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.
ResearchLaser centrifuge spins out chiral molecules in world first
Experimental proof that molecule’s rotation can be controlled with light could lead to new ways to separate enantiomers
ResearchRobotic fish powered by hydraulic blood and two heart pumps
Soft robot mimics lionfish’s graceful movement with flow batteries and hydraulic fluids
NewsSwitching UK’s gas network to hydrogen perfectly possible, report finds
Repurposing the natural gas network would cut out country’s biggest source of carbon emissions
Research‘Little big coil’ breaks record for world’s strongest magnet
High temperature superconductor used to create 45.5 Tesla field magnet 9000 times more powerful than a fridge magnet
NewsPolymer microballs and fatberg crystals top science photo competition
From virtual reality to citizen science, photo competition shows breadth of UK research
ResearchFirst atom-thick perovskites show there’s no limits to crystallinity
Could 2D perovskite oxides become the next graphene?
PodcastAmantadine
Katrina Krämer investigates how one of the smallest small molecule drugs around saved Jeanna Giese's life
NewsMissing out on €100bn EU fund after Brexit would be ‘major blow to British science’
UK needs to secure access to Europe’s multi-million-pound research fund as soon as possible, according to Nobel laureate Paul Nurse
ResearchBrown ring molecule defies the very definition of oxidation state
Classic nitrate test compound isolated for the first time challenges chemistry governing body’s ideas on oxidation state
Research11 million floating solar farms could eliminate carbon emissions from transport
Marine methanol factories could produce fuel from seawater and carbon dioxide
ResearchStrange bonds entirely new to chemists predicted in ammonia hydrides
High pressure compound containing bridging hydrogen cations might be found inside Neptune and Uranus
ResearchQuantum mechanical mechanism behind 100-year-old textbook reaction revealed
Study challenges established understanding of Michael addition as it uncovers Pauli repulsion’s key role in halogen catalysis
ResearchMystery around actinides deepens as researchers challenge study on heavy elements’ origin
Was a giant supernova rather than a neutron star collision responsible for creating the solar system’s actinides?
NewsInternational Space Station experiments will search for key to soot-free flames
Microgravity research could help to burn fuels more cleanly and cut soot’s contribution to ill health and climate change
ResearchMagnetite microswarm repairs circuit by mimicking bridge-building ants
Gold-coated iron particles in magnetic field move like swarming ants to repair broken microcircuits
ResearchNeural network folds proteins a million times faster than its competitors
Machine learning algorithm that predicts protein structures in milliseconds could top next protein folding contest
ResearchThousand year-old fox snout bag held potent hallucinogens
Chemical analysis reveals ancient South Americans used mix of psychoactive substances in rituals
ResearchFirst radial-conjugated aromatic that does the twist
Figure-of-eight shaped molecule is the first with a radial π-electron system
ResearchViolent stellar collision near early solar system created actinides
A single neutron star merger produced almost all curium and plutonium that ever existed in the solar system
ResearchMystery of bouncing droplet that drops dead solved
Buoyancy and Marangoni effect behind bouncing life and sudden death of an oil droplet