How did you become involved in writing textbooks? Stuart Warren, my PhD supervisor, was contacted by Michael Rodgers, a commissioning editor at Oxford University Press, to author a textbook on organic chemistry. Stuart replied to Rodgers, ‘I can’t do it alone due to time constraints, but I could manage it if I assembled a team […]

Officials from New Zealand have sounded alarms concerning the possible existence of hazardous chemicals in the historic Antarctic huts utilized by renowned explorers Ernest Shackleton and Robert Scott. These materials, namely picric acid crystals, picric acid solution, and peroxide crystals, are recognized for their extreme sensitivity to disruptions, which might trigger explosive reactions if mishandled. […]

Painted surfaces within the constructed environment may present a postponed environmental threat from hazardous per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) many years into the future, as indicated by a recent study. The researchers demonstrated that painted surfaces serve as a long-lasting reservoir, slowly discharging PFAS into the environment over their lifespan, which includes usage, renovation, demolition, […]

Metabolites of antibiotic medications have been demonstrated to promote antibiotic resistance in bacteria, in certain instances to a degree comparable to the antibiotic itself. This discovery has prompted researchers to reconsider the dynamics of antibiotics and their metabolites in aquatic environments. Antibiotic, or antimicrobial, resistance (AMR) is among the leading public health challenges worldwide, associated […]