Highlights

Women in medical waiting room

Fixing medicine’s gender gap

For centuries, the default subject in medicine research and training has been the male. Julia Robinson talks to the scientists and clinicians trying to improve things for the other 51% of humanity

Women shopping for period products

How safe and sustainable are period products?

Millions of people around the world use period products every month. Bárbara Pinho finds out what their environmental footprint is and whether they carry chemicals harmful to human health

Woman moving from one table to another in a restaurant

Managing the menopause

The end of ovulation will affect almost all women, but current treatments could be improved. Rachel Brazil reports on the efforts to find a better solution

Flowers on grave

What happens to our bodies after we die?

The decay and decomposition of a human body may be unpleasant to consider, but it can be crucial in criminal justice. Rupali Dabas talks to the forensic scientists developing techniques that can sniff out the truth 

Crystal structure prediction

Crystal clear structure prediction

As the clouds clear on computational crystal structure prediction, is the technique ready to empower mainstream materials research? James Mitchell Crow reports

Topics

Chavin de Huantar

Snuff tube residues push back date of oldest hallucinogen use in Peruvian Andes

2025-05-16T08:30:00+01:00By

Chemical analysis reveals traces of a number of psychoactive compounds thought to have been used to secure leaders’ status

After-school club students in Chicago discover promising bioactive compound via goose droppings

Chicago antibiotic discovery lab engages middle school students from underrepresented communities in hands-on research

Chemists use AI to uncover pigments used on Berlin Wall murals

Researchers hope work will help to preserve this art

Teaching enzymes new reactions through genetic code expansion and directed evolution

Anthony Green’s research group at the University of Manchester, UK, reengineers enzymes to have catalytic functions beyond those found in nature

Structures

Filter paper simplifies squaramide synthesis

Capillary-driven flow distributes reagents evenly

Seed oil-based polymer should survive a day in the rain but degrade within years in the sea

Researchers create polyesteramides from brassylic acid and explore their potential as a replacement for polyethylene

Paul Anastas: ‘I’m proudest of being part of a global green chemistry community’

The father of green chemistry on his love of the environment, striving for unattainable perfection and breathing life into an old town library

Redox reactions ‘mine’ old fluorescent light bulbs for europium

In just three simple steps rare earth element can be recovered, avoiding ‘ecologically devastating’ mining

EU flag

ERC increases funding offer to support scientists moving to Europe

Move is part of global efforts to attract researchers dismayed by the funding chaos in the US

Bidding at an auction

Eight companies are selling authorships of UK ‘design patents’

Majority of registrations sold go to Indian researchers to pad CVs and bolster promotion chances 

Universities and academic groups join forces to fend off Trump’s attacks

Legal actions are thwarting White House attempts to pull funding from top research universities and terminate international student visas

Under legal pressure American Chemical Society ends diversity programme

The society is replacing its 30-year-old Scholars Program for minorities with a larger one that does not consider race

Materials scientist’s death at 47 from brain haemorrhage highlights long hours culture in China

Liu Yongfeng’s death isn’t the first instance of a Chinese academic with a heavy workload dying young