Scientific organisations have renewed calls for the UK government to agree terms that will allow the country’s scientists to participate in major European research programmes. The calls come in response to the government publishing its Pioneer prospectus – a proposed plan for a domestic research funding programme that will come into place if the UK […]

A chemical redesign turns a promising bio-derived polyester into a fully recyclable polymer that exhibits record thermal stability. These structural modifications address key issues that have previously limited the use of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) as commercial plastic alternatives. PHAs, which are produced naturally by several bacteria, are a class of polyester that are promising candidates for new […]

New mechanistic studies have uncovered the role of salts and additives in the formation of active species in nickel-catalysed reactions. These results address ‘a fundamental gap in knowledge’, according to Eva Hevia, an expert in organometallic chemistry at the University of Bern, Switzerland, who wasn’t involved in the study. ‘Such fundamental understanding will lead to […]

Following years of lengthy litigation, US pharma giant Johnson & Johnson (J&J) has offered to pay $8.9 billion (£7.2 billion) over the next 25 years to settle current and future allegations that the company’s baby powder and other talc products were responsible for tens of thousands of cancer diagnoses in North America. The settlement involves […]

A new implantable battery attacks cancer cells by starving them of oxygen while also producing reactive oxygen species that help to supress tumour growth. In mouse studies, the device also appears to improve the efficacy of certain chemotherapy drugs that are activated by low-oxygen environments. The new device was created by researchers in China from […]

This is the second in a series of discussion of selected parts of Paul Strathern’s The Other Renaissance: From Copernicus to Shakespeare, (Atlantic Books, 2023). For more general details on both the author and his book see the first post in this series. Today, I turn my attention to his chapter on the fifteenth century, German philosopher […]

Nearly 200 years since its discovery, industry rarely uses the carbon–carbon bond-forming Kolbe reaction – but now US researchers have shown it can sustainably make valuable substances. Phil Baran’s team at Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla has done away with high voltages and platinum electrodes best established in the Kolbe reaction. In doing so, […]

Chemistry touches nearly every aspects of our society and economy. It provides us modern luxuries but also modern problems like pollution and toxic waste. In the early 90s a rethink of the kinds of chemical processes and technologies that were possible led to the birth of a new field: green chemistry. This field was built […]

Twenty-five years ago, John Warner and Paul Anastas challenged the chemistry community. Their influential book, Green Chemistry: Theory and Practice contained the 12 principles of green chemistry and as Anastas says, ‘the whole purpose was to say, in a phrase, we can do better’. The last century of chemistry brought about advances to quality of […]

New carbon–ceramic composites developed by researchers in Germany retain high electrical conductivity while being extremely good thermal insulators – properties normally almost impossible to achieve together. The researchers hope that the materials, which are easy to produce and resistant to mechanical and thermal stress, may find important sustainability applications, as electrification of energy sources increasingly […]