All Feature articles – Page 2
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Feature2020: the year the world changed
Andy Extance discovers how scientists around the world have responded to the pandemic, working on solutions from drugs and vaccines to hand sanitiser and PPE
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Sustainable Covid-19 protection
Discarding our pandemic face masks could be an environmental disaster. Clare Sansom looks at the alternatives
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How does a cell know what kind of cell it should be?
Philip Ball investigates how cells use condensed ‘blobs’ to collect the molecules involved in regulating genes
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The science of the perfect cake
Nina Notman opens her lab notebook to find a recipe fit for a queen
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Chemistry for all?
Rachel Brazil reports on the RSC’s five-year project to see whether students from disadvantaged backgrounds can be encouraged to study chemistry
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Engineering a handshake for proteins
Once considered undruggable, chemists are beginning to grasp protein–protein interactions, according to Ian Le Guillou
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Can sustainable aviation fuels give us guilt-free flying?
Angeli Mehta finds out if we can make jet fuel sustainably – and cheaply
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How Crispr went from niche to Nobel
Katrina Kramer tells the story of how Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna developed the gene editing tool that won them the 2020 Nobel prize in chemistry
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Room temperature superconductors
A dream since electricity was first harnessed humanity is tantalisingly close to achieving this goal
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Direct observation of the transition state
The mystery of precisely what happens when one chemical reacts to form a new one is now being revealed in ever greater detail
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Unnatural selection in chemical systems
Great strides have been made in the lab with chemical systems that ape life’s behaviour
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Manipulation of matter at the atomic level
In the first in our series looking at chemistry’s holy grails from 25 years ago we examine how matter can now be controlled at its most basic level
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Artificial enzymes: catalysis by design
Enzymes are nature’s ultimate catalysts and chemists are now on the verge of making their own versions from scratch
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Artificial photosynthesis: solar water splitting
The chemistry to mimic ones of nature’s greatest feats still has some hurdles to overcome
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Homogeneous C–H activation
In the final instalment of our grails series we look at how picking and choosing which bond to target holds the promise of transforming organic molecules at will
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Human chemical communication
Nina Notman sniffs out the evidence for human pheromones and chemical cues
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The drive to recycle lithium-ion batteries
Electric vehicles are surging in popularity but Patrick Hughes asks what happens once their batteries are no longer fit for purpose
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Using ions to connect life to machines
Ionotronic materials are beginning to show how life’s signals can be aligned with electronics. James Urquhart speaks to the scientists who are exploring the emerging frontier
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Ammonia synthesis goes electric
James Mitchell Crow finds that the outlook for renewables-powered electrochemical ammonia production is beginning to brighten
