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.
ResearchFirst ever triply bridging phosphine glows in two colours when crushed
Copper triangle topped with μ3-bridging phosphorus ligand shows unusual colour-changing mechanochromic luminescence
- Podcast
Book club – The Disordered Cosmos by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
Exposing how racism and sexism shapes science
- News
How Covid gave the world a lesson in tackling air pollution
The pandemic has given atmospheric chemists the opportunity to study pollution and carbon emissions like never before
- News
Bath becomes first UK university to sign green chemistry pledge
79 institutes around the world have now agreed to focus on green principles in chemistry education
- Research
A glimpse at alien volcanoes that spew metal
Hypothetical ferrovolcanoes explored with world’s only lava flow simulator
- News
UK science minister’s review aims to cut red tape for researchers
Report will identify solutions to free up researchers from unnecessary admin
- Research
Programmed cyclodextrin synthesis picks out specific molecule from 117,655 possibilities
Thioacetate orienting group allows for fine-tuned cyclodextrin functionalisation
- Research
Giant glowing fabric made into shirtsleeve display
Flexible textile woven from conductive polymer and luminescent fibres made into wearable display and keyboard device
- Podcast
Book club – Never Mind the B#ll*cks, Here’s the Science by Luke O’Neill
Serious punk rock science
- Research
Chemist whose father survived oil rig disaster inspired to swap slides for VR safety training
Training using virtual reality could help chemical manufacturing workers prepare for the worst
- News
UK’s £800m ‘blue skies’ research funder still has no clear purpose
House of Commons calls on government to find focus for Advanced Research Projects Agency
- Podcast
Book club – The Poison Trials by Alisha Rankin
Clinical trials have come a long way since the 16th century
- Research
Half the world’s supply of element 99 used to reveal its chemical secrets
Scientists explore einsteinium’s unusual chemistry using less than 200 nanograms of the precious and highly radioactive material
- Research
Holes cause sodium nitride to behave like a metal
Clathrate’s strange metallic nature caused by electronically active cavities
- Research
Electric fields deep in Earth’s mantle helps diamond crystallise
Electrochemical experiments under extreme conditions show diamonds forming from molten carbonate rocks
- Research
Amine might end palladium’s reign over classic cross coupling reaction
Suzuki reaction now comes in an organocatalysed format
- News
Royal Society of Chemistry retracts 70 fake ‘paper mill’ articles
Extensive investigations found systematic production of fraudulent research
- Research
The hole story of how cage molecules could transform synthesis and separation
Chemists are getting to grips with how to put molecules inside other molecules and how this could protect highly reactive reagents and create enzyme-like catalysts
- Research
Vibrational energy antenna offers ‘a completely new way to run a reaction’
First infrared analogue to natural light-harvesting systems drives isomerisation
- Podcast
Book club – Uncle Tungsten by Oliver Sacks
We celebrate 20 years of a popular chemistry classic – written by neurologist
