The Maillard reaction – the chemical process that gives browned food its flavour – may play a role in storing sedimentary organic carbon on the seafloor. The researchers behind the discovery say it could lead to a better understanding of the underlying chemistry involved in climate processes. It has previously been suggested that the Maillard […]

Researchers in China have developed a method for synthesising a variety of methylenecyclobutane derivatives. It overcomes previous synthetic challenges surrounding regioselectivity, stereoselectivity and functional group tolerance, so could make these underexplored compounds more accessible to medicinal chemists. ‘[Methylenecyclobutanes] are very small and strained compounds and are almost flat… so they are interesting structures,’ explains Bo […]

An eyebrow-raising claim to have produced the first room temperature and ambient pressure superconductor has sparked both excitement and scepticism in the scientific community. The race is now on to replicate these results with several groups already releasing preprints of their efforts just days after the claim came to widespread public notice. The supposedly-superconducting material […]

The family of Henrietta Lacks – whose ‘immortal’ cell line has contributed to countless medical advances – has reached a settlement with Thermo Fisher Scientific after almost two years. The family filed the lawsuit in Baltimore federal court in October 2021, accusing the Massachusetts-based biotechnology company of ‘unjust enrichment’ because it has continued to profit […]

A palladium-based cage that traps and twists long arylalkyne chains is behind a new method for synthesising polycyclic systems. Researchers from the University of Tokyo in Japan used the cage to induce a tetradehydro-Diels–Alder reaction, under mild conditions and high levels of selectivity. Arylalkynes, like the ones used in this project, are conventionally used in […]

High-pressure elemental studies have recreated the phase of iron believed to form up to 90% of the Earth’s core. Subsequent analysis of the elastic properties of this material help to explain why seismic waves from an earthquake travel 4% faster pole-to pole than across the equator. The material properties of the Earth’s interior have a […]

In the last episode I was rude about the pre-Socratics and today I intend to be rude about another more noted Ancient Greek philosopher. Quite logically, Socrates (c. 470–399 BCE) follows on from the pre-Socratics, who was followed by his pupil Plato (c. 428–348 BCE), in turn followed by his pupil Aristotle (384–322 BCE). Socrates, […]

Even before the US government announced plans to crack down on perceived espionage by China in 2018, scientists of Chinese descent were leaving the US. Since then the numbers leaving have only accelerated as both junior and experienced faculty depart, according to a new analysis. The work reveals that nearly 20,000 scientists of Chinese descent […]

Click chemistry has been used to create antibody-based molecules that can treat cancer. These sorts of molecules are already in trials and have shown good anti-tumour activity in human cancer cell lines. These checkpoint inhibitory T cell engager (CiTE) molecules can engage the body’s immune system and direct cytotoxic T cells to destroy cancer cells. […]

Biogen plans to lay off 1000 employees, over 11% of its global workforce, by 2025, as it reorganises to cut costs. The company already shed 900 staff worldwide in 2022, from about 9600 employees to 8700. Biogen claims its broader cost-cutting effort will generate approximately $1 billion (£780 million) in gross operating expense savings by […]