Andy Extance
Before becoming a full-time science writer, Andy Extance worked for six and a half years in early-stage drug discovery research, followed by brief stint in silicone adhesive and rubber manufacturing.
However, when he had his first feature – on a cause of common heart-related problems in new drug candidates – published in Chemistry World in 2004, the course of his career shifted. After working as news editor for Compound Semiconductor magazine, he went freelance in 2009. Today Andy’s science writing explores everything related to chemistry, from Earth’s environment to space, from food to fusion, and from solar cells to how we smell.
NewsNew results vindicate suspect 63-year-old claim on synthesis of first catenane
Researchers hoping to debunk Edel Wasserman’s doubted claims of the first interlinked rings end up supporting them
- Research
Rapid alternating polarity brings new life to 189-year-old electrochemical reaction
A more sustainable approach to the Kolbe reaction could reduce chemists’ reliance on oil-derived materials
- Research
Machine learning ecosystem evolves MOF design
Mofdscribe handles all stages from collecting data to evaluating performance
- Research
Record room-temperature superconductor could boost quantum computer chips
New material reduces pressures needed more than a hundredfold, but experts urge caution over structural questions and previously retracted research
- News
UK begins exploration of whether to build its own billion-pound-plus XFEL
Advanced designs could transform x-ray science economics, reducing the cost per experiment
- News
US accelerator accident hospitalises worker, delays XFEL startup
The SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory lab director has stood down after the latest in a series of safety incidents and complaints
- Business
Merck & Co identifies nitrosamine source in diabetes drugs
Investigation uncovers the cause of contamination in sitagliptin medicines, but the wider nitrosamine problem is ballooning
- Research
AI model accurately classifies reaction mechanisms
Machine learning ‘surpasses chemist experts’ in identifying chemical processes
- Feature
The brain chemicals that control what we enjoy
Researchers are trying to understand how orexins influence our appetites, and whether we can use them to treat addiction and obesity, explains Andy Extance
- Feature
How a murder and a bombing cleaned up DNA profiling
The UK pioneered a forensic process to identify suspects from tiny amounts of DNA, but occasional flaws had big consequences. Andy Extance pieces together the whole story for the first time
- Feature
Life’s chemistry goes through the looking glass
Chemists were taught that natural systems only use L-amino acids. Andy Extance finds out just how wrong that is proving
- Research
Vibrational reactivity control harnesses quantum realm to speed up chemistry
‘Quantum phase control’ supercharges reaction between chlorine and singly deuterated methane at ambient temperature
- Research
Unusual hydrogen bonds found in proteins help them bind their targets
Weak interactions between hydrogen and carbon atoms have synthetic chemistry implications
- Business
Patent office cements priority for Crispr gene editing in cells
Nobel laureates’ failed challenge means companies may need extra patent licenses
- Research
Vibrational spectroscopy distinguishes different diffusing isotopes
Scanning transmission electron microscopy-based method tracks graphene growth with atomic precision
- Research
IBM teaches reaction planning system to ‘speak enzyme’
RXN seeks to use enzyme catalysis to make chemistry more sustainable and resource efficient
- Research
Swimming molecules come under intense scrutiny
Discoverers of enhanced diffusion in click cycloaddition reactions stand firm after other groups say they can’t reproduce the findings
- Feature
How ammonia could decarbonise shipping
Andy Extance discovers why the compound best known as a fertiliser is a surprising candidate to power enormous container ships
- Feature
How a virus ancestor powers our memory’s chemistry
Andy Extance tells the astonishing story of the Arc protein and its capsid forms, and the questions it poses
- Research
Neural network scours vast chemical space to design drug-delivering peptides
Oligonucleotide drug activity boosted 50-fold with peptide designed by machine learning algorithm
