PFAS levels in the environment have been significantly underestimated
20 years’ worth of environmental samples reveal up to 80% exceed drinking water standards
Microscopy structures reveal mechanism behind bitter taste
Cryo-EM images provide a detailed picture of bitter taste receptors
Algorithm designs proteins from scratch that can bind drugs and small molecules
Strategy could stop an overdose or produce an antidote to a poison
Could mechanochemistry have saved Abbott Laboratories $250 million?
Ball milling solves problem of disappearing ritonavir polymorph
‘Low-VOC’ paints may still release harmful volatiles
New analysis finds volatile compounds and potential allergens in several popular water-based paints
Certain household chemicals could pose a threat to brain health, research suggests
Cell and animal tests suggest two classes of common chemicals might play a role in neurological disease
Programmable liquid hints at widespread applications
A ‘metafluid’ formed from collapsible elastic shells suspended in oil exhibits very different properties at different pressures
Metal swarf transformed into electrodes for hydrogen production
Nanotextured surface of titanium and nickel waste supports platinum and cobalt atoms to create effective electrocatalysts
New mechanism identified that is potentially linked to very early stages of Alzheimer’s
Understanding role of fragments of amyloid protein could lead to novel therapies for the disease
Structural disorder key to high-capacitance carbon electrodes
Finding could lead to supercapacitors that store more charge
Chemical analysis reveals origins of early English silver coins
Byzantine silver plates were melted down to make many of the first Anglo-Saxon coins
Simulations track how MOFs adsorb water, one molecule at a time
‘You can almost drink our water model because it’s so realistic’
Self-dyeing vegan leather made by genetically engineered bacteria
Material can be shaped into shoes and wallets, offering a sustainable alternative to traditional leather
Using analytical chemistry to illuminate the unlisted ingredients in tattoo inks
Discovery that more than 80% of the tattoo inks sampled had unlisted ingredients prompts New York-based lab to launch a website providing chemical information to tattoo artists and their clients
Chemists and linguists unite to encode Confucian proverb using sequence-defined polymers
Interdisciplinary collaboration tests how two encoding schemas preserve the visual details of Chinese characters
Telling left from right: chirality detection faces up to its weaknesses
New solutions are being found to an enduring problem in chemistry
Analysis of three French chemistry labs shows how they could halve their carbon footprint by 2030
Open-source tool helps researchers evaluate a series of carbon mitigation strategies
First mirror-image cyclodextrins come together ‘like Lego’
L-enantiomers could be more stable than their existing, more common, forms
Monitoring PFAS pollutants in king penguins
New insight into how organohalogen pollutants affect seabirds
Brewing better Belgian beer with artificial intelligence
Machine learning tool can predict a beer’s taste and quality and which flavour compounds could improve it
Intelligent ionotronic wood device can keep an eye on people’s health
Infusing wood with ionic liquid enables creation of electronic wood
Static on steroids lets meat and fruit stick to metal at flick of switch
Electroadhesion could find biomedical and robotic applications
Carbon’s allotrope explosion demonstrates how the element is both versatile and fickle
New all carbon materials are relatively easy to predict but challenging, if not impossible to make, experts tell Andy Extance
Why are there metal particles in never-used cannabis vapes?
Findings cast doubt on past research showing metals are solely released by e-cigarettes when the devices’ coils are heated
Crystalline cages create unusual ‘touchless’ sensors
Researchers connect chemistry and engineering to create touch-free buttons based on the detection of the skin’s water
Model explains why water can freeze at different temperatures
The research could have applications in snowmaking, cloud seeding and beyond
Cross-coupling technique cracks open alcohols for chemical synthesis
A new alcohol–alcohol cross coupling reaction could become a powerful new tool for synthetic chemists