The wonderful wizards of wood

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Clever chemistry can turn humble timber into a sustainable material with many uses, Kit Chapman finds

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The robots revolutionising chemistry

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Researchers working with automated systems are pushing the boundaries of what chemists can achieve in the lab, reports James Mitchell Crow

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The diamond synthesisers

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Nina Notman takes a whistle-stop tour of the synthetic diamond industry and learns about some of the applications its lab-grown diamonds are being used for

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Unravelling the secrets of Ancient Egyptian chemistry

Unwrapping ancient Egyptian chemistry

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From mummification to metallurgy, Rachel Brazil looks at the impressive chemistry used by this ancient civilisation

Nobel prize chemistry

How click conquered chemistry

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Katrina Krämer tells the story of how click and bioorthogonal chemistry came to win the 2022 Nobel prize

House with covid particles coming out of the windows

Can we clean Covid from the air around us?

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Nina Notman talks to the experts about what is needed to remove pollutants and even infectious diseases from the air inside our homes, schools and offices

Hands holding ornamental plants

The plant trade’s scientific secrets

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Growers are using advanced techniques to mass-produce the next trendy houseplant. But Katrina Krämer finds that collectors’ demand for new varieties has also opened the door to deception and fraud

Thunderstorm

A lightning burst of chemistry

2022-07-12T09:57:00+01:00By

Trying to understand the chemistry that occurs around immensely powerful but short-lived lightning bolts is a feat in itself. James Mitchell Crow looks for a flash of inspiration

A seamstress fitting a pill-printed dress onto a woman using a DNA tape

Using genetics to personalise prescriptions

2022-06-20T09:15:00+01:00By

We’ve known for a long time that different people respond to certain drugs to very different extents, but now cheap DNA testing could make these disparities a thing of the past, as Ian Le Guillou reports

Bioorthogonal chemistry

The bioorthogonal revolution

2022-05-30T08:39:00+01:00By

A set of reactions operating silently inside live cells or whole animals are lighting up chemical biology and inspiring new medicines, James Mitchell Crow finds

Testing wastewater

The human health observatory in our sewers

2022-05-09T09:54:00+01:00By

From tracking disease outbreaks to monitoring drug use, there’s a lot to be learned from the things we flush down the toilet, Katrina Krämer finds

Top view of cattle

Methane – the other greenhouse gas

2022-03-21T09:54:00+00:00By

Bárbara Pinho looks at the problem of methane emissions and how scientists are trying to prevent them

Ship breakers

The toxic tide of ship breaking

2022-02-21T10:16:00+00:00By

Kit Chapman explores the chemical cost of the most dangerous industry in the world

Better skiing through chemistry

2022-01-31T09:47:00+00:00By

While elite sports have been improved by materials science, for disabled athletes the developments can be life-changing. Aisha Al-Janabi reports

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An illustrations showing a boat harvesting weeds

The labs pointing to a greener future for Africa

By Munyaradzi Makoni

Tackling climate is not just a job for scientists in more developed countries. Munyaradzi Makoni talks to researchers in Kenya and South Africa to find out more

An image showing the 2021 Nobel prize winners

How organocatalysis won the Nobel prize

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Jamie Durrani tells the story of how two young upstarts, Ben List and David MacMillan, created a whole new field of catalysis

A typographic image highlighting issues around research culture

What’s wrong with research culture?

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A knotty mess of problems affects people doing academic research in the UK. Rachel Brazil tries to untie the tangle

An image showing ingredients for a home experiment

Experimenting in a pandemic

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

An illustration showing a blackboard with aromatic compounds written on it

The search for the grand unification of aromaticity

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

An image showing a ferrofluid

The rise of ferrofluids

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Magnetic liquids are taking off, Hayley Bennett reports, but not as their inventor once imagined