Here’s the weekly summary of both new chemistry research and studies that have been in the news. This week features a new perspective on the classic alkali metals & water classroom demonstration, a compound in beer that could help slow the development of neurodegenerative conditions, and more. As always, links to further articles and original research papers are provided below, as well as further studies of interest not included in the graphic.

Featured Stories

New insight into alkali metal reactions with water: [Article] [Study]

Beer chemical could slow Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s: [Article] [Study]

New process can ‘uncook’ egg white proteins: [Article] [Study]

EU plays down health risk of BPA in plastics: [Article] [Study]

Monitoring reactions at a trillionth of a second: [Article] [Study]

Notable Mentions

Volcanic cracks could have acted as ‘incubators’ for ancient DNA: [Article] [Study]

Plant-based molecule could aid clean-up of Fukushima radiation: [Article]

Nanosuit coatings allow close-up imaging of living creatures: [Article] [Study]

Generating planar chiral carbene catalysts: [Article] [Study]

Making graphene from superbenzene segments to make it a true semiconductor: [Article] [Study]

New method can change a material’s band gap by up to 200%: [Article] [Study]

Difficulty in manufacturing blue LEDs may be down to magnesium: [Article] [Study]

UV disinfection may not kill all bacteria: [Article] [Study]

Crystal structure of key protein in anxiety disorders discerned: [Article] [Study]

Thanks to @narf42 for help with this week’s links. Keep track of older ‘This Week in Chemistry’ posts on the category page, or via the #TWIChem hashtag on Twitter.

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