Nina Notman
Science writer and editor
After finishing my organic chemistry PhD at the University of Bristol, I had come to realise that I didn’t have the patience required to be a good bench chemist. I started looking around for a career than allowed me to indulge my love for science while not being lab-based, which led me to join the journals team at the Royal Society of Chemistry with a focus on guiding papers through the peer review process. I was also given the opportunity to write magazine-style articles about some of the papers we published, something I relished. I then joined the Chemistry World team, first as a science correspondent and later as the features editor. In 2012, due to a family relocation, I went freelance and now write for a range of different chemistry and science education publications.
CareersMaintaining the UK's nuclear deterrent
The scientific challenges of working on a weapon that can never be tested
FeatureMOFs find a use
Nina Notman takes stock of the first products containing metal–organic frameworks to hit the shelves
FeatureHow ketamine could help treat severe depression
Nina Notman looks at how the party drug ketamine may hold the key to treating patients with severe depression
FeatureUrban air pollution
Nina Notman meets the chemists breathing fresh air into urban air pollution research
FeaturePersonalised skincare
Nina Notman explores some of the latest scientific approaches skincare companies are using in the quest to develop high-earning anti-ageing cosmetics
FeatureActivating C–Hemistry
Meet the organic chemists intent on breaking bonds that are generally considered to be unreactive
CareersShow and tell
Nina Notman explores the performance-based communication competitions turning researchers into raconteurs
CareersThe space junky
Sending her experimental polymers into space was a career high for Lenore Rasmussen. But space is just one part of the story, Nina Notman finds
FeatureWho reviews the reviews?
Nina Notman investigates the new alternatives being developed to replace peer review as we know it
CareersA mile in their shoes
Nina Notman explores the options open to scientists looking to learn more about policymaking and the inner workings of government
FeatureWell-tempered chocolate
Nina Notman discovers that controlling crystal structures and emulsions is the key to good chocolate
CareersThe race to equality
Nina Notman looks at the group and individual efforts to promote racial equality in academia
FeatureGoing for gold
Nina Notman looks at attempts to reduce the environmental impacts of small-scale gold mining
CareersThe online teacher
Neil Garg plans to transform how students around the world think about organic chemistry – with Bacon. Nina Notman explains
CareersA Nobel cause
Nina Notman talks to the scientists at the international organisation protecting humanity from the horrors of chemical warfare
FeatureExplosive science
Nina Notman learns the role chemistry plays in monitoring volcanoes and understanding the impact of their eruptions
CareersThe offshore chemist
Catriona Gebbie talks to Nina Notman about life as the only analytical chemist on board a North Sea oil production platform
Feature2Heavy drugs gaining momentum
With the first approval of a drug containing deuterium looking imminent, Nina Notman surveys the deuterated drug landscape
FeaturePlastic problems
Tiny pieces of plastic may be doing as much harm in our oceans and waterways as the big stuff, finds Nina Notman
