All articles by Philip Ball – Page 3
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ResearchTentacled droplets swim with stored heat energy
Microdroplets with retractable tendrils could help researchers understand how bacteria move
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OpinionScience is political
The personal values held by scientists should influence the accolades they receive
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ResearchTiniest Turing patterns found in atomically thin bismuth
Nanoscale stripes and networks that resemble animal markings could be used to make quantum wires
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NewsRace to understand Sars-CoV-2 variants amid fears virus might evade vaccines
Biochemical basis behind coronavirus variants’ success could hold key to defeating them
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OpinionFurin fundamentals
There’s no direct evidence for the lab leak hypothesis – and the biochemistry of the virus might not tell us much about it
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OpinionLearning the language of chemistry
Artificial intelligence works out the grammar of chemical reactions
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OpinionRewards based on priority drive unnecessary competition
The story of Crispr illustrates how a focus on patents and publications can cause good people to act in unsavoury ways
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OpinionWhen does a hydrogen bond become a covalent bond?
Ultrafast infrared spectroscopy probes the character of the short, strong bonds in HF2–
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OpinionBehind the screens of AlphaFold
Predicting protein structure doesn’t necessarily say much about function
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FeatureHow does a cell know what kind of cell it should be?
Philip Ball investigates how cells use condensed ‘blobs’ to collect the molecules involved in regulating genes
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ResearchNew ordering of elements could help find materials with promising properties
Universal sequence of elements index uses atomic radii and electronegativity to make predictions about simple compounds
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OpinionPseudoscience moving into the mainstream
Pseudoscience now has more serious consequences than a few bent spoons
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OpinionThe ethical debate around Crispr
The gene editing technique deserves its Nobel Prize, but we should continue to interrogate how it is used
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OpinionThe true value of scientific holy grails
It comes from the journey, not the goal writes Philip Ball
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ResearchSimulation says supercritical water has no hydrogen bonds
Computational approach seeks to clarify bonding confusion
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OpinionMaking light of bioluminescence
Glowing may be a side-effect of a very different original purpose