![An image showing cyclo[18]carbon](https://d2cbg94ubxgsnp.cloudfront.net/Pictures/415x277//2/7/3/502273_indexuntitled1_212753.png)
Tyre crumb toxicology study raises questions about artificial turf
First work in vertebrates reveals developmental abnormalities in chicken embryos
Lithium-ion battery anodes recycled in next-generation energy storage devices
Researchers use in operando x-ray diffraction to probe intercalation mechanism
American football helmets could be given protective boost by elastomer
Pads made from new material outperform state-of-the-art foams in multiple impact tests
Spectroscopic biomarkers track Huntington’s disease progression
Analysis recognises biochemical changes that are unique to Huntington’s
Trigold anion is first example of strange twisted aromaticity
A blue tin–gold cluster is the first to show in-plane σ-Möbius aromaticity
Robotic system can plan and perform biosynthesis without human intervention
New strategy combines machine learning with automation and has proven itself optimising a complex biochemical pathway
Intense sound fields make mercury react with water
After nearly a century, scientists can explain why a grey cloud forms when mercury and water are sonicated
Mystery of why magic mushrooms go blue solved
Chemists reveal colourful indigo-like polymers that turn psychotropic mushrooms blue when cut
Ring of pure carbon takes on negative charge
Scientists use simulations to reveal the properties of the newest carbon allotrope
Smart contact lens can be charged up wirelessly while it’s worn
LED, antenna and printable supercapacitor built into lens without obscuring wearer’s vision
‘Ideal’ water splitting catalysts actually exist, simulations find
New computational model could accelerate the discovery of cheaper and more efficient catalysts
Engineered insulin with enhanced thermal stability inspired by fish-hunting snails
Four-disulfide insulin has similar bioactivity to native human insulin
Odd 'entropic bonds' akin to chemical ones can form between nanoparticles
Simulations finds that ’bonding’ can occur in the absence of any electronic interaction
Positron dihalides join exotic group of molecules that combine matter and antimatter
Theoretical evidence that positronic covalent bonds between halide anions would be energetically stable
Flexible glass paves the way for virtually unbreakable smartphone screens
Aluminium oxide films could find use in flexible electronics and durable batteries if manufacturing problems can be overcome
Flow synthesis produces chiral intermediate for antidepressant drug
The first solvent-free organocatalytic flow process yields the key chiral intermediate for paroxetine on a multigram-scale
High-resolution 3D printing shows promise for lab glassware
New technique that uses phase-separating resins could help in the 3D printing of reactionware
Tiny water droplets reveal minimum number of molecules to make ice
Ice as we know it ceases to exist in droplets that fall below this threshold
Gel polymer electrolyte cuts risk of battery fires
Devices made with new electrolyte continue to operate under extreme conditions
Hydrogen bonding directs designer monomers into high quality graphdiyne wires
Alkyne and oxazole groups allow each monomer to form four hydrogen bonds with its neighbours
Protons are even smaller than scientists thought, experiment reveals
The proton-radius puzzle isn’t solved just yet though
Double aromaticity found in boron analogue of metallabenzene
Boron–rhenium cluster is both σ- and π-aromatic
Total synthesis of unnatural enantiomer renews interest in quinine
Scientists hope their strategy will invigorate cinchona alkaloid-mimic catalysis
Chemists taken aback as dinitrogen found to speed up some reactions
Warnings that nitrogen should no longer be considered just an inert carrier gas
Biomimetic synthesis cultivates yellow poppy pigment
Cascade process that fuses indole with orientalin verifies biosynthesis of nudicaulins