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The name’s bond, chemical bond

By Kathryn Harkup

Kathryn Harkup explores the poisons – real and fictional – used in Bond films

An illustration of two people climbing a giant unraveling DNA strand

The future of ‘next generation’ DNA sequencing

By

As it gets cheaper and easier to read genetic code, its applications are expanding rapidly

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Science and research ‘are dead’ in Afghanistan

By

Afghan researchers and scholars flee or go into hiding as the Taliban’s return to power sees the science academy and universities closed

News

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Trilateral agreement reached on funding neutron research centre for another decade

2021-09-21T13:34:00+01:00

The UK, France and Germany will provide support for the Institut Laue-Langevin, the world’s most intense neutron source

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India pushes renewables and green hydrogen

2021-09-21T08:58:00+01:00

Prime minister Modi wants country to be energy independent by 2047 and become a global hydrogen hub

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Chemours under fire for trying to exempt fluorochemicals from EU regulation

2021-09-17T13:30:00+01:00

European Court of Justice will rule on whether GenX chemicals should be listed as substances of very high concern

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Fully synthetic proteins make tailored medicines

2021-09-17T11:02:00+01:00

Bright Peak Therapeutics makes modified protein drugs from scratch

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UKRI response to Black female academics on funding decisions called inadequate

2021-09-17T08:30:00+01:00

Pledge to improve understanding and monitoring of inequality comes a year after open letter was first published

Research

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Liquid crystals under pressure create squid-like camouflage

2021-09-21T13:30:00+01:00

Pneumatic membranes trigger full-spectrum colour shifting on demand

A concept art showing a stylised DNA strand with the base pairs shown as colourful sticks

Method to make unusual oligonucleotides could be a boon for gene therapy drugs

2021-09-21T08:30:00+01:00

Synthesis can insert unusual linkages into DNA molecules while rivalling industry standard chemistry in speed and efficiency

Spherical shapes with a hole in each

‘Self-inflating’ synthetic cells can capture, store and release cargo

2021-09-16T13:49:00+01:00

Entirely artificial system can use chemical energy to ‘swallow’ payloads like bacteria

An image of a helical protein structure sitting inside a vaguely spherical, cage-like molecular structure

Giant molecular cage protects plastic-eating enzyme

2021-09-16T08:30:00+01:00

Caged protein withstands temperatures much hotter than its usual melting point and becomes 1000 times more resistant to solvents

An image showing the examination of plastics exposed to sunlight

Sunlight transforms plastic into tens of thousands of new compounds

2021-09-15T13:30:00+01:00

Marine plastics don’t persist forever, sun exposure can break them down into extremely complex chemical compounds in just weeks

Voice of the Royal Society of Chemistry

Recycling Webinar image index

Is chemical recycling of plastics the future?

Voice of

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Nature and mental wellbeing – Building a better chemistry culture

Voice of

An illustration showing different uses for plastics, alongside plastics being recycled

Should we design biodegradable plastics?

Voice of

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Progressive plastics webinars

Voice of

  • Is chemical recycling of plastics the future?

  • Nature and mental wellbeing – Building a better chemistry culture

  • Should we design biodegradable plastics?

  • Progressive plastics webinars

Significant figures

Celebrating science's forgotten heroes

A framed portrait of Evelyn Hickmans

The lifesaving work of Evelyn Hickmans

An framed portrait of Clara Immewahr

Clara Immerwahr – out of her husband’s shadow

An illustrated portrait of Kathleen Culhane Lathbury

Kathleen Culhane Lathbury – an industrial pioneer

An image showing a framed portrait of Mabel FitzGerald

Mabel FitzGerald and the mystery of oxygen sensing

A framed portrait of Polly Porter

Polly Porter, crystallography pioneer

An illustrated portrait of Mary Sherman Morgan

Mary Sherman Morgan: The best kept secret in the space race

A framed portrati of Julia Lermontova

Julia Lermontova: an early pioneer

An illustrated portrait of Margarita Salas

Margarita Salas: the marquesa of molecular biology

A framed portrait of Sylvia Stoesser

Sylvia Stoesser – the first female chemist at Dow

An image showing a framed portrait of Martin Gouterman

Martin Gouterman: the gay man behind the four-orbital model

  • The lifesaving work of Evelyn Hickmans

  • Clara Immerwahr – out of her husband’s shadow

  • Kathleen Culhane Lathbury – an industrial pioneer

  • Mabel FitzGerald and the mystery of oxygen sensing

  • Polly Porter, crystallography pioneer

  • Mary Sherman Morgan: The best kept secret in the space race

  • Julia Lermontova: an early pioneer

  • Margarita Salas: the marquesa of molecular biology

  • Sylvia Stoesser – the first female chemist at Dow

  • Martin Gouterman: the gay man behind the four-orbital model

More...

Features

An image showing ingredients for a home experiment

Experimenting in a pandemic

By

Chemistry teachers have faced extraordinary challenges in preparing and running practicals in the past 18 months. Clare Sansom investigates how they have fared

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How a virus ancestor powers our memory’s chemistry

By

Andy Extance tells the astonishing story of the Arc protein and its capsid forms, and the questions it poses

An image showing a nose

How the power of smell could identify new medical tests

By

Diagnosis by odour is nothing to be sniffed at, finds Ian Le Guillou

An illustration showing a blackboard with aromatic compounds written on it

The search for the grand unification of aromaticity

By

Researchers have been trying to find a full definition of aromaticity for almost two centuries, and yet keep discovering new types

Upcoming webinars

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Harness the power of electricity to make organic compounds

Sponsored by

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Digitalisation and the future of formulating in modern R&D labs

Sponsored by

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Automated capsule chemistry with Synple: do more, faster

Sponsored by

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Find robust operating points using JMP’s Simulation Experiment tool

Sponsored by

  • Harness the power of electricity to make organic compounds

  • Digitalisation and the future of formulating in modern R&D labs

  • Automated capsule chemistry with Synple: do more, faster

  • Find robust operating points using JMP’s Simulation Experiment tool