly

Researchers from the University of Strasbourg & CNRS (France), in collaboration with Humboldt University of Berlin and DWI – Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials/RWTH Aachen University (Germany), have demonstrated that graphene devices can be used to monitor in real time the dynamics of molecular self-assembly at the solid/liquid interface. Their results have been published in Nature Communications.