(American Chemical Society) Scientists have developed a new kind of tiny motor -- which they term a "microrocket" -- that can propel itself through acidic environments, such as the human stomach, without any external energy source, opening the way to a variety of medical and industrial applications. Their report in the Journal of the American Chemical Society describes the microrockets traveling at virtual warp speed for such devices. A human moving at the same speed would have to run at a clip of 400 miles per hour.

by Li Chen, Yanlin Ma, Eun Young Kim, Wei Yu, Robert J. Schwartz, Ling Qian, Jun Wang

(U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) Today, US Environmental Protection Agency Assistant Administrator, Paul Anastas, and Department of Defense Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Installations and Environment, Dorothy Robyn signed an agreement that formalizes the partnership between EPA and DoD to develop and implement technologies that will help create sustainable American military bases all over the world.

(American Chemical Society) Fingerprints, ballistics, DNA analysis and other mainstays of the forensic science toolkit may get a powerful new crime-solving companion as scientists strive to develop technology for "fingerprinting" and tracing the origins of chemical substances that could be used in terrorist attacks and other criminal acts. That's the topic of the cover story in the current issue of Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society.

(National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)) A team from NIST and the University of Maryland has found an iron-based superconductor that operates at the highest known temperature for a material in its class. The discovery inches iron-based superconductors closer to being useful in many practical applications.