chemicals

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On this week's show, we check out Tailly, a wearable robotic tail that wags when you get excited. If that gets you wagging, then you'll definitely want to have a look at the Satis Bluetooth toilet that can flush with your smartphone. And in honor of winter, we look at how a snowflake is born. It's the last show of 2012, and we bid you farewell until the new year. The show returns on January 18. … Read more

It seems unlikely that the maker of hundred-million-dollar Hollywood blockbusters such as "Armageddon" and "The Transformers" could inspire scientists to develop an ultra low-cost tool for quickly sensing airborne chemical weapons. Yet one former University of Michigan at Ann Arbor researcher says his idea to use a nerve-gas antidote to create an inexpensive litmus paper-like nerve-gas sensor emerged shortly after watching "The Rock" on DVD a few years ago.

During the climax of that 1996 Michael Bay movie, chemical weapons specialist Stanley Goodspeed (played by Nicolas Cage) injects himself in the heart with atropine … Read more

Researchers at the University of Michigan say they have developed a simple litmus-like test for nerve gas that could clue military personnel into when they might actually need to use those heavy masks and protective gear. (Nerve gases, the most toxic of chemical warfare agents, and are colorless, odorless, and tasteless.)

"To detect these agents now, we rely on huge, expensive machines that are hard to carry and hard to operate," Jinsang Kim, an associate professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Michigan, said in a statement. "We wanted to develop an equipment-free, motion-free, … Read more

Startup Virdia is joining hundreds of biotech companies trying to make low-cost sugar to replace oil and food crops.

The company today announced new financing, including $30 million of venture capital from existing investors Khosla Ventures, Burrill & Company and Tamar Ventures. Mississippi also provided the company with $75 million in low-interest loans and tax incentives to build an operation in the state.

Founded in 2007, Virdia uses acid hydrolysis to separate the sugar from the cellulose in wood chips. Once it has done so, the company intends to sell the resulting sugar into the existing "commodity carbohydrate markets&… Read more

In Japan, it's called "detergent suicide." People take their own lives by inhaling a deadly mixture of chemicals, typically including hydrogen sulfide, in small, enclosed spaces such as cars or closets. At high enough concentrations, one breath can be lethal.

A few years ago, these chemical suicides were extremely rare. But they started occurring more frequently in Japan and began to make headlines there after a 14-year-old girl contaminated 90 of her neighbors when she took her life this way in 2008. Today, by some counts, more than 2,000 people have committed suicide in this fashion, … Read more

Chemists at Yale University are unveiling what they call the first practical method to create the compound huperzine A, which is a naturally occurring extract of Chinese club moss.

The enzyme inhibitor has been used widely in China and now beyond to treat memory loss in disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, and some research indicates it might help fight the effects of chemical warfare agents in primates.

But the plant, whose scientific name is Huperzia serrata, is both slow-growing and overharvested, resulting in a price tag upwards of $1,000 per milligram. The Yale team's success creating a … Read more

Dow Chemical today announced a joint venture to produce ethanol and plastics from sugar cane, a step toward sourcing renewable feedstocks for chemicals.

The joint venture between Dow Chemical and Japanese industrial conglomerate Mitsui will initially produce ethanol from sugar cane, which will then be used as a feedstock to make plastics. Financial terms of the venture were not disclosed.

The companies project to start construction of the operation, which they say will be the largest facility for making biopolymers from ethanol in the world, in the third quarter this year. Dow Chemical expects to make plastic replacements for flexible … Read more

Solazyme raised $227 million in its public stock offering today, netting more than anticipated from the biofuels and renewable chemicals company's public launch.

Trading of the San Francisco-based company's stock (SZYM) started today on the NASDAQ higher than the planned $18 opening price and closed the day at over $20, or 15 percent higher, to bring in $227 million.

The IPO is a bright spot for the biofuel and renewable chemical area, where many companies have been founded over the past 10 years but only a handful have successfully gone public.

Solazyme uses algae to make liquid fuels, … Read more

Many biofuel companies are finding the best way to make money is to stay away from biofuels, at least for a while.

A number of biofuel companies are first focusing on industrial chemicals or food supplements as they seek a route to get out of the lab and into the market. Chemicals used in everyday products, such as rubber or plastics, are also made from oil as fuels are but they can command higher prices than gasoline and diesel.

Start-up Verdezyne today will announce that BP Alternative Energy Ventures and Dutch chemicals company DSM are investing in the Carlsbad, Calif.… Read more