Secret Lives Of Catalysts Revealed

I suspect this research line has wide ranging potential.for the future. It is indeed interesting that basically totally inert materials will undergo modificatio/evolution of a sort to adjust to new conditions for a given (yet unknown) purpose. Very interesting indeed!

It seems almost as if even minimally complex systems can exhibit a type of emergent "intelligence"

And yes, I strongly agree that this atomic-scale level of insight will make a huge difference in the development of better catalysts for a wider range of reactions. This should be a really exciting development for chemists and chemical engineers.

<"....This work was supported by the Department of Energy....">

I'll bet they will patent all findings, and your Energy bill will not drop in response, even though as taxpayers you are entitled to a share of all new developments.

Kind Regards....

The discovery was published in the journal Science, where it will assist and inspire research worldwide in many related fields. So even if anyone (DOE or academics) patented any of the details, we should be grateful that our tax dollars were spent in such a productive way. Without this kind of public support of basic research, scientific progress would be much slower since purely private funding would discourage sharing of results.

And this discovery will benefit many sectors, not just energy. Any application that involves chemical reactions (e.g., pharmaceuticals, polymers, analytical chem, waste treatment) could benefit.