Chemistry features and long reads

Drugging RNA

Some medicinal chemists have changed their focus from proteins to target RNA, finds Rachel Brazil

The hellish chemistry of Venus’ atmosphere

The potential presence of phosphine on Venus is only the latest twist in the strange chemistry of our planetary neighbour, finds Clare Sansom

Marking the Anthropocene

By Rachel Brazil

The idea that we’re in a human-influenced geological epoch is gaining traction, but how will future geologists measure it? Rachel Brazil finds out

DNA machines get a move on

By Nina Notman

Devices made from nucleic acids are starting to find their feet, says Nina Notman

Biden thrills US research community with his science ‘dream team’
By Rebecca Trager
The new US president has elevated the role of science in the White House
Margarita Salas: the marquesa of molecular biology
By Hayley Bennett
Hayley Bennett celebrates the Spanish biochemist who flourished during the Franco era
How rubber is bouncing back
By Kit Chapman
From their colonial roots to future alternatives, Kit Chapman looks at the chemistry of natural elastomers

2020: the year the world changed

2020-12-17T09:05:00+00:00By Andy Extance

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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Long reads

The science of the perfect cake

Emmanuella Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna

How Crispr went from niche to Nobel

Using ions to connect life to machines

Ammonia synthesis goes electric

The complex chemistry of fire

An ilustration showing CCF 100 anniversary

Supporting the chemistry community

The science of the perfect cake
How Crispr went from niche to Nobel
Using ions to connect life to machines
Ammonia synthesis goes electric
The complex chemistry of fire
Supporting the chemistry community

Careers

The facts of being a fiction-writing chemist
By Jon Evans
Meet the chemists making creative use of their scientific skills
Automation in the chemistry lab
By Rachel Brazil
Is a robot coming for your job?
Underrepresented scientists hardest hit by pandemic
By Dinsa Sachan
The effects of Covid-19 have exacerbated existing inequalities in academia

2020: the year the world changed

By Andy Extance

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

Sustainable Covid-19 protection

By Clare Sansom

Discarding our pandemic face masks could be an environmental disaster. Clare Sansom looks at the alternatives

How does a cell know what kind of cell it should be?
By Philip Ball
Philip Ball investigates how cells use condensed ‘blobs’ to collect the molecules involved in regulating genes
The science of the perfect cake
By Nina Notman
Nina Notman opens her lab notebook to find a recipe fit for a queen
Chemistry for all?
By Rachel Brazil
Rachel Brazil reports on the RSC’s five-year project to see whether students from disadvantaged backgrounds can be encouraged to study chemistry

News and business

Decoding the virus – what we know about Sars-CoV-2 a year on

By James Urquhart

Scientists have never learnt so much about a pathogen in such a short time

Can chemistry thaw the vaccine cold chain?

By Angeli Mehta

Covid-19 has highlighted the challenges of storing vaccines at their proper temperature. Angeli Mehta explores how scientists are trying to protect vaccines from heat degradation

3D printing in pharma

2018-04-27T10:30:00+01:00By Nina Notman

Nina Notman explores how 3D printing is carving out a niche for itself in the pharmaceutical industry

Engineering a handshake for proteins

By Ian Le Guillou

Once considered undruggable, chemists are beginning to grasp protein–protein interactions, according to Ian Le Guillou

Can sustainable aviation fuels give us guilt-free flying?

By Angeli Mehta

Angeli Mehta finds out if we can make jet fuel sustainably – and cheaply

How Crispr went from niche to Nobel
By Katrina Krämer
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
Room temperature superconductors
By Jamie Durrani
A dream since electricity was first harnessed humanity is tantalisingly close to achieving this goal
Manipulation of matter at the atomic level
By Jamie Durrani
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