Explainers
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NewsExplainer: has life been discovered on an exoplanet?
Potential detection of dimethyl sulfide on K2-18 b has excited the scientific community but it’s still much too early to reach any conclusions
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NewsExplainer: what threat does the Kakhovka dam breach pose to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant?
In the early hours of Tuesday 6 June, the 30m high, 2km long Nova Kakhovka dam, located upstream of the city of Kherson on the Dnipro River in occupied southern Ukraine, collapsed. The destruction of the dam, which was under the control of the Russian military, caused extensive flooding along ...
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NewsExplainer: who is Charles Lieber and why does his case matter for US research?
Three years after his arrest the former head of Harvard’s chemistry department has been sentenced for concealing links to a Chinese university
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NewsExplainer: what is green chemistry and why does it matter?
25 years after the field’s 12 principles were first laid down, green chemistry has moved into the mainstream
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NewsBhopal disaster explainer: will court ruling end victims’ search for compensation?
39 years ago one of the world’s worst chemical disasters killed thousands in India
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NewsExplainer: why are curly arrows used in organic chemistry?
How organic chemists became arrow pushers and what quantum chemists have to say about this
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NewsExplainer: e-scooter battery fires
In India and across the world, several tragic incidents have prompted scrutiny of small battery vehicles
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NewsExplainer: why have bioorthogonal and click chemistry won the 2022 Nobel prize?
Carolyn Bertozzi, Morten Meldal and Barry Sharpless have won the 2022 Nobel prize in chemistry – find out why
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NewsExplainer: How do sunscreens safely protect our skin?
And which is best – inorganic or organic sunscreens?
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NewsExplainer: The chemistry that keeps swimming pools clean and safe
How disinfectant chemicals protect us when we’re having a dip
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NewsExplainer: How do the Covid vaccines measure up against each other and omicron?
Looking at how the evidence stacks up for vaccines against variants and how their performance holds up over time
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ResearchExplainer: why has asymmetric organocatalysis won the chemistry Nobel prize?
In a rather unexpected move by the Nobel committee, this year’s prize in chemistry has been awarded to Benjamin List and David MacMillan
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NewsExplainer: The science of alkyl nitrites aka poppers
From their origins as 19th century angina treatment to becoming an important part of gay subculture, these recreational drugs exist in a legal limbo
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ResearchExplainer: How would UK science be affected by a no-deal Brexit?
Access to EU science schemes, freedom of movement and student places are all expected to be disrupted
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NewsExplainer: What is Crispr and why did it win the Nobel prize?
The science behind the prize-winning gene editing tool that could change our lives
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NewsExplainer: What is quantum tunnelling?
Welcome to a weird world where reactions that ought to be impossible occur regularly
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NewsExplainer: The science of Covid-19 testing
Rapidly-deployed methods are saving lives and easing minds
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NewsExplainer: how is the vaccine pipeline for Covid-19 looking?
The race to develop a vaccine is almost six months old. Who’s in the lead?
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NewsExplainer: Why is mixing cleaning chemicals such a bad idea?
Accidents involving cleaning products have been on the rise this year, most likely due to the Covid-19 pandemic
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NewsExplainer: how do disinfectants tackle Covid-19?
What we know about the biocides that attack the virus, and how you should use them