All articles by James Urquhart
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ResearchFluorspar to fluorine chemicals without going via hazardous hydrogen fluoride
Safer way to turn calcium fluoride mineral into valuable industrial materials
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ResearchMineral-extracting microorganism could solve early Earth’s nitrogen-fixing mystery
Ancient microorganisms could have extracted vital nitrogen compounds using molybdenum mined from rocks
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ResearchWater-splitting reaction reversal could extract lithium more sustainably and cheaply
Environmentally-friendly electrochemistry could cut extraction costs by 40%
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ResearchAI trained on photos of salt ‘stains’ can predict their chemical composition
Imaging could become a simple way to identify inorganic salt crystals on other planets
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ResearchGlassy gel superpolymer is sticky and can self-heal but is also hard yet stretchy
New class of polymer owes its properties to ionic liquid solvent
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ResearchRecycled construction waste could cut cement and steel’s carbon footprint
Cement can be regenerated during steel recycling in an electric arc furnace
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ResearchGenetic engineering feat coaxes yeast to produce valuable vaccine compound
Yeast could head off supply fears for vaccines ingredient by replacing soapbark tree as source of adjuvant
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ResearchPlaying with plastic toy building bricks creates microplastic and nanoplastic pollution
Effects of such microscopic plastic particle on health is unknown but scientists urge caution – and more research
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ResearchAI predicts vape flavours can break down into potentially harmful compounds when heated
Flavours may decompose into harmful carbonyls, alkenes and aromatics when heated
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ResearchLight-driven enzyme engineered and repurposed to catalyse unnatural reaction
Directed evolution used to create photoenzyme that can perform new-to-nature radical cyclisation
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ResearchCross-coupling technique cracks open alcohols for chemical synthesis
A new alcohol–alcohol cross coupling reaction could become a powerful new tool for synthetic chemists
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ResearchCanadian oil tar sands operations emit far more pollution than reported
Analysis of all types of organic pollution reveals emissions underreported by as much as 6300%
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ResearchPhotochemistry converts dry-cleaning solvent waste into useful chemicals
One-pot reaction offers way to upcycle industrial solvent waste
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ResearchBiocatalysis breakthrough enables synthesis of lactam building blocks for drugs
Enzymatic cyclisation of oxazolone reagents offers a cheap and simple route to important antibiotic precursor
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ResearchDNA-damaging device could make mutant discovery safer and simpler
Cool microplasma jets create a stream of radicals that induce mutations
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ResearchAssembly theory puts chemistry centre stage to explain molecular complexity and life’s origins
Concept that attempts to join physics and biology via chemistry met with interest but also harsh criticism
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ResearchCryo-EM scaffold supports imaging of small proteins previously tricky to study
Improved understanding of the structure of small proteins could aid drug designers
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ResearchStrings 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
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ResearchUnexpected reactivity of silica places question mark over safety of food additives
Discovery that silica particles – thought to be inert – can oxidise thiols requires further investigation
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ResearchProtein folding stability set to be unravelled on a massive scale
Technique can analyse a million protein sequences at a time to provide data for machine learning models