Mason Wakley
I joined the Chemistry World team as a science correspondent in January 2026, having previously worked with the team as an intern in the summer of 2025 and later as a freelancer.
After a stint in research post-university, I realised that working in the lab wasn’t quite for me and that I much preferred talking about science than doing it. My background is in chemistry, though I enjoy covering all areas of science.
In my spare time, I like to run, crochet and cook – though not all at once.
OpinionSteve Liddle: ‘Try and do something different to what everyone else is doing’
The organometallic chemist on working with the f-elements, following your instinct and remaining grounded
NewsEuropean Chemicals Agency backs EU-wide PFAS ban
Support for ban marks ‘major step’ at dealing with ‘forever chemicals’
ResearchMolecules with largest dipole moments aren’t due to electronegativity differences
Computational analysis challenges Pauling’s idea of polarity
NewsExplainer: what is thermal paper?
Many thermal papers use toxic bisphenols, which react with dyes under heat to print text for receipts, labels and tickets
ResearchNear-Earth asteroid samples contain all five nucleobases key to life
Meteorites rich in chemicals used to build nucleic acids may have helped kick-start life on early Earth
NewsPhysicist's piezoelectric pirouettes claims top spot at this year’s Dance your PhD competition
Contemporary dance explains why some materials generate electricity under stress
ResearchPhotocatalytic skeletal editing technique migrates substituents to challenging meta-position
Meta-substituted aromatic rings are key structures in many drug molecules
ResearchSunlight-driven process upcycles polystyrene waste and elemental sulfur into valuable organic compounds
Products could be used as building blocks for semiconductor materials
BusinessSyngenta to close UK paraquat herbicide factory
90 jobs will be cut when Huddersfield plant stops making chemical that is banned in EU
NewsIg Nobel prize ceremony set to move from ‘unsafe’ US to Europe indefinitely
Issues with visas for attendees has led to the satirical award moving from its home at Harvard University
ResearchNew computer file could standardise how chemists report MOF syntheses
File stores synthesis and characterisation data, much like files for crystal structures
ResearchRadical chemistry pioneer Moses Gomberg probably made a trivalent carbon years before he realised
Recreation of Gomberg’s experiments suggests that he may have made a hypovalent carbon species years before reporting their discovery
NewsRecord-breaking chemistry experiments: from giant crystals to lemon batteries
School science staples that have set Guinness World Records
PodcastAAAS annual meeting & plasma chemistry
In this episode, we discuss reflections from this year’s AAAS annual meeting, the latest advances in plasma chemistry, and hear the latest headlines.
NewsWhy I’m leading an expedition in search of ‘dark oxygen’
Chemistry World spoke to Andrew Sweetman, the biogeochemist leading the upcoming excursion to the Clarion Clipperton Zone in the Pacific
NewsRoyal Society asks for help as it unveils interactive UK map charting memorialisation of women in science
Locations, landmarks and monuments dotted throughout the UK highlight the contributions of women
ResearchSeries of stable nitrogen radical chains synthesised
These compounds may find uses as nitrene precursors
NewsWhat are some of the largest crystals in the world?
From copper sulfate to quartz we look at six of the biggest crystals out there
OpinionHow to grow an enormous single crystal
Top tips from David Boyce and his class, who have cultivated a 3kg single copper sulfate crystal
FeatureUnlocking the power of plasma for chemistry
Scientists are using non-thermal plasma to produce fertiliser and long-chain hydrocarbons. Mason Wakley talks to the chemists harnessing the fourth state of matter