NMR

Getting good at human tasks

2025-07-03T10:45:00+01:00By

’What do you mean you had to lock the NMR with an oscilloscope and shim the magnet by hand?’

Ponnadurai Ramasami

Ponnadurai Ramasami: ‘You will learn more by going the more difficult way’

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The trailblazing computational chemist on the joys of teaching, inaugurating a virtual conference, and the importance of doing things the hard way

Elements

Helping remote schools be in their element

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The element sets now found in over half of Australian high schools

Star Trek

Chemistry's capital C

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From refinery scale to a nanosecond existence, carbon is everywhere – in life as well as chemistry 

A physical molecular model of Benzene

Contemporary chemistry owes a lot to benzene's beginnings

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Celebrating what started when Faraday found the molecule with no end

Benzene and bunting in chalk on a blackboard

Benzene at 200

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Celebrating the molecule that changed the world

Women climbing different ladders

Nurturing socioeconomic inclusion for a brighter tomorrow

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Understanding why individuals from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are underrepresented in the chemical sciences

Our columnists

Philip Ball

Philip Ball is an award-winning journalist, author and broadcaster who explores the history and philosophy of chemistry

Kekule, Faraday and Mitscherlich in a party collage

Benzene’s 200-year legacy of transformation

As we celebrate the anniversary of benzene’s isolation, we must remember that scientific centenaries carry additional agendas

Raychelle Burks

Raychelle Burks is an associate professor in the US and an award-winning science communicator and broadcaster.

Indian cobra

Sinister snakebites

Accidental death, or a murder carried out with venom?

Nessa Carson

Nessa Carson is a synthetic organic research chemist based in Macclesfield, UK

Obsolete computer

The value of good software extends beyond its cost

Whether third-party or built in-house, thoughtful design and implementation can improve workflows and make science more inclusive

Chemjobber is a US-based industry insider, telling tales of tank reactors and organic obstacles

Man checking another man's clipboard

Are you fooling yourself?

Charles Piller’s Doctored and the reality of falsehoods in science

Derek Lowe is a medicinal chemist in the US, sharing wit and wisdom from a life spent in preclinical drug discovery

NMR

Getting good at human tasks

’What do you mean you had to lock the NMR with an oscilloscope and shim the magnet by hand?’

Alice Motion

Alice Motion is an associate professor in Australia interested in citizen science, public outreach and education

Elements

Helping remote schools be in their element

The element sets now found in over half of Australian high schools

Chris Nawrat (aka BRSM)

Chris Nawrat (aka BRSM) is a process chemist at a major pharmaceutical company in the US

(-)-bipinnatin J

(–)-Bipinnatin J

A stepping stone to greater things?

Vanessa Seifert

Vanessa Seifert explores philosophical issues from the novel perspective of chemistry

Scientist looking inside nose

What the smell of benzene tells us about the world

A philosophical discussion about how much we can trust our senses

Andrea Sella

Andrea Sella is a professor of inorganic chemistry in the UK with a passion for unravelling the unlikely origins of scientific kit

Michael Faraday

Faraday’s laboratory manual and the isolation of benzene

Instruction on how to be as much at home in the lab as was the man himself

Research landscape

Researcher in lab

If the UK wants growth fuelled by R&D, universities need relief now

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The spending review has left universities struggling with deficits with few options but to hope for good news

Woman in lab coat with red umbrella fighting against flurry of papers

Normalising huge substrate scopes worsens wellbeing

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And holds up the pace of scientific progress

Can scientific curiosity and pressure to work long hours be balanced with well-being?

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Younger researchers must beware the trap that sees their scientific fervour take over their lives

‘Real danger in this moment’ for America’s research enterprise

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There are stark warnings for the US amid science agency cuts, terminated research grants and detained graduate students

Chemists amid coronavirus five years on: Krystle McLaughlin

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An assistant chemistry professor at a small college in New York gets her career back on track, thanks to a tenure clock extension and teaching release

Chemists amid coronavirus five years on: Liang Zhang

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Lockdown gave a young chemistry professor in China the space and time to consider the most worthwhile projects, and that has benefited his team

Putting research on the chopping block risks mortgaging countries’ futures

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Many countries in the global north are taking a short-sighted approach to their science budgets 

Industry landscape

Profiles

Ponnadurai Ramasami

Ponnadurai Ramasami: ‘You will learn more by going the more difficult way’

The trailblazing computational chemist on the joys of teaching, inaugurating a virtual conference, and the importance of doing things the hard way

Fede Ariel examining a tomato plant

RNA as a replacement for chemical pesticides

Argentinian start-up Apolo Biotech is teaching plants to fight infections

Robyn Norton

Robyn Norton: ‘We needed to make sure that women were included’

The pioneering global health researcher on the importance of including women in medical research, face-to-face networking and kindness

Robyn Norton: ‘We needed to make sure that women were included’

The pioneering global health researcher on the importance of including women in medical research, face-to-face networking and kindness

How Bathabile Ramalapa is making a place for chemistry in health innovation

The award-winning scientist is solving health problems in the global south and inspiring other girls to follow suit

From professional ballet dancer to quantum chemist

Creativity has been central to James Shee’s career across both art and science

Paul Alivisatos: ‘Physical chemistry brought me back into the fold’

The nanomaterials pioneer talks about coming from a family of immigrants, wandering as an undergraduate and finding his compass

Hidden from view: being a scientific advisor for the emergency services

Stephen Yao’s expertise helps the emergency services deal with chemical incidents