A pilot project has succeeded in scaling-up production of hydrogen using solar power, opening the door for the technology to be used in the battle against climate change. Hydrogen has long been touted as a possible carbon-neutral fuel source that could be used to transition away from more polluting alternatives, such as oil and gas. […]

A malaria vaccine developed by researchers at the University of Oxford, UK, has been approved for use in Ghana, and provisionally approved in Nigeria, despite its final-stage clinical trial data not yet being reported. The R21/Matrix-M vaccine, which has been manufactured and commercialised by the Serum Institute of India, is a protein-based vaccine that includes […]

Today I’m continuing my occasional series on the English mathematical practitioners of the Early Modern Period. In the post in this series about Edmund Gunter (1581–1626) I quoted the historian of navigation David Waters as follows:  Gunter’s De Sectore & Radio must rank with Eden’s translation of Cortes’s Arte de Navegar and Wright’s Certain Errors as one […]

A new analytical method has enabled continuous real-time monitoring of the biosynthesis of sialic acid, an important component of cell surfaces, via NMR. Described as a magnifying glass by lead researcher Christian Hackenberger from the Leibniz Research Institute for Molecular Pharmacology in Germany, the NMR technique allowed them to observe individual enzymatic steps and, for […]

A new electrophotocatalytic method broadens the scope of the classic carbonyl olefination reaction. The approach works with a wider array of starting materials and produces less waste than traditional methods like the Wittig reaction. Olefins are important building blocks for organic synthesis. But established methods of accessing these compounds from cheap carbonyl feedstocks often require […]

Helicene electrocatalysts offer a metal-free way to convert carbon dioxide into valuable chemicals. The catalysts drive the process up to 1000 times faster than other organic compounds and represent ‘the first example of a true organic electrocatalyst for carbon dioxide reduction’, according to the researchers who developed them. The team led by Joyanta Choudhury at […]

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed new measures to reduce exposure to ethylene oxide (EtO) – a colourless and flammable gas that is widely used as a disinfectant and pesticide. The EPA’s new plans, announced on 11 April, include more stringent air emissions standards and extra protections for workers at facilities where the […]

Most of the famous Benin bronzes – artworks in the forms of heads, plaques and figurines made by the Edo people of west Africa between the 16th and 19th centuries – are made from brass that originated in the German Rhineland, a new study has found. The discovery casts new light on the artworks, many […]

Grinding solid materials in a ball mill speeds up sublimation and can be used to separate chiral molecules in a simple way. The finding by scientists in Germany who developed a way to monitor the process in real time using NMR spectroscopy, could open up new possibilities in pharmaceutical research and medicinal chemistry. ‘We introduced […]

An enzyme found in algae has been shown to efficiently convert medium-chain fatty acids – eight to 10 carbon atoms long – into medium-chain hydrocarbons similar to petrol. The work provides renewed hope for making green fuels from plant and algae-derived fatty acids. In 2017, French researchers discovered fatty acid photodecarboxylase (FAP) in the green […]