Generations of biochemistry students have been taught that the Kreb’s cycle, or tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, serves a dual purpose: to produce energy for cells and to form the fundamental components for growth. However, researchers are uncovering that metabolic pathways – including well-established ones like the TCA cycle – can actually be assembled in diverse […]

**Moses Gomberg: Trailblazer of Radical Organic Chemistry** Moses Gomberg, celebrated as the ‘father of radical organic chemistry,’ may have unknowingly made a revolutionary discovery years ahead of his formal announcement of organic free radicals in 1900. Chemists revisiting and replicating Gomberg’s preliminary experiments suggest that his results might have offered convincing proof of trivalent carbon’s […]

**Comprehending Atoms: From Dalton to Quantum Mechanics** In the late 1800s, a pupil of the English chemist Henry Enfield Roscoe characterized atoms as “circular pieces of wood created by Mr. Dalton,” alluding to the illustrative models of John Dalton’s atomic theory. Dalton’s idea, demonstrated in his 1808 publication “A New System of Chemical Philosophy,” asserted […]

As global initiatives to lower carbon emissions escalate, carbon capture methodologies have emerged as key components in climate change abatement plans. Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement (OAE), an innovative carbon capture strategy, seeks to augment ocean alkalinity to elevate its capacity for absorbing and storing carbon dioxide (CO2), effectively sequestering carbon over extended periods. A recent study […]

The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) is poised to enact a new policy that will limit the funding of elevated article processing charges (APCs) for leading journals by its researchers. This initiative focuses on approximately 30 esteemed journals, such as “Nature Communications,” “Cell Reports,” and “Science Advances,” as indicated by “Science.” In a similar vein, […]

Researchers in Canada, under the leadership of Eric Rivard from Alberta University, have created a novel N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligand boasting a record-setting buried volume. This ligand, incorporating N-bound trityl groups and a benzylated backbone, exhibits outstanding steric and electronic characteristics. These qualities enable it to stabilize low-coordinate complexes of gallium and lithium. Bulky ligands […]

At Queenswood School in the UK, David Boyce and his class are at the forefront of an ambitious initiative: cultivating what they hope to call the world’s largest single crystal of copper sulfate. By expanding upon a traditional school experiment, they have successfully grown a crystal weighing approximately 3kg. Nonetheless, the title for the largest […]

**US Health Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr Acts Against Artificial Food Colorants** Recently, US Health Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr has urged regulatory agencies to focus on the removal of artificial food colorants, igniting considerable debate within the food sector. These artificial colorants, frequently sourced from petroleum, are facing criticism due to their potential health risks. Kennedy’s […]

Women still experience notable underrepresentation in scientific organizations relative to their proportion in the global workforce, as pointed out by a recent report from the International Science Council, the InterAcademy Partnership, and the Standing Committee for Gender Equality in Science. The report highlights that women constitute an average of merely 19% of national academy memberships, […]

Revealing the Mysteries of the Abyss: Dark Oxygen Findings in the Clarion Clipperton Zone Revealing the Mysteries of the Abyss: Dark Oxygen Findings in the Clarion Clipperton Zone A global team captured attention in 2024 after they uncovered that the metallic nodules currently pursued by deep-sea mining companies were generating ‘dark oxygen’ in the depths […]