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.
NewsAI-generated images could make it almost impossible to detect fake papers
Some researchers worry that deepfake technology could be a new threat to scientific integrity, but others think traditional image manipulation is here to stay
- News
Last of UK’s nuclear reprocessing plants to close
Sellafield’s Magnox plant will enter a new era of clean-up and decommissioning in July
- News
Yield-predicting AI needs chemists to stop ignoring failed experiments
For machine-learning algorithms to make accurate yield predictions, chemists need to start reporting more low-yielding reactions and spell out implied experimental details
- Research
AI-engineered enzyme eats entire plastic containers
Enzyme with only five amino acid alterations depolymerises 51 different PET products faster and at lower temperature than other proteins
- Feature
The human health observatory in our sewers
From tracking disease outbreaks to monitoring drug use, there’s a lot to be learned from the things we flush down the toilet, Katrina Krämer finds
- Research
Sunscreen’s coral-killing mechanism uncovered
Sea anemones and corals convert oxybenzone into phototoxic compounds
- Research
Strange new bonds found hiding in plain sight in common organometallics
Collective interactions are proof that there’s more to bonds than just connecting neighbouring atoms
- News
US has destroyed last of its VX nerve agent stockpiles
After decades in storage, 470 tonnes of VX, sarin and mustard gas were safely eliminated
- Podcast
Book club – Fresh Banana Leaves by Jessica Hernandez
An Indigenous vision for environmental science
- News
Chemistry Nobel laureate Sidney Altman dies at 82
Canadian–American molecular biologist won the 1989 prize for discovering RNA’s catalytic ability
- Research
Origin of water’s DNA-damaging slow electrons discovered
First evidence of intermolecular Coulombic decay in liquid water will allow better modelling of radiation damage in living tissue
- Research
This metal triangle seems to defy definition – is it aromatic or not?
Discussion around thorium ring’s aromaticity has chemists questioning if we should stop calling metal clusters aromatic
- News
Organocatalysis Nobel laureate will give prize money to underprivileged students
2021 chemistry Nobel prize winner David MacMillan founds charity in his parents’ honour
- Research
The closest chemists have ever got to an inorganic ferrocene
Compound comprises an iron ion sandwiched between two aromatic phosphorus squares
- News
Scientific societies fail to capture members’ true diversity
US Stem organisations urged to collect more inclusive demographic data to better support distinct underrepresented groups
- News
Russian troops depart Chernobyl following disappearance of nuclear material
Chernobyl employees say that soldiers were unaware of the 1986 disaster and entered highly radioactive areas without protection
- Research
Fully nitrated benzene sets explosive record
Nitro-nitroaminobenzene is the organic compound with the largest detonation energy release yet
- News
Russian actions around Europe’s largest nuclear power plant flirt with catastrophe
An incident at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya plant could have disastrous consequences, nuclear safety expert warns
- News
Fears for Ukraine’s nuclear facilities follow Russian troops taking charge of Chernobyl site
Military movement kicking up radioactive dust in the exclusion zone and missiles barely missing nuclear waste sites worry nuclear energy community
- News
Watered-down apprenticeship could risk lab technicians’ career progression
Changes to the requirements for UK laboratory technician apprenticeships could leave some without an academic qualification
