More than 50 journals have been delisted by the Web of Science for failing to meet quality selection criteria. In a statement, Clarivate, the owner of Web of Science, said its selection process for journals had improved thanks to better technology, making it able to identify more journals of concern. Clarivate will no longer index […]

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed to ban most uses of dichloromethane (methylene chloride) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) that governs US chemical policy. Dichloromethane is a widely used laboratory solvent that is used in a wide range of products like adhesives, sealants, degreasers and paint strippers. It’s the second substance, […]

Global demand for batteries is surging. Lithium-ion cells are being incorporated into ever-wider areas of consumer and industrial life, but one of the biggest drivers of battery demand is the accelerating transition to electric vehicles (EVs). EV numbers are predicted to rise by 36% per year globally, passing 245 million vehicles by 2030. The lithium-ion […]

A new $70 million (£56 million) project, co-led by several prominent scientists including University of California, Berkeley biochemist Jennifer Doudna – who shared the 2020 Nobel Prize in chemistry for her work on Crispr gene-editing – will apply precision genome editing to microbiomes to develop a new technique for addressing various human health and climate […]

I’m going to write about mifepristone and the legal troubles around it, and I will probably regret doing so. That’s partly because the situation is changing – this dispute is now before the US supreme court, and for better or worse, they will have the last word. But as of this writing, that last word […]

One of Spain’s most highly cited chemists, Rafael Luque, has been suspended by the University of Córdoba, reportedly for 13 years. The suspension was a consequence of taking positions at other institutions without permission, according to Luque. Since 2019, Luque has listed King Saud University in Saudi Arabia as his primary affiliation, while keeping his […]

Beer-brewing ‘biobots’ could boost the drinks industry by speeding up fermentation. Researchers in Czechia encapsulated yeast and iron oxide nanoparticles in a biocompatible polymer to create self-propelling biobots, which can be retrieved from beer samples magnetically – eliminating the need for filtration steps. The biobots have a two-sided design with one hemisphere made porous to […]

All of the RSC’s open access journals will benefit from an increased presence on the popular academic social networking site ResearchGate, under an agreement announced on 20 April. The new collaboration follows the RSC’s commitment last year to transition to a wholly open access (OA) publishing model within five years. The approximately 1.5 million chemical […]

Pitcher plant species have been discovered to be tailoring their bouquet of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to attract specific insects into their tubular traps. Researchers in France focused on Sarracenia pitchers, a group native to the eastern US and popular as house plants due to their colourful tubular leaves. Four Sarracenia species that varied in […]

Merck & Co has agreed to buy Prometheus Biosciences, which specialises in developing treatments for immune-modulated diseases, for $10.8 billion (£8.7 billion) in cash. The main focus of the deal is PRA023 – Prometheus’ antibody directed at tumour necrosis factor-like ligand 1A (TL1A), a protein target associated with intestinal inflammation and fibrosis. PRA023 has had […]