Northvolt has launched a commercial sodium-ion battery for static energy storage in Europe. The development comes much sooner than most industry observers expected to see this technology. The Swedish battery maker emphasised that the cells will be free from lithium, nickel, cobalt and graphite. Northvolt said its battery would also be safer and more cost-effective than […]

An artificial intelligence (AI), trained on the scientific literature, and combined with an automated chemistry platform has been used to both discover and synthesise inorganic compounds. The researchers hope that the AI can be used to speed up the discovery of novel materials such as recyclable plastics and transparent conductors for cheaper solar panels. Discovering energetically […]

If ever there was a time for chemists to show our mettle, this is it. Projections indicate that if the chemical industry continues on its current trajectory, it will be responsible for 24–38% of the total 2020–50 global carbon budget that would give us a fighting chance of limiting global warming to 1.5°C. Or, to […]

A new fellowship for mid-career researchers is being launched by the Royal Society, funded by £250 million from the UK government. The Royal Society Faraday Discovery Fellowships, which will launch in 2024, will support researchers and scientists for up to 10 years to pursue research across science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The Royal Society anticipates […]

Researchers in Germany have created the first example of a silicon-based protecting group that is removed using visible light. The new protecting group will allow organic and materials chemists to protect alcohols under mild conditions and without needing UV light. Protecting groups are essential in organic synthesis, allowing modifications to specific positions on a compound. […]

Having in the last two episodes dealt with the first two of the three so-called mixed sciences, astronomy and optics, I shall now deal with statics[1]. Although receiving far less attention in antiquity that the other two, statics received much attention in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period and went on to become […]

I apparently no longer have Covid but I must admit I have felt healthier in my life. Starting today normal service will be resumed here at the Renaissance Mathematicus. I would like to briefly thank all of the readers here and on social media, who said kind things and wished me a rapid recovery from […]

Results from a study combining experiments and simulations could overturn the assumption that amorphous forms of the same compound have the same molecular arrangement. The team behind the work claims to have prepared three amorphous forms of the diuretic drug hydrochlorothiazide and determined that they have distinct properties and distinct types of disorder. ‘If polyamorphism […]

In 2013, nine years after Andre Geim and Kostya Novoselov first isolated graphene using a piece of sticky tape and three years after they won the Nobel prize in physics for their discovery, a €1 billion (£870 million), 10-year project was launched to help push graphene to the forefront of European scientific research. Funded by […]

For those who don’t follow me on social media, I’m not in Bad Kissingen receiving healing ministrations to my spine but have been back in my humble abode on the outskirts of Erlangen since Wednesday. Why, you might well ask. The answer is as simply as it is tragic. I went to Bad Kissingen to […]