Researchers have identified the chemical compounds crucial to the flavour of oranges, including seven esters that make sweet oranges taste distinct from mandarins. Their work may pave the way to breeding new orange varieties that are resistant to citrus greening disease. The sweet orange, Citrus sinensis, is an important agricultural product, grown in huge quantities […]

Everyday plastic food packaging contains chemicals that can disrupt the working of human cells, two new studies from a Norwegian group reveal. The effects include interfering with cell receptors that are crucial for hormonal and metabolic control, as well as our body clock. The Norwegian lab tested chemicals from plastic items purchased in five countries […]

Chains of fused porphyrin molecules are capable of transmitting charge over distances of several nanometres with ‘perfect’ conductance. These porphyrin nanoribbons could form the basis of electronic circuits built on the molecular scale. Finding ways to transport charge efficiently has been a key problem for researchers aiming to design molecular-scale circuitry. Previous studies on π-conjugated […]

Failing to consider how solvent polarity affects the thermodynamic properties of photocatalysts is stopping scientists from accurately optimising their reactions, new research shows. ‘It would seem that up until now the concept of the effect of solvent had never been looked at,’ notes Eli Zysman-Colman from the University of St Andrews, UK, who led the […]

Artificial intelligence (AI) could help advance the computational prediction of chemical toxicity in aquatic organisms and eventually replace, or at least reduce, the use of animal testing in this area. Chemical pollution is a major contributor to the worsening health of water systems across the world. However, determining the point at which a chemical’s concentration […]

William Gilbert’s De Magnete is a book that covers a wide range of information on all aspects of magnetism, loadstones, magnets, and the magnetic compasses. He was a high ranking physician living in London and doesn’t appear to have travelled anywhere else let along sailed anywhere on a ship. This raises the justified question; how did he […]

On 5 March, Valisure, an independent testing laboratory in the US, submitted a Citizen Petition to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requesting the recall and suspension of sales of benzoyl peroxide products used to treat acne. Valisure had detected high levels of benzene – a known human carcinogen – in many benzoyl peroxide […]

It will cost upwards of $1.26 billion (£980 million) to restore Ukraine’s public scientific infrastructure from damage sustained during the two years of war since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, according to new analysis by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco). The investigation, commissioned by Unesco from the Junior Academy of Sciences […]

A sulfur iodide crystal discovered by US researchers could help solve some of the key problems of next generation lithium batteries. The material is 11 orders of magnitude more electronically conductive than elemental sulfur, drastically reducing the internal resistance in lithium-sulfur batteries. It also has a much lower melting point, which allowed electrode defects from […]

Nearly 70 Nobel prize winners from around the world, almost a third of whom won the prize for chemistry, are urging Argentina’s new president, Javier Milei, to block cuts to the country’s science and technology budgets, warning that Argentina’s future depends on it. Milei, a hard right populist who took office in December, promised during […]