Katrina Krämer
After finishing my A-levels, I wanted to study arts or languages, but then decided that being a chemist in a white coat was definitely cooler.
So I went on and spent ten years studying chemistry in Germany, Spain and the UK, before realising that not working in a lab can also be fun. After one year in the Royal Society of Chemistry’s graduate trainee scheme, I joined Chemistry World first as editorial assistant and now as science correspondent.
My favourite CAS number is 102-54-5.
ResearchSalt crystal grows legs to avoid slippery surface
Sodium chloride’s self-lifting crystallisation has been observed for the first time
- Research
Hybrid light–matter particles offer tantalising new way to control chemistry
Early experiments are revealing that vacuum-field catalysis could make reactions happen with mirrors and nothingness
- Research
Ultra-fluorinated cyclohexane shows off two faces
1,2,3,4,5,6‐hexakis(trifluoromethyl)‐cyclohexane is the most sterically crowded all-cis derivative
- Podcast
Book club – United We Are Unstoppable
60 young climate activitsts from 41 countries tell their stories of fighting for a sustainable future
- Research
Largest hollow cage molecule yet made from 1000 atoms
Giant polyoxymetalate cluster contains 240 molybdenum, 740 oxygen and 20 sulfur atoms
- News
European Synchrotron’s new x-rays shine 100 times brighter
Extremely Brilliant Source, which took €150 million and 20 months to build, has already been used for Covid-19 research
- Podcast
Book club – Half Lives by Lucy Jane Santos
From radioactive spa treatments to liquid sunshine, this book traces a forgotten part of chemistry history
- News
UK chemistry pipeline loses almost all of its Black, Asian and other ethnic minority chemists after undergraduate studies
Black students are only one quarter as likely to study for a PhD than their white counterparts
- News
Paracetamol, ibuprofen and other painkillers may harm those suffering from chronic pain
Opioids and benzodiazepines should also be avoided in favour of non-drug therapies for treating chronic pain, recommends UK clinical practice body
- Research
Magnetic shielding maps reveal molecules’ aromaticity
Computational method is intuitive way to visualise Clar’s rule in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
- News
Explainer: What is quantum tunnelling?
Welcome to a weird world where reactions that ought to be impossible occur regularly
- Research
Rubidium atoms’ tunnelling time measured with quantum stopwatch
Ultracold atom’s time inside forbidden barrier determined, but experiment might not resolve the controversy surrounding tunnelling time
- Research
Red–orange–yellow reclaims polymorph record with help from molecular cousin
Mixed crystal seeding with molecular mimic yields two new Roy polymorphs, making it (again) the compound with the most crystal structures
- Research
Self-replicating molecules show signs of metabolism for the first time
Chemical system combines two of life’s three essential features making it one of the most lifelike yet
- News
Suit of iron turns sperm cells into spermbots
Researchers have created microrobots that swim under the influence of a magnetic field, by coating sperm cells with iron nanoparticles. The spermbots could one day be used to deliver drugs to hard-to-reach areas in the body.
- Research
Photocatalysis in flow makes carbon bonds from nearly inert natural gases
C–H activating methane, ethane and propane in a flow reactor shows that it’s possible to use gaseous hydrocarbons as reagents in organic synthesis
- Podcast
Book club – Three books on pandemics
We’re tackling the coronavirus information overload by discussing and comparing three books that offer different views on pandemics past and present
- Research
New bond discovered among spodium elements zinc, cadmium and mercury
Group 12 joins the σ-hole interaction family with spodium bonds
- Research
Solvated electrons’ metallic transition resolved with spectroscopy
First photoelectron spectra of electrolyte-to-metal transition in ammoniated electrons could lead to metallic water
- Research
Strange hexagonal form of table salt discovered
Predicted by an evolutionary algorithm, the first hexagonal sodium chloride was made on a diamond surface
