Sars-CoV-2 continues to infect millions of people worldwide and cause an estimated 10,000 deaths per day, as the US alone approaches one million dead. It is widely expected to become endemic, remaining in circulation for the foreseeable future, and continuing to cause substantial numbers of hospitalisations and deaths, especially among vulnerable groups. ‘Covid kills about […]

Mini-reactors that have been described as the future of nuclear energy are likely to produce more radioactive waste than existing technologies. The finding comes from researchers who warn that waste management and disposal are being overlooked as policymakers and developers rush through plans for new nuclear infrastructure . Small modular reactors (SMRs), also known as […]

A new family of molecular cages has been synthesised using classical covalent chemistry, overcoming the limitations of both supramolecular and self-assembled organic frameworks. These cages, dubbed cagearenes, are able to separate hydrocarbon mixtures through a process called programmed release, which has widespread applications in both drug delivery and chemical production. Programmed release depends on the […]

The Labor party has won the Australian 2022 federal elections, which has led to cautious optimism amongst researchers about science funding and changes in climate policy. The Liberals, the conservative party that led a coalition government for the last nine years had their worst election in decades. They recorded around 24% of the votes, with […]

Norway’s Ministry of Education and Research has sacked the entire 12-member board of its research council over serious financial mismanagement allegations. The agency, Forskningsrådet, which funds the nation’s research projects, has also been ordered to stop awarding grants for now in areas that are likely to decline. The board has been replaced with a new […]

Just having a three-dimensional structure and aromatic properties doesn’t make a molecule 3D aromatic, scientists have found. The team computationally analysed several compounds that had been classified as 3D aromatic, concluding that many of them are not. They believe it’s time to reconsider the concept. ‘If a term like 3D aromaticity isn’t used properly, it […]

Researchers in the US and China have synthesised a new carbon allotrope – γ-graphyne – in bulk for the first time. The new way to prepare this elusive material offers scientists the opportunity to fully investigate its unique electronic and mechanical properties. Carbon exists in many different forms. The most well-known allotropes are naturally occurring […]

The error-prone estimation that is the current gold standard for characterising a material’s porousity could be replaced by a new piece of software that is far more accurate. The method, already tested by 61 leading laboratories, increases reliability and reproducibility, and redefines the gold-standard of adsorption measurements – surface area calculations. Surface area provides a […]

Growing up in the UK in the 1950s, history lessons in primary school, that’s elementary school for Americans, still consisted to a large extent of a glorification of the rapidly fading British Empire. The classroom globes were still covered in swathes of pink and there, at least, the sun never set on the empire that […]

In mid-March, a one minute video of Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy appeared first on social media and later on a Ukrainian news website. In it, Zelenskiy told Ukrainian soldiers to lay down their arms and surrender to Russian troops. But the video turned out to be a deepfake, a piece of synthetic media created by […]