Cryo-electron microscopy can now determine the atomic structure of small and medium-sized proteins thanks to molecular scaffolds that hold the proteins in place. The work could assist the discovery and design of promising drugs by elucidating protein structures that were previously inaccessible by cryo-EM. Cryo-EM scooped the Nobel prize in chemistry in 2017 as a […]

Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) could offer a safer method for handling fluorinated gases in the lab, US researchers have found. It is hoped the technique will assist the synthesis of fluorinated compounds required in medicinal chemistry, agriculture and biomedical imaging. ‘The problem is that these fluorinated building blocks are all gases at room temperature, and most […]

A new supramolecular capsule helps trigger the isomerisation of azobenzene with visible light. For the first time, the system enables full conversion to the metastable Z form, unlocking new possibilities for photoswitches, including for applications in energy storage and non-invasive medical treatments. Azobenzenes are the most popular photoswitches – molecules that change shape upon exposure […]

This year’s chemistry Nobel prize has been awarded jointly to nanotechnology pioneers, Moungi Bawendi, Louis Brus, and Alexei Ekimov for the discovery and synthesis of quantum dots. However, news of their win was leaked around two hours before the official announcement was made, in a press release sent out in error to a Swedish newspaper […]

This year’s chemistry Nobel prize was awarded to three US-based scientists: Moungi Bawendi at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Louis Brus at Columbia University, and Alexei Ekimov who was most recently chief scientist at Nanocrystals Technology, having previously worked at the Vavilov State Optical Institute in St Petersburg, Russia. The award was given for their […]

In the previous post I outlined a brief history of magnetism, the magnet, the magnetic compass, and its introduction into navigation with the inherent problems caused by magnetic declination or variation. The early history of navigation with the compass, and the discovery of declination was centred around the mariners of the Iberian Peninsula, the Spanish […]

8.15am Who’s winning so far? A quick recap of the Nobel prizes awarded so far. Monday was the turn of the medicine or physiology prize and it went to hot favourites Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman for their work developing mRNA vaccines that enabled their rapid deployment during the Covid-19 pandemic. It’s not hyperbole to […]

Theoreticians have developed a new method for calculating molecular transition rates on non-trivial energy landscapes. Their slimline approach not only reduces intractable many-body mechanics to manageable computations, but also lets them quantify the individual phenomena that assist or hinder transitions.1 Many-body quantum mechanics forms the mathematical basis for understanding molecular behaviour. But while it is […]

The 2023 Nobel prize in physics has been awarded to Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huillier for their work on techniques that enable scientists to track the movement of electrons on ultrafast timescales. The Nobel committee that picked the winners cited the trio’s work on ‘experimental methods that generate attosecond pulses of light for […]

On 14 September, the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) non-prescription drug advisory committee (NDAC) unanimously agreed that orally administered phenylephrine does not work as a nasal decongestant. The decision kicks off a long process of consultation on the drug’s continued use. Phenylephrine is included in hundreds of over-the-counter (OTC) cold and flu remedies worldwide, […]