Chemistry news

• Rudolph Marcus, Who Illuminated Electrochemical Processes, Dies at 102

  17-07-2026 19:56 via nytimes.com
  He received a 1992 Nobel Prize for developing a theory that explained fundamental processes behind photosynthesis, respiration, oxidation and even how fireflies produce light.
  
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• Nobel-Winning U.S. Chemist Omar Yaghi Will Move to China to Lead A.I. Institute

  09-07-2026 23:17 via nytimes.com
  Omar Yaghi of the University of California, Berkeley, will head an initiative to apply artificial intelligence to the discovery of new materials.
  
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• The Fast-Changing Chemistry of New, Dangerous Drugs

  08-04-2026 22:34 via nytimes.com
  Today’s illicit chemists can quickly cook up drugs far more dangerous than fentanyl.
  
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• Inside a One-Man Workshop for Ultrapotent Drugs

  08-04-2026 22:33 via nytimes.com
  Times reporters were given access to a small operation on the frontier of illicit drugs.
  
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• Uncovering the World’s Newest and Deadliest Drugs

  31-03-2026 11:00 via nytimes.com
  
  Overdose rates in the United States have surged with the emergence of new synthetic drugs. Matt Richtel reports from a lab in Pennsylvania where scientists are identifying new drug molecules that toxicology reports can’t detect.
  
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• How the Internet Became the ‘Cookbook’ of the Drug Trade

  31-03-2026 11:00 via nytimes.com
  A baffling overdose death took investigators to the frontier of ultra-potent synthetic drugs. The clues were hauntingly familiar.
  
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• Edith Flanigen, Award-Winning Research Chemist, Dies at 96

  24-01-2026 18:25 via nytimes.com
  She and her staff at Union Carbide created synthetic materials that improved various industrial processes, including purifying water. She also developed a way to make emeralds.
  
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• Louis E. Brus, Nobel Laureate Who Illuminated the Nanoworld, Dies at 82

  23-01-2026 20:42 via nytimes.com
  He accidentally created some of the first quantum dots, tiny semiconductors that now power many electronics.
  
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• Ron Robinson, Chemist For BeautyStat and Rhode, Knows Skin

  02-11-2025 11:00 via nytimes.com
  Ron Robinson, founder of the BeautyStat brand and a cosmetic chemist behind Hailey Bieber’s Rhode line, has been formulating products for 35 years.
  
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• Nobel Prizes This Year Offer Three Cheers for Slow Science

  10-10-2025 00:35 via nytimes.com
  The scientific Nobels announced this week — in Physiology or Medicine, Physics and Chemistry — honored achievements rooted in fundamental research from decades ago.
  
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• Darleane Hoffman, Innovator in Nuclear Chemistry, Dies at 98

  09-10-2025 21:25 via nytimes.com
  Hailed as one of the 50 most important women in science, she found ways to study rare radioactive isotopes and advanced the understanding of nuclear fission.
  
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• Nobel Prize in Chemistry Awarded to Architects of Metal-Organic Frameworks

  08-10-2025 19:25 via nytimes.com
  The prize was awarded to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar Yaghi for the development of an architecture that some chemists compare with a molecular sponge.
  
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• El Premio Nobel de Química es otorgado a los creadores de las estructuras metalorgánicas

  08-10-2025 16:56 via nytimes.com
  El galardón fue otorgado el miércoles a Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson y Omar Yaghi por el desarrollo de un nuevo tipo de arquitectura molecular.
  
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• What a Phosphine Signal in a Brown Dwarf’s Clouds Means for the Search for Life

  02-10-2025 20:30 via nytimes.com
  The detection of the molecule phosphine in a brown dwarf’s atmosphere may help astronomers in their search for life elsewhere in the Milky Way.
  
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• Una explosión espacial en capas podría ser un nuevo tipo de supernova

  21-08-2025 02:33 via nytimes.com
  La inusual explosión desprendió las capas internas de una estrella moribunda y ofreció pistas sobre cómo se forjaron los elementos que componen la vida en la Tierra.
  
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• Onionlike Space Explosion May Be a New Type of Supernova

  20-08-2025 17:00 via nytimes.com
  The rare blast peeled back the inner layers of a dying star, offering clues to how the elements that make up life on Earth were forged.
  
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• Edward Anders, Who Duped Nazis and Illuminated the Cosmos, Dies at 98

  21-06-2025 01:45 via nytimes.com
  His research unraveled mysteries about the solar system and the demise of the dinosaurs. In retirement, he turned his attention to the Holocaust.
  
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• Book Review: ‘The Maverick’s Museum,‘ by Blake Gopnik

  12-05-2025 18:06 via nytimes.com
  In “The Maverick’s Museum,” Blake Gopnik presents the contradictory, intriguing, infuriating man behind the Barnes Collection.
  
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• A Decade-Long Search for a Battery That Can End the Gasoline Era

  09-05-2025 15:00 via nytimes.com
  Can a small Massachusetts start-up perfect a battery that would make electric vehicles cheaper and more convenient than conventional cars?
  
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• The Return of the Great American Stomachache

  09-04-2025 11:01 via nytimes.com
  
  If Trump removes too many precautions, there’s a real chance that we’ll rediscover how dangerous a less regulated food system can be.
  
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• Los Angeles Wildfires Leave Residents Worried About Contaminated Soil

  10-03-2025 10:00 via nytimes.com
  
  Federal agencies have removed topsoil from burned areas but will not test it for contaminants. So scientists and residents are testing fire-affected properties themselves.
  
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• Las hojas de té pueden eliminar el plomo del agua, según un estudio

  05-03-2025 17:56 via nytimes.com
  
  Los investigadores descubrieron que los compuestos de las hojas de té negro y verde actuaban como “velcro” en las moléculas de plomo.
  
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• Tea Leaves Can Steep Away Lead, Study Finds

  28-02-2025 19:03 via nytimes.com
  
  Researchers found that compounds in black and green tea leaves acted like “little Velcro” hooks on lead molecules.
  
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• Una misión para curar a los ‘monstruos’ que nos dieron el Ozempic

  22-02-2025 11:02 via nytimes.com
  
  Tras años en la industria farmacéutica, un químico cambió de rumbo para ayudar a salvar a los monstruos de Gila, la especie que hizo posible el popular fármaco para adelgazar.
  
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• On a Mission to Heal Gila Monsters

  16-02-2025 11:00 via nytimes.com
  
  After years in Big Pharma, a chemist pivoted to help save the species that made Ozempic possible.
  
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• At Hillmantok, a Digital H.B.C.U., Class Is in Session

  05-02-2025 11:01 via nytimes.com
  
  A video welcoming students to Leah Barlow’s African American studies course inspired a virtual university of free TikTok lectures from Black academics and experts.
  
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• La receta perfecta de ‘cacio e pepe’, según la ciencia

  27-01-2025 11:02 via nytimes.com
  
  En un nuevo estudio, un grupo de científicos italianos afirma haber “optimizado científicamente” este plato italiano añadiendo un ingrediente.
  
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• The Perfect Cacio e Pepe Recipe, According to Science

  24-01-2025 16:59 via nytimes.com
  
  Italian scientists have drawn from thermodynamic principles to prevent a famous pasta from turning into a gooey mess.
  
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• Martin Karplus, Chemist Who Made Early Computers a Tool, Dies at 94

  13-01-2025 21:28 via nytimes.com
  
  Proving skeptics wrong, he shared a Nobel Prize in 2013 for using computers to better understand chemical reactions and biological processes.
  
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• J. Fraser Stoddart, Who Developed Microscopic Machines, Dies at 82

  11-01-2025 19:47 via nytimes.com
  
  He grew up playing with model construction sets. As an adult, he tinkered with molecules instead, creating nanomachines and winning a Nobel Prize.
  
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• Los cárteles en México reclutan estudiantes de química para fabricar fentanilo

  01-12-2024 06:30 via nytimes.com
  
  Los grupos delictivos convierten los campus universitarios mexicanos en centros de reclutamiento, atrayendo a estudiantes de química con grandes ganancias.
  
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• Mexican Cartels Lure Chemistry Students to Make Fentanyl

  01-12-2024 06:01 via nytimes.com
  
  Criminals turn college campuses into recruitment hubs, recruiting chemistry students in Mexico with big paydays.
  
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• Chemist Identifies Mystery ‘Blobs’ Washing Up in Newfoundland

  14-11-2024 19:55 via nytimes.com
  
  A researcher thinks he has knows what has been come ashore on miles of beaches. Canada’s environmental agency says it is still looking into it.
  
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• Reinventing Concrete, the Ancient Roman Way

  19-10-2024 09:00 via nytimes.com
  
  By learning the secrets of 2,000-year-old cement, researchers are trying to devise greener, more durable modern options.
  
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• David Baker, Demis Hassabis y John Jumper reciben el Premio Nobel de Química

  09-10-2024 15:55 via nytimes.com
  
  El Nobel, concedido a David Baker, de la Universidad de Washington, y a Demis Hassabis y John Jumper, de Google DeepMind, es el segundo de esta semana que involucra la inteligencia artificial.
  
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• Nobel Prize in Chemistry Goes to 3 Scientists for Predicting and Creating Proteins

  09-10-2024 13:35 via nytimes.com
  
  The Nobel, awarded to David Baker of the University of Washington and Demis Hassabis and John M. Jumper of Google DeepMind, is the second this week to involve artificial intelligence.
  
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• Chemistry Nobel Prize Recognizes Three Protein Researchers

  09-10-2024 13:02 via nytimes.com
  
  Demis Hassabis and John M. Jumper were part of a Google DeepMind team whose A.I. technology predicts protein shapes. The University of Washington’s David Baker designed “a new protein that was unlike any other,” the Nobel committee said.
  
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• Nobel Prize in Chemistry Is Awarded to 3 Scientists for Work With Proteins

  09-10-2024 12:17 via nytimes.com
  
  Demis Hassabis and John M. Jumper were part of a Google DeepMind team whose A.I. technology predicts protein shapes. David Baker designed “a new protein that was unlike any other,” the committee said.
  
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• The U.S. Lost the Battery Race to China. Can It Make a Comeback?

  23-09-2024 21:00 via nytimes.com
  
  The cutting edge of American battery technology is rusty.
  
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• Could Altering Ocean Chemistry Help Slow Global Warming?

  23-09-2024 09:00 via nytimes.com
  
  By tweaking the chemistry of rivers and oceans, humans could remove billions of tons of carbon dioxide from the air. But huge challenges loom.
  
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• With Purple Gold and Bouncy Metal, a Canadian Chemist Shines on YouTube

  17-08-2024 11:01 via nytimes.com
  
  Disillusioned with grad school, Nigel Braun dropped out to film chemistry videos in his parents’ garage in Montreal. Then millions began viewing his whimsical and occasionally dangerous experiments.
  
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• The Beginning of the End for PFAS, or ‘Forever Chemicals’

  22-04-2024 12:36 via nytimes.com
  
  To reduce the risk PFAS pose, we need far more comprehensive mandates that test, monitor and limit the entire class of chemicals.
  
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• We Regulate a Tiny Fraction of the 12,000 ‘Forever Chemicals.’ There’s a Better Way.

  21-04-2024 15:00 via nytimes.com
  
  To reduce the risk PFAS post, we need far more comprehensive mandates that test, monitor and limit the entire class of chemicals.
  
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• Frank Popoff, Who Sought to Lead a Friendlier Dow Chemical, Dies at 88

  06-03-2024 00:15 via nytimes.com
  
  As chief executive, he pushed a company known for Agent Orange, napalm and chlorine to undo its confrontational reputation and promote environmental sustainability.
  
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• Polluted Flowers Smell Less Sweet to Pollinators, Study Finds

  08-02-2024 20:00 via nytimes.com
  The research, involving primroses and hawk moths, suggests that air pollution could be interfering with plant reproduction.
  
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• A Shape-Shifting Plastic With a Flexible Future

  02-02-2024 13:21 via nytimes.com
  The material can be tempered into different shapes — like steel in the hands of a blacksmith — and could someday transform space travel, recycling and more.
  
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• Milk. Lemon. Salt? An American’s Tea Recipe Causes a Stir in UK.

  24-01-2024 19:03 via nytimes.com
  An American chemistry professor has a surprising thought about how to make the best cup of tea: Add a pinch of salt. Not everyone in Britain is eager to embrace the idea.
  
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• The Mystery of the Coin That Shouldn’t Exist

  07-01-2024 11:01 via nytimes.com
  Scientists recently analyzed a Peruvian 10-cent piece with an unexplained origin.
  
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• Bordeaux Wine Snobs Have a Point, According to This Computer Model

  05-12-2023 15:12 via nytimes.com
  With machine learning, scientists are trying to chemically define the murky concept of terroir. The models might be useful for detecting wine fraud.
  
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• Nobel Prize in Chemistry Awarded to 3 Quantum Dots Researchers

  04-10-2023 15:48 via nytimes.com
  
  Moungi Bawendi, Louis Brus and Alexei Ekimov developed and discovered quantum dots, particles whose size governs their properties.
  
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