Endlessly recyclable plastics could fix our waste crisis

Untold amounts of plastic waste is polluting our land and seas. Now, we’re using chemical tricks to design infinitely and easily recyclable materials Technology 2 March 2022 By Katharine Sanderson Graham Carter One thing chemists do superbly is make bonds between atoms. We are now wading through the consequences of that success: plastic waste that … Read more

The ‘Powerhouse of The Cell’ Could Be Secretly Helping Mammal Eyes Process Light

For you to read this article, the eyes have to perform quite the task – light enters the cornea and travels through the pupil and lens to the retina at the back, where light-sensitive cells such as cones and rods then pass things on to the brain via electrical signals in the optic nerve.   … Read more

Automated chemistry: The machines that can discover new drugs

Making new molecules to treat disease has relied upon the painstaking art of synthetic chemistry, but now we’re developing robots that could do it all for us Technology 2 March 2022 By Katharine Sanderson Graham Carter Perhaps the most storied aspect of modern chemistry is total synthesis. This is the craft of taking simple molecules … Read more

Traces of an Ancient Human Culture From 40,000 Years Ago Unearthed in China

Scientists discovered remnants of an Old Stone Age culture, less than 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of Beijing, where ancient hominins used a reddish pigment called ochre and crafted tiny, blade-like tools from stone.   The archaeological site, called Xiamabei, offers a rare glimpse into the life of Homo sapiens and now-extinct human relatives who inhabited the region some … Read more

Artificial leaves: Bionic photosynthesis as good as the real thing

Converting sunlight into liquid fuel through artificial photosynthesis would be a huge environmental victory – and the latest prototypes look surprisingly effective Technology 2 March 2022 By Katharine Sanderson Graham Carter Our insatiable appetite for energy has got us into a mess, with the burning of fossil fuels releasing greenhouse gases that are heating the … Read more

The rise of the molecular machines set to make new wonder materials

Machines made of atoms are being used to sew together new materials molecule by molecule, which could open the floodgates to all manner of innovation Technology 2 March 2022 By Katharine Sanderson   Graham Carter Simple molecular machines have existed for about two decades. Early examples include molecular wheels that could move along an axle, … Read more

OneWeb satellites unlikely to launch on Russian rocket after ultimatum

UK officials refused to sell shares in satellite firm OneWeb in response to demands by Russia, and the company says it is focusing on staff safety at the launchpad in Kazakhstan Space 2 March 2022 By Jonathan O’Callaghan A Soyuz rocket carrying OneWeb satellites at the Baikonur Cosmodrome Roscosmos Press OfficeTASS via Getty Images The … Read more

Octopuses gather at warm deep-sea site because it speeds up egg hatching

Thousands of brooding octopus mothers gather at a spot 3200 metres deep off the coast of California because warmer water there dramatically reduces hatching times Life 2 March 2022 By Michael Le Page A cluster of octopuses at Davidson Seamount off the coast of California Ocean Exploration Trust/NOAA Thousands of octopus mothers lay and tend … Read more