Research
Chatbot developers hope to make computational chemistry more accessible
AutoSolvateWeb could help undergraduates upwards simulate solvation
‘A battle of the scientific experts’: PFAS research at centre of Texas farms lawsuit contested
Long-chain alkanes preserved in Martian mudstone
Collective coupling strength must be larger than previously thought to guarantee delocalised polaritons
Chemistry courses to be shut down at the University of Bradford
Mercury-free electrochemical lithium isotope separation could fuel a fusion future
In depth
Green light for UK carbon capture projects – but will they deliver?
The country is already behind on targets to capture carbon dioxide and is playing catch up
PFAS in fertilisers blamed for killing livestock in Texas and wreaking havoc
Exceptionally high levels of ‘forever chemicals’ discovered in soil, water and dead animals
Why are public health experts calling for new warnings on sugar-free slushies?
Reports of children falling ill have led to calls for public health advice to be updated
What on earth is going on with research funding in the US?
Untangling what the Trump administration’s directives and executive orders mean for federally funded science
Explainer: what is ricin?
The poison found in castor beans so deadly a single molecule can kill a cell
Explainer: Why athletes are taking sodium bicarbonate supplements
Why runners are taking pills containing a common kitchen ingredient
Robot ramps up accuracy of AI salt stain identifier
Database with three times as many images as before boosts accuracy of technique to almost 99%
AI inspired by AlphaFold can predict chromatin structures found in chromosomes
System could help unravel how genome folding influences genes
Publishers need to provide guidelines on use of AI in research, says Wiley
Feedback from almost 5000 researchers helped inform publishing giant’s report
‘Chemistry will no longer be an exclusive club’: how AI is changing Omar Yaghi’s work
UC Berkeley’s reticular chemistry pioneer tells us about his new institute using AI to tackle climate change
AI can tell Scottish and American whiskies apart
Machine-learning method identifies prominent aromas
GPT-based AI tool predicts inorganic crystal structures
CrystaLLM uses GPT to arrange atoms, turning text-based data into numerical tokens
AlphaFold developer says AI is just getting started in science
Chemistry Nobel laureate John Jumper says latest version of AlphaFold is making good progress on interactions between molecules and protein
Large language models are better than humans at answering chemistry questions
AI models outperform human chemists in every topic area. But are they really better chemists?
Worldwide
Eight workers dead in Indian munitions factory explosion
Seven others injured during incident at state-owned explosives plant
Scientific freedom lacking in Africa, Unesco finds
Africa represents 12.5% of world’s population but less than 1% of its research output
Working towards an Australian First Nations periodic table
Zahra Khan finds out how a team of scholars is working with the Gadigal to develop a chart that celebrates Indigenous knowledge of the chemical elements
Chemistry courses to be shut down at the University of Bradford
Closures are part of a trend seen across UK universities
Science silenced? Leaked EPA plan would dissolve its scientific research arm
Proposal would see 50–75% of employees fired and the rest potentially relocated
Fourteen universities may have manipulated institutional rankings, analysis finds
Massive increase in publication rates could point to unethical behaviour such as gift authorship
US regulatory chief’s resignation raises alarms in biotech industry
FDA vaccines and biologicals centre director, Peter Marks, clashed with health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr
Science silenced? Leaked EPA plan would dissolve its scientific research arm
Proposal would see 50–75% of employees fired and the rest potentially relocated
Europe offers refuge to America’s researchers
Schemes seek to attract top scientific talent from the US as Trump cuts research funding, attacks universities
Bill to ban all Chinese nationals from receiving US student visas causes alarm
US reviews chemical incident prevention planning rules
Fears China, Russia are trying to poach fired US government scientists
American Chemical Society diversity programme comes under attack
Green light for UK carbon capture projects – but will they deliver?
New Trump tariffs worry North American chemical industries
Chevron and BP cutting thousands of jobs
Green light for UK carbon capture projects – but will they deliver?
The country is already behind on targets to capture carbon dioxide and is playing catch up
Carbon capture COF shows impressive ability to survive hundreds of cycles
Fast take-up and low regeneration temperatures make direct air capture promising
Nobel prize-winning scientists mobilise for Kamala Harris
82 Nobel laureates warn of the threat Donald Trump poses to science, climate and living standards
Carbon capture making slow progress in UK and Europe
Government funding welcomed, but issues over strategy and CO2 purity persist
Analysis reveals ethnic minority applicants’ grant success rates still lower
Engineering and physical sciences’ review panels in UK more likely to award white researchers
American Chemical Society diversity programme comes under attack
Lawsuit argues that ACS’ Scholars Program discriminates against white and Asian applicants
New year honours recognise chemists’ services to inclusion and diversity
Services to biogeochemistry, science in government, and science and technology also rewarded in annual list
Nobel prize winners far more likely to come from wealthy families highlighting inequality in the sciences
Winners today come, on average, from less wealthy families than when the prize began but there is still a long way to go
Women stay in science far longer than thought, study of OECD countries suggests
Indian scheme to provide 300 research grants for women
Next president of the Royal Society of Chemistry will be Robert Mokaya
Gender equality report highlights progress and challenges for women in research
Humphry Davy’s whole story – warts and all – deserves to be told