Volcanic sulfur dioxide linked to oxygen level rise in Earth’s early atmosphere
Study predicts 4.3% of oxygen in atmosphere today comes from breakdown of sulfur dioxide
Maillard reaction helps store carbon on the seafloor
Reaction that gives browned food its flavour could play crucial but underappreciated role in the ocean carbon cycle
First high-pressure synthesis of iron polymorph found at centre of Earth
Recreation of ε-iron backs up theories on why seismic waves travel faster pole-to-pole following an earthquake
Acidic proton transfer inhibited on gas-phase ice nanoparticles
Fundamental findings about nitric acid dissociation will feed into atmospheric research on ozone depletion
Photophysical oxidation plays newly discovered role in atmospheric chemistry
Process is likely to be a general mechanism in tropospheric chemistry, especially at low altitudes
Recreation of Ediacaran ‘death masks’ offers chemical explanation for fossils’ formation
Discovery offers insight into why so many soft-bodied organisms were preserved during that period
Strings that draw-up brine could help supply the world with lithium
Concept takes lithium extraction into the third dimension away from cumbersome, slow pools of brine
Organocatalyst deconstructs mixed plastic waste into monomers
Step towards closed-loop recycling
Ocean lithium concentrations declined sevenfold over 150 million years
The concentration of lithium in seawater, previously assumed constant, could be related to geologic and climate effects
Lithium discovery in US volcano could be biggest deposit ever found
Find could point to new ways to prospect for material in high demand for batteries.
Liquid water could have carved Mars’ famous gullies
CO2 sublimation could have raised atmospheric pressure enough for liquid water to form
Burning plastic waste for energy at odds with carbon neutrality
Forecast says carbon dioxide emissions from plastic waste-to-energy conversion will exceed those from fossil fuels by middle of the century
Ingredient for life detected in icy plume from Saturn’s moon Enceladus
First discovery of phosphorus in an ocean beyond Earth reveals that the bio-essential element may be abundant on the moon
Features
Fighting algal blooms with chemistry
The hunt for natural hydrogen reserves
The race to build a base on the moon
The lithium rush
The complex chemistry of making paper
The long future of nuclear waste
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Life might be able to prosper in sulfuric acid clouds of Venus
Nucleic acid bases found to be stable in conditions found in the planet’s atmosphere
Cheaper method to capture carbon dioxide could shake up industry
Guanidinium sulfate-based clathrate salt can cage the gas cheaply and release it easily
Microbial degradation offers way to tackle chlorinated PFAS in wastewater
Findings shed light on the environmental fate of chlorinated PFAS compounds and how to design biodegradable, less toxic alternatives
Saturn’s rings found to be a youthful, recent addition to the planet
Nasa’s Cassini probe reveals dust and ice around the planet is only a few hundred million years old
Recycling wind turbine blades by breaking them down into their constituent chemicals
Thermoset plastics that normally end up in landfill can be selectively depolymerised using a ruthenium catalyst
Waste gases from steelmaking repurposed to prepare pharmaceuticals
Amide-based drug molecules, including paracetamol and vorinostat, made using carbon-rich emissions
Benin bronzes are made of German brass
Discovery casts new light on the west African artworks, which Nigeria has asked colonial countries to return
Moon still holds surprises as vast amounts of water found in glass beads in lunar soil
Lunar water formed by the solar wind could one day aid exploration of the moon
Unexplained increases in five atmospheric CFCs raise concerns
Emissions increased 2.6-fold between 2010 and 2020
RNA building block uracil recovered from near-Earth asteroid Ryugu
Japanese mission returns pristine sample to bolster idea that prebiotic chemicals could have been delivered by meteorites
Electrochemistry offers new way to tackle rising carbon dioxide – extract it from seawater
New method has advantages over existing direct air capture systems