Chemists in Australia have identified three new recreational drugs. Their effects are likely to be similar to ecstasy and ketamine. However, it’s not yet known how dangerous these substances are or what health impacts they have on the user. New psychoactive substances (NPS) are a diverse group of synthetic drugs that mimic the effects of […]

A US court has revoked approval of three dicamba-based herbicides, after concluding that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) violated pesticide registration procedures in approving those product registrations. The judge’s 6 February ruling overturns the EPA’s reapproval of dicamba in 2020, which included additional application restrictions designed to prevent the products from drifting in the wind […]

The European Commission is proposing a ban on the use of the endocrine disruptor bisphenol A (BPA) in food contact materials, including plastic and coated packaging. The measure also addresses the use of other bisphenols in food packaging to avoid replacing BPA with other harmful substances. This action follows the European Food Safety Authority’s (Efsa’s) […]

A single polymer feedstock has been used to form distinct plastic products including cutlery and adhesives – something that is impossible with conventional polymers. The US team reversibly tempered the ‘pluripotent’ plastic at different temperatures to create particular physical characteristics on demand. A plastic’s properties are typically determined by chemical composition and, over the last […]

When chemists first synthesised NaBH3− back in 2019, initial research suggested a dative bond connected its sodium monoanion with a borane Lewis acid.1 Theoretical chemists, however, quickly established that the bonding was not that simple. Since then, several computational studies have attempted to accurately describe the NaBH3− cluster. Sudip Pan, of Nanjing Tech University in […]

The decomposition of animal flesh is driven by a unique community of around 20 microbes, likely transported in by insects, new research shows. The researchers hope their findings will support the development of a robust forensic tool that could provide crime scene investigators with a more precise way to determine the time since death. The […]

Although people who compile such lists very often ignore it, there can be no doubt that William Gilbert’s De Magnete must be listed amongst the most important science books published in the Early Modern Period. It is the first printed book entirely dedicated to the study of the magnet, magnetism, and the magnetic compass and following Petrus […]

Almost 60 years after the first organo–plutonium complex was reported, researchers have prepared the first complex with a plutonium–carbon double bond. They say the finding provides the opportunity for chemists to understand more about the divergence in properties and chemical reactivity between actinides and lanthanides. The first organo-plutonium complex (Pu(C5H5)3) was reported in 1965 but […]

Novo Holdings – the parent of Novo Nordisk and Novozymes – has agreed to buy contract drug manufacturing organisation (CDMO) Catalent for $16.5 billion (£13 billion). Novo Holdings will then transfer three of Catalent’s manufacturing sites to Novo Nordisk for $11 billion, to support Novo Nordisk’s efforts to meet surging demand for its injectable semaglutide-based […]

The EU should cut emissions by 90% by 2040 under proposals that give an important role to carbon capture (CCS) and storage to tackle residual industrial emissions. To reach the 2040 target Europe will have to capture 50 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year by 2030, rising to around 280 million tonnes by 2040 […]