All articles by James Urquhart – Page 3
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ResearchMystery of how plants make strychnine solved 75 years after characterisation
Three-quarters of a century after Robinson and Woodward cracked structure chemists unravel poison’s biosynthesis
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ResearchEncapsulated bacteria show promise as injectable living drugs factories to treat diseases
Engineered E. coli produce insulin and vaccines in vivo
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ResearchBreaking bacteria’s genetic silence to synthesise antibiotics that evade resistance
Prospecting in bacterial genomes offers hope in search for new antimicrobial drugs
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ResearchDiscovery of polymorph using ball milling holds promise for drug discovery
Interchangeable switching between three polymorphs demonstrated for the first time
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ResearchMachine learning finds fluoride battery materials that could rival lithium
AI could help make new battery type that could store more energy than lithium-ion batteries viable
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ResearchFreeze–thaw cycles could explain how ancient RNA replicated without enzymes
Discovery solves puzzle of RNA world hypothesis
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NewsEnvironmental concerns ground mercury-based satellite thrusters
UN takes steps to outlaw mercury propellant that could have seen tonnes of the heavy metal rain down on Earth every year
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ResearchReprogrammed bacterium turns carbon dioxide into chemicals on industrial scale
Process achieved at industrial scale in 120 litre reactor
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ResearchFreefall flights test feasibility of making oxygen on the moon and Mars
Efficiency of water electrolysis is reduced at lower gravity
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ResearchRising ozone pollution threatens east Asia’s cereal crops
Losses of wheat, rice and maize add up to $63 billion every year
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ResearchSimple campfire chemistry hints how ancient humans produced pigments
Process to make red ochre didn’t require close control of temperature
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ResearchIodine ion drive propels satellite in space for the first time
Halogen could provide a cheaper, more efficient alternative to xenon
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ResearchPolymerisation used to synthesise 2D material inside living cells
Sheets are larger than those cells can take up and the technique could find uses in imaging
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Research‘Self-inflating’ synthetic cells can capture, store and release cargo
Entirely artificial system can use chemical energy to ‘swallow’ payloads like bacteria
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ResearchChemical definition of brine as water could help clear up Chile’s lithium controversy
As evidence grows that lithium mining damages water sources, reclassifying brine as water – rather than as mineral – could empower Indigenous communities to protect their rights and convince mining companies to act more responsibly
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ResearchMolecular cryo-EM discovers error in 25-year-old natural product structure
Nobel prize-winning biomolecule imaging technique adapted to characterise chemical compounds faster and easier than NMR and x-ray
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ResearchEnigmatic DNA dubbed ‘Borgs’ discovered in methane-metabolising microbes
The large nucleic acid structures may help bacteria play a role in regulating global methane
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ResearchStealthy robot trout could infiltrate schools of fish and monitor marine pollution
Piezoelectric robotic fish swims like the real thing and harvests energy that could power on-board sensors
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ResearchMolecular machines talk to living cells for the first time
Artificial molecular motors gently pull on cells’ membrane receptors to trigger a biochemical response
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ResearchNew class of biomolecule baffles scientists
GlycoRNAs found across several cell types and organisms