Carbon Engineering and Occidental Petroleum’s subsidiary 1PointFive, have announced plans to install 70 direct air capture (DAC) plants by 2035 – each capturing up to one million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year. A first plant is expected to be operating by late 2024. If realised, those plants could be capturing just under 0.2% of […]

White able-bodied heterosexual male scientists not only avoid the disadvantages experienced by women, minoritised racial groups and other marginalised identities, but also experience exclusive benefits associated with their status. This, according to an analysis of more than 25,000 US scientists’ survey responses, allows white men more career opportunities, professional respect and higher salaries that can’t […]

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has revealed details of major research infrastructure projects that it will invest in over the next three years. In total, the funder has earmarked £481 million for more than 30 projects across many different disciplines. ‘The UK is home to world-renowned facilities in a wide range of fields, which act […]

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued stricter safety standards for four different per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking water, saying that these chemicals are more hazardous than previously thought. Now the agency is considering regulating these compounds as one class rather than individually. So far, the EPA has identified about 8000 different […]

A catalyst comprising tiny amounts of platinum dissolved in liquid gallium can be three orders of magnitude more active than solid platinum catalysts for electrochemical methanol oxidation, researchers have shown. In the quest to maximize atom economy in precious metal catalysts, the ultimate limit is often achieved by single atomic dispersion of the metal’s active […]

Show Fullscreen A new two-component cancer therapy uses a modified enzyme to activate a light-sensitive prodrug compound, triggering cell death exclusively in cancerous cells irradiated with a laser. The experimental treatment has already shown promise in mouse studies. Known as photodynamic therapy, this type of treatment relies on the reaction of a photosensitive molecule with […]

Polish billionaire Dominika Kulczyk has bought the 19th-century mansion near Paris, France, that was once the holiday home of Marie Skłodowska–Curie and her family. She is planning to convert it into a meeting and working space for women, and use it as a place to award what could be considered to be Nobel prizes solely […]

A polyatomic molecule – calcium monohydroxide – has been trapped and cooled to almost absolute zero for the first time. The work could help to pave the way towards studying interactions between individual, ultracold molecules. Scientists have recently demonstrated cooling diatomic molecules such as strontium monofluoride in magneto-optical traps. Polyatomic molecules, however, have proven to […]

Annette Doherty has been voted the next president-elect of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). Doherty will take up her post in July 2024 once incoming president Gill Reid completes her term. ‘I want to dedicate my time as president-elect and president to ensuring that we have that right support and environment where innovative research […]

Over a series of posts, we have followed the emergence of the science of botany out of the Renaissance humanist physicians’ endeavours to integrate materia medica, the study of simples or medical herbs, into the Renaissance university teaching curriculum. By the end of the sixteenth century the books on plants that were being published were definitely […]