Getting mRNA on-target
The technology behind the mRNA vaccine for Covid-19 shows huge promise for other vaccines as well as therapeutics for cancer, cardiovascular disease and immunological diseases. Now researchers have found that while the technology produces most proteins as intended, there are also some unintended immune responses. However, they also report a solution to enable the safer design of future mRNA vaccines.
Wake up and smell the cellular coffee
A coffee brewed from plant cells in a lab in Finland has been chemically appraised for its aroma and flavour and compared with conventional coffee.
Carbon nitrides are forever
An international group of scientists has discovered a near-unbreakable material that could be used in a range of applications, from coatings to solar panels and photodetectors.
AI vin-vestigates: chemists pinpoint wine origins and vintage
The geographic origins of vintage wines can be pinpointed through chemical analysis, a study shows. This was achieved with a new approach that combines machine learning and gas chromatography to identify the estate perfectly and the vintage with up to 50% accuracy.
EC lists critical medicines
The European Commission has published its first ever list of critical medicines. It includes both innovative and generic medicines for human use, covering a wide range of therapeutic areas such as painkillers and vaccines.
Graphene that reads minds
Researchers at the University of California San Diego, US, have unveiled a neural implant that peers deep into the brain from its surface. This transparent, flexible strip packed with graphene electrodes opens a new frontier in brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), offering high-resolution data on deep neural activity without invasive procedures.
Diving for uranium
Scientists at China’s Northeast Normal University (NENU) have devised an efficient way to extract uranium ions from seawater. Uranium ions could be a sustainable fuel source to help generate nuclear power as currently uranium is extracted from rocks, and ore deposits are finite.
Cefic predicts low growth for 2024
A possible 1% growth in EU27 chemical output for 2024 has been tentatively forecast by the European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic). This ‘flat to small growth’ follows what Cefic describes as a ‘challenging period’ marked by a production decline of 7.6% in 2023 and a 6.3% fall in 2022.
Concrete gets smarter with graphene
Adding graphene oxide to cement mixture makes it stronger and more viable for 3D printing, Australian researchers claim. It also imparts electrical conductivity, giving concrete the potential to be used as a smart material to detect cracks or temperature changes.
Sensor listens for pee-lution
New Zealand researchers have developed an acoustic urine sensor to help address the pollution and climate concerns of nitrogen in cows’ urine.