More features – Page 5
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FeatureFixing nitrogen fixing
Green ammonia promises a more sustainable future. Jamie Durrani talks to the researchers aiming to revolutionise the production of crucial fertiliser
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FeatureMaking replacement organs
From iron lungs to smartphone-controlled insulin pumps, Clare Sansom looks at the efforts to create artificial organs
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FeatureCan biorefineries eliminate fossil fuels and petrochemicals?
Plans to develop the world’s largest vegetable oil refinery reveal diverging views on the sustainability, profitability and scale of plant-based supply chains, finds Andy Extance
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FeatureThe race to build a base on the moon
Nina Notman talks to scientists helping to return humans to the moon – for good this time
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FeatureThe Sun rises on perovskites
With the first solar cells scheduled for commercial sale this year, Tim Wogan looks at the long, hard road to producing stable perovskite photovoltaics
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FeatureA new generation of materials inspired by teeth
Ian Le Guillou finds that some of nature’s toughest structures are helping scientists to develop new fibres that could revolutionise fabrics
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FeatureThe long-term energy storage challenge
In a renewably powered future, how will the grid cope when the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing? Rachel Brazil looks at the options
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FeatureThe lithium rush
Move over, gold; lithium is now the metal in global demand. Kit Chapman untangles the global politics around the sought-after resource
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FeatureBuilding better batteries
The next generation of battery technologies might pack significantly more power into the electric cars and mobile devices of the future. James Mitchell Crow reports
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FeatureThe messy chemistry that led to life
To understand how chemistry became biology, some chemists are eschewing simple reactions to study complex systems with many reactants and products. Rachel Brazil peers through the tangle
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FeatureThe complex chemistry of making paper
Renewable, recyclable and biodegradable, paper is the ultimate sustainable material. Victoria Atkinson looks at the clever chemistry that turns trees into sheets
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FeatureEditing the structure of molecules
Nina Notman meets the chemists expanding the toolbox of reactions capable of adding, deleting and switching single atoms in rings at the heart of organic molecules
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FeatureHow do plants sense stress?
How does an organism without a brain or a nervous system sense when it’s under attack? Hayley Bennett presents the plant world’s strange yet sophisticated system for responding to wounding
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FeatureThe long future of nuclear waste
Although enthusiasm for atomic energy has waxed and waned over the decades, Bárbara Pinho finds the question of waste has yet to be solved
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FeatureChanging the game in protein structure prediction
Have AlphaFold and other machine learning techniques essentially solved the formerly fiendish problem, or is there still more to be done? Clare Sansom reports
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FeatureThe wonderful wizards of wood
Clever chemistry can turn humble timber into a sustainable material with many uses, Kit Chapman finds
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FeatureMission to Uranus
With no spacecraft visiting the ice giants for over 30 years, Anthony King speaks to the planetary scientists planning a return visit
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FeatureThe robots revolutionising chemistry
Researchers working with automated systems are pushing the boundaries of what chemists can achieve in the lab, reports James Mitchell Crow
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FeatureHow to automate your lab
Whether it’s robots, automation or software hacks, Nessa Carson finds ways for everyone to improve how they work in the lab
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FeatureWhat does AI mean for chemistry?
Phil Ball looks at whether letting machines do our thinking for us will change our understanding of chemistry itself