Wild coffee perks
A wild coffee from West Africa has surprised aficionados with its outstanding taste. The narrow-leaved species, Coffea stenophylla, grows in much warmer temperatures than either Arabica or Robusta coffee, so is more resilient to climate change.
Charting the elements
In 2019, international celebrations marked the 150th anniversary of Mendeleev’s Periodic Table. Geoff Rayner-Canham is well placed to write this book; he is an inorganic chemist and lecturer with many publications to his credit. These include a textbook on inorganic chemistry, and he has also written extensively on the history of chemistry.
The power of mathematics
In this monograph, Marcus Chown provides historical perspective on the subject and offers insights into current thinking.
Pharma’s new normal
The pharmaceutical industry has not been immune to the transformative power of Covid-19, reports Katrina Megget. Read the full feature article in C&I Magazine.
Cytokine sensor
Scientists have reported preliminary results on a novel sensor to detect a surge of pro-inflammatory immune proteins. These surges, or cytokine storms, can occur in many diseases and are associated with the sickest Covid-19 patients, for example. The technology builds on earlier work to develop a wristwatch-like sweat sensor that measures levels of two proteins involved in inflammatory bowel disease flare-ups.
Spark of life
Chemists are now tantalisingly close to re-inventing in the laboratory the initial spark that led to the evolution of life on earth. Michael Gross reports. Read the full feature article in C&I Magazine.
Insulation inspiration
Plans to renovate up to 35m European buildings to improve their energy performance will be a key step towards making Europe climate neutral by 2050. Efficient insulation materials will be critical, Lou Reade reports. Read the full feature article in C&I Magazine.
Spider tunes
Scientists have translated the structure of a spider’s web into music by assigning different sound frequencies to the individual fibres. The work could have applications in the design of 3D printers as well as in cross-species communication and musical compositions. Read the full article in C&I Magazine.
Dopant detection
Ion mobility spectrometry has been harnessed to detect performance enhancing drugs in athletes’ urine samples and differentiate them from similar molecules that occur naturally in the body. The researchers, at Florida Institute of Technology, US, are also developing computational techniques to predict the structure, spectra and other characteristics of yet-to-be discovered illicit steroids.