A new RNA editing tool is opening up new ways to develop novel RNA therapies, speed up engineering of human viruses and test drugs. In a proof of concept experiment, researchers used a cutting enzyme – an endonuclease – and a programmable RNA repair enzyme to modify an RNA virus genome. Crispr is famed for […]

The Danish company that manufactures Lego has said it is ‘more committed than ever’ to making its products and business more sustainable. This follows setbacks developing more sustainable plastics to replace its Lego pieces that are still almost entirely made from oil-based virgin polymers. In a press release published on 27 September, the toymaker said […]

Readers of this blog will know that I’m a Brit living in German. Well, since Brexit only half a Brit, as I’m now a dual national. In the good old pre-Brexit days, I could buy books, have books sent as presents from friend and relatives, and receive review copies from publishers from the UK without […]

A new environmentally-friendly technique that uses arrays of strings to extract lithium from brine, and potentially even seawater, could help meet growing global demand for the metal, which is needed for electric vehicle batteries and grid storage as the world moves towards electrification and zero-carbon energy. At present, lithium mining requires a lot of energy, […]

Iridescent patches discovered on a fragment of Roman glass are caused by photonic crystals that grew naturally over time. The finding provides new insight into self-assembly and pH-driven nanofabrication processes, according to a team of Italian and US-based heritage and materials scientists. The glass fragment was recovered from the clay-rich soil in the outskirts of […]

No figure looms larger in the history of ancient mathematics than Archimedes, a name surrounded by a dense cloud of stories, myths, and legends. However, one should never lose sight of the fact that behind all the marvellous narratives about setting fire to enemy ships with burning mirrors and overturning others with giant levers, the […]

In June 2018, a potentially carcinogenic nitrosamine impurity, N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), was detected in valsartan, a medication used to treat high blood pressure and heart failure. Soon after, NDMA and further small dialkyl N-nitrosamine impurities were discovered in other sartan active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), and later in stomach acid regulator ranitidine, and diabetes medicines piaglitazone and […]

Researchers in Switzerland have used a combination of reaction informatics tools to compare pairs of molecular structures by considering how to transform one into the other.1 While some pairings entailed feasible transformations, others required multiple and complex structural rearrangements. The team likened the second set of transformations to alchemical transmutations , to emphasise their complexity. […]

Selective cross coupling of carbonyls to form alkenes, especially non-symmetrically, is an important reaction in organic synthesis. However, only a few methods are available and none provide efficient cross-selectivity in carbonyl–alkene reactions. Now, an international team has introduced two strategies for cross-metathesis of carbonyls, enabling carbene-to-ylide transfer and di-metalation to make alkenes. David Nagib at […]

After tens of thousands of postdoctoral and graduate student researchers at the University of California (UC) system went on an unprecedented strike lasting more than a month they were ecstatic when they eventually won substantial pay increases and other benefits late last year. Their example went on to inspire other higher education workers across the […]