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 of graphics, made with the Royal Society of Chemistry, we’ll be highlighting the key scientific milestones that have brought us treatments, vaccines, and more.
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 highlights other vaccines of this type in use or development for COVID-19.
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 blob that are a key part of how these vaccines work.
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.
We’re several months into the COVID-19 pandemic, and testing is vital to preventing the spread of the novel coronavirus. The latest edition of Periodic Graphics in Chemical and Engineering News looks at how current diagnostics work and what they tell us. Click to view the full graphic on the C&EN site.