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Chemistry in the News Materials Chemistry

The chemistry of the coronation crowns

As England celebrates the coronation of King Charles III this weekend, the crowns will be the centre of attention. Combined, the three crowns used in the ceremony contain almost 6,000 gemstones — this graphic takes a look at their chemical compositions.

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Chemistry in the News Year in Review

The year in chemistry: 2022’s biggest chemistry stories

For the first time since the onset of the pandemic, COVID’s domination of the science news cycle waned in 2022. The focus increasingly shifted to the longer-term crisis we face: that of climate change and taking steps to make components of our modern lives more sustainable. This graphic summarises some of the key chemistry news […]

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Chemistry in the News Year in Review

The year in chemistry: 2021’s biggest chemistry stories

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 […]

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Biochemistry ChemVsCOVID

#ChemVsCOVID: How variant tracking and sequence sharing help the fight against the virus

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.

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ChemVsCOVID

#ChemVsCOVID: How lateral flow tests for COVID-19 work

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 […]

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ChemVsCOVID Medicinal Chemistry

#ChemVsCOVID: How nucleoside analogue antivirals combat COVID

One year ago, in October 2020, the US FDA approved remdesivir: the first antiviral drug approved for COVID-19. While it’s not as effective as was first thought, similar drugs look like they could be more successful. The latest graphic in the #ChemVsCOVID series with the Royal Society of Chemistry examines how they work.