Iridescent patches discovered on a fragment of Roman glass are caused by photonic crystals that grew naturally over time. The finding provides new insight into self-assembly and pH-driven nanofabrication processes, according to a team of Italian and US-based heritage and materials scientists. The glass fragment was recovered from the clay-rich soil in the outskirts of […]

No figure looms larger in the history of ancient mathematics than Archimedes, a name surrounded by a dense cloud of stories, myths, and legends. However, one should never lose sight of the fact that behind all the marvellous narratives about setting fire to enemy ships with burning mirrors and overturning others with giant levers, the […]

In June 2018, a potentially carcinogenic nitrosamine impurity, N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), was detected in valsartan, a medication used to treat high blood pressure and heart failure. Soon after, NDMA and further small dialkyl N-nitrosamine impurities were discovered in other sartan active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), and later in stomach acid regulator ranitidine, and diabetes medicines piaglitazone and […]

Researchers in Switzerland have used a combination of reaction informatics tools to compare pairs of molecular structures by considering how to transform one into the other.1 While some pairings entailed feasible transformations, others required multiple and complex structural rearrangements. The team likened the second set of transformations to alchemical transmutations , to emphasise their complexity. […]

Selective cross coupling of carbonyls to form alkenes, especially non-symmetrically, is an important reaction in organic synthesis. However, only a few methods are available and none provide efficient cross-selectivity in carbonyl–alkene reactions. Now, an international team has introduced two strategies for cross-metathesis of carbonyls, enabling carbene-to-ylide transfer and di-metalation to make alkenes. David Nagib at […]

After tens of thousands of postdoctoral and graduate student researchers at the University of California (UC) system went on an unprecedented strike lasting more than a month they were ecstatic when they eventually won substantial pay increases and other benefits late last year. Their example went on to inspire other higher education workers across the […]

The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has announced that it will implement a policy that requires grant holders to monitor the lab notebooks, raw data and all documentation underpinning research carried out by collaborators based outside the US. The policy is slated to take effect from 1 January, 2024, despite researchers’ concerns that it may represent overreach by the […]

Europeans are exposed to levels of the endocrine disruptor bisphenol A (BPA) that surpass acceptable health thresholds, according to new analysis released by the European Environment Agency (EEA). The levels of total urinary BPA for 92% of the adult participants from 11 European countries exceeded the European Food Safety Agency’s (EFSA) safe level of 11.5 […]

What was once Scotland’s most radioactive beach has been re-opened to the public, after a multi-million-pound clean-up operation. Contractors have been sifting through 10,000m3 of sand and soil – the equivalent of four Olympic swimming pools of material – at Dalgety Bay in Fife since 2021 in a bid to identify particles of radium-226 and […]

With less than two weeks to go until the 2023 chemistry Nobel prize is announced, Web of Science provider Clarivate has published its annual list of citation laureates – researchers whose work ranks among the 0.01% of most highly cited publications, with 2000 citations or more. This year, the list includes 23 researchers from institutions […]