Engineered cyanobacteria turn carbon dioxide into petrol substitute
Strategy transforms wild photosynthetic organism into a system that could reduce humanity’s reliance on fossil fuels
Turbo-charged Crispr gene-editor can make 25 alterations in one go
Theoretically thousands of changes could be made at once using new technique
Self-threading monomer provides protection for carbon nanotubes
Strategy assembles three-component nanostructure with nanoscale precision
Selective graphene membranes could invigorate carbon capture technology
Concept shows promise as a way to sidestep the energy penalties of numerous industrial separations
Are synthetic chemists out of a job as AI meets automation?
Platform can weigh up a synthetic route, plan it and then carry out it
Shark skin study illuminates new fluorescent molecules
New family of glowing metabolites help sea bottom dwelling sharks recognise each other
Wood microfluidics carve out a niche
Teflon-coated wood devices perform as well as plastic equivalents but face some challenges before they can realise their clinical and sustainable potential
First ever synthesis of most double-bond-rich hydrocarbon
Tiny hydrocarbon with six double bonds has unrivalled ability to make complex ring systems though multiple Diels–Alder reactions
Stitched spectra distinguish over 240k elemental compositions in petroleum sample
Peak performance for mass spectrometry
Uranium isotopes in ancient grains indicate early Earth was less hellish than textbook descriptions
Mass spectrometry technique that works on tiny samples refines understanding of Earth’s first geologic eon
Research areas
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Including analysis, atoms and bonds, materials and reactions and synthesis
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Including biology and biotechnology, food, medicine and health and forensics
Push–pull radical theory finally vindicated after decades of back and forth
Solvent effect proves that captodative effect really exists after all
Why does all life use the same 20 amino acids?
Chemical properties offer an answer to why nature limits itself to so few protein building blocks
Modified metallohelices show medical potential
Post-assembly click reactions on helical metal complexes produces biological activity akin to that of the arrow poison ouabain
Mechanochemistry bypasses need for solvents in Suzuki coupling
Adding a small amount of olefin dramatically improves challenging solid-state coupling reaction
Ultraslim solar cells retain healthy efficiency
A patterned reflector on the back of a thinned-down GaAs cell traps light in the device, keeping efficiency near 20%
Self-assembling ‘buckybowls’ inspired by virus capsids
Football-like molecules could be used in drug delivery, catalysis and synthesis
Radically different OLEDs break the Aufbau principle
Organic radical-based materials could keep next generation displays from dimming over time
Sulfonated polymer kills drug-resistant microbes in minutes
New application for an existing material
Bubbly beginnings for life's first molecules
Gas bubble simulations support the idea that life began in hydrothermal vents
Moon may be millions of years older than previously calculated
Analysis of hafnium and tungsten in Apollo 17 samples suggests the moon formed 50 million years after the solar system
Corrections promise more accurate CO2 measurements from space
Improvements to cavity ring-down spectroscopy could also benefit quantum science
First movie of tumbling molecule reveals its quantum nature
Rotating rod-shaped molecule’s wavefunction recorded in 651 images
Algorithm increases certainty of stereochemical assignments in flexible molecules
Computational fitting procedure set to reinvigorate vibrational circular dichroism spectroscopy
Semi-synthetic bacteria make designer proteins
E. coli with synthetic DNA bases produce unnatural proteins that could be used as drugs
Crispr treatment reverses muscular dystrophy in mice
Upregulated gene triggers laminin-α1 protein production, reviving paralysed limbs
Research areas
Delve into research on matter, energy, earth and life. You can use these topics to personalise your email newsetters. Don't get our newsletters? Register now for free.
Including analysis, atoms and bonds, materials and reactions and synthesis
Including fuels, storage and sustainable energy
Including natural environment, climate and pollution
Including biology and biotechnology, food, medicine and health and forensics