An aerial view of Los Alamos National Laboratory in the USA. There a number of low-rise office-type buildings surrounded by forest with cloud-topped mountains in the distance

Research

Nuclear waste might one day be used to create tritium to fuel fusion power plants

2025-09-12T14:03:00+01:00

Los Alamos National Lab team is modelling the efficiency and cost of reactor designs that can generate tritium from waste

In depth

Plastic pollution

Plastic treaty negotiations go down to the wire

Capping production and limiting use of harmful chemicals are key topics for negotiators to consider

AI drug development

As AI-designed drug looks to pass final hurdle, will this tech change drug discovery forever?

AI-led drug for chronic lung disease set to enter phase 3 clinical trials, though experts remain divided on AI’s impact in pharma

Explainers

Data center

Modelling suggests waste heat from AI data centres could power carbon capture and water purification

Analysis considering thermodynamics, economics and emissions shows how AI could flip its environmental footprint to become both water-positive and carbon-negative

Two organic chemical structures.

Antibiotics designed with the help of AI attack bacteria in entirely new ways

Two new compounds display potent activity against deadly drug-resistant bacteria

Graphic

AI tools turned to creating designer proteins for personalised cancer therapies and antibiotics

Powerful new class of AI model could dramatically speed up process of producing new kinds of drug candidates

Robotic arm holding test tube

LLMs could rewrite how AIs predict reactions and plan syntheses

Chemists welcome approach but warn that unthinking dependence on AI should be avoided

As AI-designed drug looks to pass final hurdle, will this tech change drug discovery forever?

AI-led drug for chronic lung disease set to enter phase 3 clinical trials, though experts remain divided on AI’s impact in pharma

‘CrystalGPT’ set to enhance how chemists design crystals in silico

Model for predicting molecular crystal properties is readily adaptable to specific tasks, even with limited data

AI predicts transition states with exceptional precision

Model can complete tasks in under a second that take conventional methods hours

AI takes step towards cracking biology’s toughest problem – protein sequencing

The team hopes the system will eventually be as influential as AlphaFold was for protein structure prediction

Worldwide

An Australian and an EU flag blowing in the wind

Discussions begin on association of Australia to Horizon Europe

Australia considers joining 20 other non-EU countries in world’s largest research programme

UK biofuels production collapsing in face of cheap imports

Bioethanol plants closing after US tariffs removed, while biodiesel faces competition from China

Proposal to limit US student visa durations draws criticism

Academic groups warn that the proposed rule will deter talented researchers, harm the economy and add bureaucracy

A scientist helps two visually impaired high school students perform a chemistry experiment with a bottle of fizzy drink and a balloon. The students are smiling as they feel the changes to the objects.

Chemistry for the visually impaired that can be felt, heard and smelt

The Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, recently brought chemistry alive for students with sight loss

Books and a mortar board

First-generation graduate chemists face challenges throughout their entire academic lifetime

Study highlights need for mentorship and more inclusive networks

A sign and a crest on a marble building for the American Chemical Society

Under legal pressure American Chemical Society ends diversity programme

The society is replacing its 30-year-old Scholars Program for minorities with a larger one that does not consider race