Commonly used as solvents for various organic reactions, imidazolium salts are room-temperature ionic liquids that are chemically stable and have low vapor pressure. While their physical properties have been widely studied, the Singapore study is one of the few scientific reports about the salts' biochemical properties and medical applications.

In one of the first instances of targeted drug design in psychiatric treatment, researchers have found an experimental agent that shows promise in addressing working memory impairments that occur in the schizophrenia.

Although conventional wisdom suggests that the best way to learn a difficult skill is to progress from easier problems to more difficult ones, research examining this issue has resulted in mixed outcomes. Psychologists wanted to pinpoint the best strategies for learning new information and found that the effects of the different training methods depended on the type of categories that the participants were learning.

The first comprehensive “inventory” of sea and land animals around a group of Antarctic islands reveals a region that is rich in biodiversity and has more species than the Galapagos. The study provides an important benchmark to monitor how they will respond to future environmental change.

Dust collected from coal-tar sealcoated parking lots in Central and Eastern U.S. cities contains concentrations of  polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) that are about 1,000 times greater than levels found in Western cities where coal-tar sealcoat is less commonly used, according to a new study.