Hard-won gains from vaccines are at risk. Far too many people still do not have access to the vaccines they need, with nearly 20 million infants missing out each year, according to Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO). His warnings preface a WHO report on the global vaccine supply chain, which […]

Myceliotronics are the latest development in biodegradable electronic components – battery parts made from mushrooms. The mycelium skin of a tree fungus can be used as a base layer for flexible circuit boards, as well as the casing and separator for a zinc–carbon battery. The perfect sustainable electronic device should contain only components that can […]

Almost two thirds of academics have experienced at least one form of violence because of their gender or gender expression, according to a Europe-wide survey of 42,000 researchers. They were most likely to report psychological violence followed by sexual harassment. The study involved staff and students at 46 research organisations and universities and had a […]

Greta Heydenrych is the new executive director of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (Iupac), the international body that codifies the measures and nomenclature used in chemistry. Heydenrych replaces outgoing director Lynn Soby, who led the organisation for eight years. Heydenrych moves to Iupac from Wiley-VCH where she was heavily involved in the […]

Two metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have been identified that can effectively separate water isotopes, taking a leap toward solving one of chemistry’s classic problems. Being able to separate isotopes is vital to modern science, and this is particularly true for the isotopologues – compounds with the same chemical formula but with at least one atom having […]

Nearly 50,000 academic researchers, postdocs, graduate students and teaching assistants at all 10 campuses of the University of California, US, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory are set to begin a massive strike today over what they deem unfair labour practices related to insufficient pay, rights and benefits. ‘We have been bargaining throughout the weekend, and […]

Scientists in Germany have developed a strategy that enhances the solubility of long-chain anionic surfactants at ambient temperatures.1 In the future, it might be possible to use the strategy to formulate cleaning products from rapeseed, olive or sunflower oils, and cut the amount of surfactant required in washing detergents. The strategy is called Complet or […]

Molecular motors have been created that either rotate or fluoresce when stimulated by a specific wavelength of light. It is the first time that two independent light-driven functions have been incorporated into the same molecular motor and could see them used to probe how cells function. Molecular machines are an intense area of chemical research […]

A new, more efficient process to electrochemically recycle some homogeneous catalysts has been demonstrated by scientists in the US. The technique, which reversibly binds the metal complexes to a polymer, can recover several industrially important and precious metal catalysts. In homogeneous catalysis the active sites of the catalyst are fully dispersed into the reaction mixture. […]

It’s been 100 years since curly, also known as curved, arrows first showed up in the scientific literature. Since then, they have made friends and foes, and gone from a novelty to an organic chemistry staple. While for the longest time, arrows were no more than a shorthand with no grounding in reality, evidence has […]