In 2020, science news was dominated by COVID and vaccine development. In many ways, 2021 has been little different, but away from the virus we’re now overly familiar with there were plenty of other chemistry-related news stories. This graphic highlights a selection of them – see below for more details as well as links to related articles and studies.
On this day a year ago, the Alpha variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus was designated a variant of concern. The final graphic in the #ChemVsCOVID series with the Royal Society of Chemistry looks at how variants are tracked and what causes the differences between them.
This year marks 90 years since the discovery of deuterium, a stable isotope of hydrogen. In this month’s edition of Periodic Graphics in Chemical & Engineering News, we look at how deuterium’s properties differ from those of hydrogen and investigate some of deuterium’s applications. View the full graphic on the C&EN site.
Surgery has become a lot more comfortable since the first demonstrations of ether anaesthesia in the 1840s. In October’s edition of Periodic Graphics in Chemical & Engineering News, we looked at the different types of anaesthesia, the compounds involved, and what we know about how they work. Click through to the C&EN site to view the full graphic.
On this day a year ago, the UK started its piloting of mass testing in the city of Liverpool using lateral flow tests. The latest graphic in the #ChemVsCOVID series with the Royal Society of Chemistry looks at how these tests work, and how accurate are they compared to the standard PCR tests that are usually used for testing.
Children have been playing with Play-Doh for 65 years. Hasbro closely guards the exact ingredients of commercial Play-Doh, but in the September edition of Periodic Graphics in Chemical & Engineering News we looked at the key chemical components that make the material act the way it does. See the full graphic on the C&EN site.