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.

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Business
The race to fight coronavirus
2020-02-11T14:30:00
While genome sequences enable testing and vaccine efforts, companies are donating existing antiviral drugs to explore repurposing
Feature
Catching the polluters
2020-02-10T10:16:00
Measurement techniques can pinpoint emitters like unroadworthy trucks and broken gas pipes, finds Andy Extance, but are not yet widespread
Research
First Crispr cancer trial in humans shows safety and durability
2020-02-06T19:00:00
Immune-cell modifications target tumours and lift the PD-1 ‘brake’
Research
Metallic hydrogen reveals itself under mounting pressure
2020-01-29T18:00:00
Robust data help close in on prized room temperature superconductor
News
Bird droppings to help cut the crap in graphene doping papers
2020-01-24T09:30:00
Dramatic illustration shows there’s little value in doping graphene electrodes to make better water splitting catalysts
Opinion
Ellie Knaggs and tetrahedral carbon
2020-01-20T09:42:00
Ellie Knaggs’ claim to be the first to use x-rays to prove carbon’s tetrahedral bonding in molecules has been overlooked, finds Andy Extance
Research
Rhenium plays starring role in bond movie
2020-01-20T09:30:00
Controllable energy input from transmission electron microscope captures atoms dissociating and recombining
Feature
Separating turmeric fact from fiction
2019-11-11T11:09:00
Thousands of papers have been published on curcumin’s healing potential, but its usefulness is not yet proven, finds Andy Extance
Research
9-minute battery charging could accelerate electric vehicles’ prospects
2019-11-01T14:30:00
Rapid replenishment at 60˚C adds 200 miles of range, and suppresses chemical degradation problems
Research
The race is on to make the first room temperature superconductor
2019-11-01T09:30:00
Chemists now appear to be within touching distance of a long sought-after goal as the synergy between theory and experiment delivers new materials
Feature
Single-atom catalysis
2019-10-21T08:54:00
Single atom and hierarchical nanopore catalysts are reducing the need for precious metals, and could clean up the energy and chemical industries, finds Andy Extance
Business
Nitrosamine contamination withdrawals spread to new drugs
2019-10-15T09:29:00
After ranitidine recalls, EU regulators instruct companies to review all their products for potential impurities
Research
Another 43 new kinds of carbon could still be out there to find
2019-09-23T14:30:00
Predictions could lead to forms of carbon that are even harder than diamond
Research
AFM images show bond formation in greatest detail yet
2019-09-12T20:05:00
Strange ring-shaped sub-atomic images result from Lennard-Jones physisorption–chemisorption energy curve
Research
Solution to 120 year-old puzzle reveals new chemical phenomenon
2019-09-11T09:30:00
Seemingly identical acetaldehyde phenylhydrazone crystals melt at different temperatures
Research
Nanowires become smallest-ever spectrometers
2019-09-06T08:27:00
50–100µm devices are small enough to squeeze into smartphones – but must first become easier to make into arrays
Research
Catalyst cleans up alcohol couplings
2019-08-29T19:03:00
Eight years’ work yields Mitsunobu chemistry with nothing but water as a byproduct
Research
Ultraslim solar cells retain healthy efficiency
2019-08-06T14:40:00
A patterned reflector on the back of a thinned-down GaAs cell traps light in the device, keeping efficiency near 20%
Research
Corrections promise more accurate CO₂ measurements from space
2019-07-31T14:36:00
Improvements to cavity ring-down spectroscopy could also benefit quantum science
Research
Crispr treatment reverses muscular dystrophy in mice
2019-07-29T14:30:00
Upregulated gene triggers laminin-α1 protein production, reviving paralysed limbs