The second part of the #ChemVsCOVID series, produced with the Royal Society of Chemistry, looks at how the structure of the spike protein was determined and how it helped our efforts against the virus.
Category: Chemistry in the News
A year and a day ago, the genetic sequence of the virus that has since spread across the world was shared. Though we were yet to appreciate the effect that the virus would come to have on our lives, this was already the moment at which science started to fight back. In this new series […]
RNA vaccines produced by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna were amongst the first vaccines approved for emergency use in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. The latest edition of Periodic Graphics in Chemical & Engineering News looks at how these vaccines are made. Click through to the C&EN site to view the full graphic.
Relatively hot on the heels of the Pfizer & BioNTech RNA vaccine, today the UK has approved the Oxford University & AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. The Oxford vaccine is a viral vector vaccine, which works slightly differently to the RNA vaccines. This graphic, made with the Royal Society of Chemistry, looks at how they work and […]
By now, we’re all familiar with the image of coronavirus. The spikey blob peppers news websites, looms behind reporters during bulletins and frequently punctuates your Twitter doom-scrolling. More recently, the news accompanying this image has taken a positive turn, with promising results from the COVID-19 vaccine trials. It’s the iconic spikes of the coronavirus spikey […]
Today’s news has been dominated by the terrible explosion in Beirut, Lebanon. The blame for the explosion has been directed at 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate that was being stored in a warehouse in Beirut’s port. What is ammonium nitrate, why can it explode, and what happens when it does? This graphic takes a look.