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A model of a haemoglobin molecule

Proteins’ shape and function are two sides of the same coin

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A new perspective on the relationship between chemistry and biology

A key has opened a locker containing papers and books

How hoarding knowledge is hurting the industry in the long run

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Sharing results that are not commercially viable would speed up research

Scientist walking through a QR code

Lab digitalisation and industry 4.0

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How technology can help us run our labs more efficiently

People on a balance

Everyone belongs in the chemical sciences

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Speaking up to make our workplaces more inclusive

Flixborough disaster

A post-Flixborough risk assessment

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In the last 50 years, attitudes to safety have improved so that first-hand experience of lab incidents is now rare

Our columnists

Philip Ball

Philip Ball is an award-winning journalist, author and broadcaster who explores the history and philosophy of chemistry

Dead fish from algal bloom

Enormous enzymes expand the limits of molecular biology

Identifying the PKZILLAs, used by algae to make toxins, stretched the capabilities of current analytical methods – and the limits of our preconceptions

Raychelle Burks

Raychelle Burks is an associate professor in the US and an award-winning science communicator and broadcaster.

Mouse and beer can

What’s lurking in your drink and drugs?

How to test illicit substances at festivals and identify the rodent in your beer

Nessa Carson

Nessa Carson is a synthetic organic research chemist based in Macclesfield, UK

A person stepping from a large black arrow onto a path made up of colourful arrows pointing in different directions

Working in the chemical industries, plural

Despite often being presented as a monolith, there’s a huge variety of activities, working practices and reaction scales across industrial research

Chemjobber is a US-based industry insider, telling tales of tank reactors and organic obstacles

A stack of papers and books on a desk in an office

The power of a printed chart

Even in this online era, some things are still best kept on paper

Derek Lowe is a medicinal chemist in the US, sharing wit and wisdom from a life spent in preclinical drug discovery

Man walking on tightrope

Being wrong is almost inevitable

On the tightrope of expressing your opinion, you always risk looking a fool

Alice Motion

Alice Motion is an associate professor in Australia interested in citizen science, public outreach and education

Group picture

The science education programme partnering with people in prison

Think Like a Scientist focuses on empowering students

Chris Nawrat (aka BRSM)

Chris Nawrat (aka BRSM) is a process chemist at a major pharmaceutical company in the US

The chemical structure of (–)-biploaride D

(–)-Bipolarolide D

A rare example of a [6 + 2]-cycloaddition

Vanessa Seifert

Vanessa Seifert explores philosophical issues from the novel perspective of chemistry

The Thinker on books

How much science should there be in philosophy?

A debate about metaphysics that’s crucial to how we understand the world

Research landscape

A cartoon of a young female scientist carrying a mortar board that is also a compass

A holistic approach to success

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Three activities that helped me to thrive in academia and beyond

A key has opened a locker containing papers and books

How hoarding knowledge is hurting the industry in the long run

By

Sharing results that are not commercially viable would speed up research

The striking truth

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Better pay can benefit the whole research enterprise

Breaking the cycle of teach, test, forget

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A focus on exams makes it harder for students to cultivate a deep understanding of their subject

Holes in the ‘holey graphyne’ story

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The challenges – and importance – of questioning published results

Harnessing fear and greed for innovation

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Many powerful emotions motivate us in the search for new knowledge

UK researchers need to know academic freedom is safe from political interference

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The UK science secretary’s recent statements are causing alarm in the research community

Industry landscape

Fountain pen nib, writing

Letters: September 2024

2024-09-03T13:30:00+01:00By

Readers discuss antidepressants, industrial disasters and what Humphry Davy inhaled

Profiles

Blavatnik awards winner

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

Carol Robinson

Carol Robinson: ‘I really wanted to wave the flag about technicians’

The mass spectrometry trailblazer on leaving school at 16 and waving the flag for technicians

Jordan Riddle sits outside on a low wall

The early-career engineer showcasing women in the chemical industry

Jordan Riddle explains how embracing change and extra curricular activities has benefited her work in chemical production

The early-career engineer showcasing women in the chemical industry

Jordan Riddle explains how embracing change and extra curricular activities has benefited her work in chemical production

Ijeoma Uchegbu: ‘My approach is always to be kind’

The innovative nanoscientist on the power of kindness and how she scrubbed eugenicists from campus buildings

Emmeline Edwards: ‘I connect the dots’

The Haitian-American neurochemist on her journey from Haiti to the US as a teenager, and her journey from chemistry to brain science

Gregory Robinson: ‘We were members of the last generation to attend segregated schools’

The synthetic inorganic chemist on attending a segregated school in Alabama, balancing football and chemistry, and tennis as a muse

How Rainbow Lo is accelerating innovation

Impatient for change, she joined Paris-based sustainable ‘deep tech’ agency Hello Tomorrow