A gut microbe has been discovered that can break down nicotine and, if abundant enough, may reduce harm to smokers, reports a Sino-American collaboration. This finding might one day translate into a therapy that saves lives. The work began with a clinical trial in China that found an ‘unexpected’ accumulation of nicotine in the gut, […]

Scientists, researchers and academics across Brazil are celebrating the victory of former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva over incumbent Jair Bolsonaro. Leading up to the runoff election on 30 October, there was strong support for Lula from the country’s research community. Lula beat Bolsonaro with 50.9% of the vote to 49.1%. The exceptionally close […]

The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) has committed to making all of its journals open access within the next five years. It is the first chemistry publisher to commit to a 100% open access model and hopes to fund the move in a way that will avoid individual authors having to pay article processing charges […]

The UK has a rich network of small, technology-intensive companies, many of which have been spun out of research-based universities. Unlike in the US, however, relatively few recent UK startups have grown into large companies, let alone become household names. Ask the senior management teams of these companies what is holding them back, and one […]