Self-proclaimed experimentalist Gert Meyers received a 24-month suspended sentence on 28 June for a number of offences concerning the possession of dangerous chemicals without a licence. The 61-year-old chemical engineer pleaded guilty to possessing 700mg of explosives precursor sodium nitrate and breaching an existing criminal behaviour order banning him from buying or attempting to buy […]

The UK’s first commercial lithium mine is to open in Cornwall, following a new partnership between Imerys, the world leader in mineral-based solutions, and British Lithium. It has been estimated that the site contains enough lithium to sustain mining there for 30 years, producing around 20,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent annually. By the end […]

A new class of molecules based on just main group elements can store and release energy efficiently in flow batteries, with minimal degradation. Although the work is purely a proof-of-concept, researchers in the field are excited by the possibilities for energy storage. ‘It’s great… extreme potentials and high stability,’ says Gloria De La Garza, a […]

An independent review has recommended that Irish PhD researchers are paid €25,000 (£21,500) per year. This represents a 30% increase for recipients of Science Foundation Ireland and Irish Research Council Awards. The review’s authors set out to investigate the circumstances of the 10,000 PhD researchers in Ireland. But its recommendations have disappointed the Postgraduate Workers […]

Mars’ mysterious gullies could have been carved by liquid water produced when the planet was more heavily tilted on its axis, researchers in the US believe. During these periods, increased solar radiation at the planet’s poles would vaporise carbon dioxide, raising atmospheric pressure and allowing liquid water to form.1 Mars has ice at each pole […]

The EU has announced Bulgarian economist Iliana Ivanova as its new commissioner for research, innovation, culture, education and youth, following the resignation of Mariya Gabriel in May to help Bulgaria form a new coalition government. Currently, Gabriel is Bulgaria’s deputy prime minister under prime minister Nikolai Denkov, a chemist. Ivanova has been a member of […]

Environmental and public health groups have sued the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), accusing it of unlawfully reapproving two Corteva herbicides, Enlist One and Enlist Duo, which contain 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D). The Center for Food Safety, Pesticide Action Network North America and Alianza Nacional de Campesinas argue that the EPA’s January 2022 decision to renew […]

The Renaissance is a period of intense mathematical activity, but it is not mathematics as somebody who has studied mathematics at school today would recognise it but rather practical mathematics, that is mathematics developed and utilised within a particular practical field of work or study. It should be emphasised that this is not what we […]

A leaked document has revealed that the European Commission is set to recommend a radical rethink of how the EU regulates some genetically engineered crops. This would mean light or no regulation for gene-edited crops with DNA changes that could have occurred in nature. The commission had previously concluded in 2021 that current EU legislation […]

Ultrashort laser pulses can predictably induce crystallisation in supercooled water solutions, allowing scientists to accurately image the formation of ice crystals over microsecond timescales. The dynamics of ice crystal formation is central to cryobiology and has widespread implications from the industrial processing of frozen food to understanding some organisms’ tolerance for being frozen. However, typical […]