Our civilisation is built on chemistry, and the science has a bright future, with the launch of a new Decadal Plan that will steer the science into the future.
The Pantheon dome - made entirely out of concrete.
MatthiasKabel/wikimedia
They might only last for a fraction of a second but four new elements have finally won their place in the periodic table. The hunt is now on to find even more.
From making renewable energy practical to revolutionising farming, the chemicals industry could make a huge contribution to the environment.
The savory tastes so closely associated with Thanksgiving recall umami, which was ‘discovered’ more than 100 years ago by a Japanese chemist.
mr_t_in_dc/flickr
Cells must repair the thousands of bits of DNA damage they incur every day. These cellular mechanisms fend off cancerous tumors, and cancer researchers are working to harness their power.
Tomas Lindahl, pictured here in the lab, along with Paul Modrich and Aziz Sancar, received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry.
EPA/FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA
Kum Kum Khanna, Queensland Institute of Medical Research; Amanda L Bain, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, and Janelle L Harris, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute
The recipients of this year’s Nobel Prize for Chemistry showed that DNA is far from static. Rather, it is bombarded by damaging forces, but our bodies know how to repair these precious strands.
1964 poster: ‘Prevent Malaria and Take Care of People’s Health.’
Painted by Wu Hao 吴昊
The 2015 Nobel Prize for Medicine went partly for research done during the Chinese Cultural Revolution based on traditional Chinese medicine. Here’s the story of Project 523.
Never before has a Nobel gone to an expert in traditional Chinese medicine.
bomb_bao/flickr
The first Chinese Nobel Prize in medicine was awarded for work based on traditional Chinese medicine. Will traditional medical knowledge now share the spotlight with evidence-based medicine?
A New Delhi laborer’s dirtied hands after work in a shoe factory.
Adnan Abidi/Reuters
Regulations are catching up with toxic chemicals we’re exposed to as products’ end users. But workers in un- or underregulated places are still at risk, even from chemicals designed to be “green.”
A forensic scientist investigating one of the final and less smelly stages of decomposition in cattle.
Anil1956/wikipedia
The smell of death is easily recognised but not fully understood. Identifying the compounds behind it could lead to a number of improvements in forensics, including better trained cadaver dogs.