Artificial muscles on the move
Scientists are starting to flex their muscles by making novel materials that can contract and relax when driven by an electric, thermal, or chemical stimulus, Emma Davies reports
Green revolution
Innovations in reactors and processes promise to make the chemical industry smaller, safer and more efficient, XiaoZhi Lim reports
A sustainable economy
Over the past year, UK think-tank IPPR has been arguing that mainstream political and policy debates fail to recognise that human impacts on the environment have reached a critical stage, potentially eroding the conditions upon which socioeconomic stability is possible.
Let there be light
New methods expand the range of reactions triggered by light, but scaling up photochemical syntheses to industrial level remains an important challenge, Michael Gross reports
Double Thai disasters
Tropical storm Podul and tropical depression Kajiki hit Thailand in late August 2019, inundating northeastern provinces including Ubon Ratchathani, Khon Kaen and Roi Et for much of September.
China focus on VOCs
In pursuit of ‘blue skies,’ China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) in 2018 vowed to cut VOCs emissions by 10% by 2020.
Açaí malaria hope
Aҫaí berries in Brazil have been found to reduce the levels of parasites that cause malaria in malaria-infected mice and prolong their survival.
Mexichem to Orbia
Mexico’s Mexichem has changed its name to Orbia as part of plans to increase its focus on water, agriculture and infrastructure and decrease the focus on chemicals.
Antibiotic responsibility
By 2050, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is predicted to cause 10m deaths/year, more than obesity and all cancers combined. It is expected to cost the global economy more than $100 trillion/year in lost GDP.
Biomedical
CLIPS (Chemical LInkage of Peptides onto Scaffolds) is a methodology originally reported by Timmerman and co-workers at Pepscan (ChemBioChem, 2005, 6, 821), then developed and reported by them frequently in the literature, most recently in ACS Comb. Sci. (acscombsci.9b00081).