Patrick Walter
I came to science via making mini traffic lights, measuring the speed of falling sycamore seeds and brewing fine ‘perfumes’ from whatever could be dug up from the garden. These unorthodox projects eventually led to a course studying biochemistry at Bristol to indulge my interest in science. Here I found that I had more of a flair for writing about science than actually doing it, after some spectacularly unsuccessful afternoon practicals!
After stints working on science journals, writing for society newsletters and editing and writing jobs with the magazine Chemistry & Industry I joined Chemistry World. Writing for the magazine has given me a wonderful opportunity to meet childhood heroes and some of the best scientists in the world. Telling the world about their work is not only great fun, but also matters. A scientifically literate public and body politic is vital if we expect evidence to play a greater role in policy-making.
- News
The 2021 Nobel prize in chemistry as it happens – live
Benjamin List and David MacMillan win the chemistry prize for a new way to assemble molecules
- Opinion
Rights and wrongs
Universities need to consider exactly what postgraduates’ employment status is
- Opinion
Commuting polluting
Rethinking the way we work can benefit individuals, communities and societies
- Opinion
Defence of the realm
The world’s critical infrastructure is under attack and it’s going to take a joint effort to protect it
- Opinion
A Brexit deal has been reached – will it work for UK science?
Researchers must now make the best of the Brexit agreement
- Opinion
Ethical challenge
Should researchers infect healthy people with Sars-CoV-2 to speed up vaccine testing?
- News
Live – Crispr wins the 2020 chemistry Nobel prize
Join us for all the latest news, views and developments on this year’s top chemistry prize
- Opinion
Chemical detective work shows its power in latest Novichok saga
Analytical chemistry’s forensic feats are astounding but so commonplace now that we’ve become blasé to them
- Opinion
Making the right call on dexamethasone
The way we do things in research has to change in life or death situations
- Opinion
Zhenan Bao: 'We just had to dream big'
The flexible electronics maven talks about science’s biggest problem, orchids and Campbell’s chicken noodle soup
- Opinion
Speaking up for UK science
A top down approach to science by Johnson’s government could make it harder for scientists’ problems to be heard
- Opinion
The hunt for a killer stalking vapers
Vaping deaths in the US became a whodunnit as chemistry was called upon to track down the culprit
- Opinion
Krzysztof Matyjaszewski: 'In science, one needs to have a vision'
The polymerisation guru on taking work on honeymoon, the softest snow in the States and his favourite restaurant
- Review
How to Grow a Human: Adventures in Who We Are and How We Are Made
Is an organ grown from stem cells human? And what rights – if any – should a it have? These are questions Philip Ball – who many might know as Chemistry World columnist – explores in his new book.
