All articles by Andy Extance – Page 2
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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
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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
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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
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Research
Unusual hydrogen bonds found in proteins help them bind their targets
Weak interactions between hydrogen and carbon atoms have synthetic chemistry implications
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Business
Patent office cements priority for Crispr gene editing in cells
Nobel laureates’ failed challenge means companies may need extra patent licenses
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Research
Vibrational spectroscopy distinguishes different diffusing isotopes
Scanning transmission electron microscopy-based method tracks graphene growth with atomic precision
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Research
IBM teaches reaction planning system to ‘speak enzyme’
RXN seeks to use enzyme catalysis to make chemistry more sustainable and resource efficient
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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
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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
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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
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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
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News
Machine learning delivers ‘human genome’ moment for proteins
Protein structure prediction tools AlphaFold and RoseTTAFold take the latest steps towards maturity and make their software open source
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Research
Electrochemical DNA on a chip sensor detects bacterial urinary tract infections faster
Synthetic nucleic acid probes combine with tiny star-shaped electrodes tests for bacteria in less than an hour
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News
Scientists build case for a UK x-ray laser more advanced than any in the world
Support sought for facility with higher quality, shorter pulses, to begin operation after 2030
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Feature
Computer-guided retrosynthesis
Machine learning-based systems hope to outperform expert-guided reaction planning technology, finds Andy Extance
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Research
Nitrogen deletion reaction offers ‘new way to think about molecular editing’
Reagent inspired by decades-old research could save chemists a lot of headache when it comes to modifying molecules’ skeleton
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Research
Rapidly alternating polarity stars in selective electrochemical reduction
Rapidly fluctuating AC targets specific carbonyl groups in the presence of several reducible groups
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Research
New definition of electronegativity fixes flaws left by Linus Pauling
Revised version of Pauling’s formula enables better predictions for problem systems such as metal-containing molecules
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Research
Tandem catalysis and smart design offer new route to polypropylene plastic
Selective combustion of hydrogen by-product improves oxidative propane dehydrogenation yields
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Feature
Flow chemistry surges forward
The long-discussed technique could help make pharma manufacturing more distributed, finds Andy Extance, and create opportunities for chemists with the right skills