A photo illustration showing the 2019 Nobel prize winners

The lithium pioneers

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Katrina Krämer traces the full story of how lithium-ion batteries won the 2019 Nobel prize

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Atom-by-atom experiments at the edge of the periodic table

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Only a few atoms of oganesson have ever been made –  and they all vanished in less time than it took you to read this

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Sewage sells: the hidden value of wastewater

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An eye-opening visit to a waste water treatment works uncovers the surprising value in sewage. Hayley Bennett reports

An image showing plasterer laying concrete cement with trowel

Concrete’s carbon problem

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The world’s most common building material has a huge carbon footprint. Angeli Mehta talks to the scientists trying to reduce it

The lithium pioneers

2019-10-17T09:31:00+01:00By

Katrina Krämer traces the full story of how lithium-ion batteries won the 2019 Nobel prize

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Long reads

An image showing the letters P, F, A and S, which stand for perfluorinated alkyl substances, sinking into water; a small fish can also be seen

A persistent perfluorinated problem

An illustrated portrait of June Sutor

The forgotten female crystallographer who discovered C–H⋯O bonds

A photograph of Primo Levi; the tile of the chapters in his book, The Periodic Table, are written around him

Primo Levi and the other periodic table

An image showing a scrunched up piece of paper with the details of element 118 - Ninovium - Written down

Victor Ninov and the element that never was

A conceptual image showing the disability icon ascending on a slope formed by a graduation hat; the Braille alphabet and the alphabet in sign language can be seen on the background

Accessible science education

An image showing droplets on a rose petal; the fine surface structure of one of the droplets can be seen

Superhydrophobic materials from nature

  • A persistent perfluorinated problem

  • The forgotten female crystallographer who discovered C–H⋯O bonds

  • Primo Levi and the other periodic table

  • Victor Ninov and the element that never was

  • Accessible science education

  • Superhydrophobic materials from nature

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Chemical clocks for archaeological artefacts

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 Radiocarbon dating is a standard technique, but what if your artefacts are inorganic? Rachel Brazil finds out how to accurately age pottery and even metals

An image showing a landscape where a big wildfire can be seen on the horizon

Firing up an air pollution problem

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Wild fires adversely affect air quality nearby and far beyond. Nina Notman investigates this escalating problem

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