Africa should treat entrepreneurial science as a lifeline, not a luxury
Synchronised action from universities, policymakers and scientists is needed to bridge the gap from ideas to impact
British Steel’s nationalisation plan contrasts against chemical industry decline
UK steel production has been declining for decades thanks to high costs and cheap imports
A museum mould mystery
Even best practices aren’t always enough to protect heritage sites
The current academic system doesn’t incentivise risk-taking
But playing it safe can have negative consequences for a field
Implementing ideas in industry
An initial thought can take on a life of its own as different stakeholders contribute their expertise
The scientific career clock in China
Age limits on funding and recruitment programmes place unhelpful pressures on early-career researchers
The summer I became a science journalist
Mason Wakley on being a science writer intern at the Royal Society of Chemistry
I was almost robbed of my love for chemistry – but I fought my way back
An abusive lab member made my dream course a nightmare. By speaking up, I’m reclaiming my joy
Our columnists
Philip Ball is an award-winning journalist, author and broadcaster who explores the history and philosophy of chemistry
The complicated legacy of J Craig Venter
By attempting to commercialise parts of the human genome, he sped up the development of gene sequencing technologies
Raychelle Burks is an associate professor in the US and an award-winning science communicator and broadcaster.
A museum mould mystery
Even best practices aren’t always enough to protect heritage sites
Nessa Carson is a synthetic organic research chemist based in Macclesfield, UK
Implementing ideas in industry
An initial thought can take on a life of its own as different stakeholders contribute their expertise
Chemjobber is a US-based industry insider, telling tales of tank reactors and organic obstacles
Traffic jams in the chemical plant
What happens between a big order coming in and going out?
Derek Lowe is a medicinal chemist in the US, sharing wit and wisdom from a life spent in preclinical drug discovery
‘The truth is supremely valuable and we cannot lie our way to it’
As a scientist with family in Iran, Derek Lowe finds his own government’s approach to truth alarming
Chris Nawrat (aka BRSM) is a process chemist at a major pharmaceutical company in the US
(+)-Melicolone K
Sequential C–H activations open up the opportunity for an unusual transformation
Vanessa Seifert explores philosophical issues from the novel perspective of chemistry
How much history should there be in science education?
Understanding how previous shifts in scientific understanding occurred affects how we view current theories
Andrea Sella is a professor of inorganic chemistry in the UK with a passion for unravelling the unlikely origins of scientific kit
Alfred Wilm and the hardening of metals
How do you prepare for a so-called accidental discovery?
Research landscape
Africa should treat entrepreneurial science as a lifeline, not a luxury
Synchronised action from universities, policymakers and scientists is needed to bridge the gap from ideas to impact
The current academic system doesn’t incentivise risk-taking
But playing it safe can have negative consequences for a field
The scientific career clock in China
Age limits on funding and recruitment programmes place unhelpful pressures on early-career researchers
As a first-generation student, I didn’t have a clue what I was doing
And that brought challenges and unexpected opportunites
The chemist anthropologist
What new species remain to be discovered in the lab?
Some voices conspicuously silent when it comes to Trump’s science policies
Research-intensive universities have been targeted in an unprecedented and unrelenting manner since Donald Trump retook the White House
Drowning in a sea of fakery
Addressing rising fraud in the scientific literature is a huge issue that AI is set to exacerbate
Industry landscape
Africa should treat entrepreneurial science as a lifeline, not a luxury
Synchronised action from universities, policymakers and scientists is needed to bridge the gap from ideas to impact
British Steel’s nationalisation plan contrasts against chemical industry decline
UK steel production has been declining for decades thanks to high costs and cheap imports
Iran war’s global impact keeps growing
Shortages of bitumen, cooking gas and jet fuel are pushing up prices and disrupting construction
Purdue Pharma’s opioid prosecution enables bankruptcy settlement
$5 billion criminal sentence paves the way for resolution of civil liabilities through bankruptcy court
Letters: May 2026
Readers delve into ancient history, celebrate glassblowers and ponder if they are alchemists
Profiles
Detecting airborne pathogens by DNA sequencing
UK spin-out Agnos Biosciences turned a ‘wacky idea’ into a sensor with applications from agriculture to hospitals
When vanadium almost changed how we treat type 2 diabetes
Chris Orvig tells the story of BEOV
Using light to push stereochemistry uphill
While chemistry usually follows the downhill pull of thermodynamics, Alison Wendlandt is creating higher‑energy stereoisomers in the final stages of synthesis
Using light to push stereochemistry uphill
While chemistry usually follows the downhill pull of thermodynamics, Alison Wendlandt is creating higher‑energy stereoisomers in the final stages of synthesis
Bursting bubbles break down PFAS
Mantisonix is using ultrasound to destroy fluorochemical pollutants in water
Breaking bonds and bringing disciplines together to replace one of chemistry’s most controversial molecules
Rebecca Trager meets an organic chemist catalysing the search for BPA replacements by connecting synthetic chemists, data scientists, toxicologists and polymer chemists
How Thuc-Quyen Nguyen’s dreams of capturing the sun led her to organic electronics
Organic solar cell windows will enable the buildings of the future to be energy-neutral, she says
Veronica Vaida: ‘Some Harvard faculty expressed puzzlement at having a woman colleague’
The renowned physical chemist and environmental scientist on growing up in Romania and forging her career as a woman in the US in the 1970s
The current academic system doesn’t incentivise risk-taking
By Stuart Smith
But playing it safe can have negative consequences for a field
The evolving landscape of pain drug discovery
By Eve Corrie and Emma Jones
Harnessing the power of human-relevant in vitro models