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.
NewsUK nuclear power plant at Sizewell site gets go-ahead after two years
Part of the net zero strategy, Sizewell C will generate 7% of the country’s electricity – but the decision has been met with criticism
- Research
Tiny orbitals paint intuitive picture of large molecules’ reactivity
Frontier molecular orbitalets pinpoint location and energy of reactive bonds in large compounds
- Research
The odour of amity: how you smell can predict friendships
Strangers who smell alike tend to form an instant connection with each other on first meeting
- News
Curie family holiday home to become a place for ‘women’s Nobel’ prizes
Polish billionaire bought French mansion once owned by Marie Skłodowska–Curie and Pierre Curie, and has plans to convert it into a space for women
- News
Annette Doherty elected next president of the Royal Society of Chemistry
Head of GlaxoSmithKline’s product development will take up her role in July 2024
- Research
Carbon fragment’s five atom walk in unprecedented rearrangement reaction
Reaction discovered by accident is a rare case of a room temperature [1,5] carbon shift
- Research
Fossil molecules reveal dinosaurs’ bird-like metabolism
Thioethers preserved in bones show that most dinosaurs were warm-blooded, though T rex may have been particularly sluggish
- News
AI-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
