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Chemistry History

Today in Chemistry History: Ahmed Zewail and femtochemistry

On this day (26 February) in 1946, Egyptian-American chemist Ahmed Zewail was born. Zewail pioneered femtochemistry, the use of laser pulses to see the movement of individual atoms during chemical reactions. This graphic gives an overview of the ultrafast laser spectroscopy that makes this possible.

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Chemistry History General Chemistry

Today in Chemistry History: Søren Sørensen and the pH scale

On this day (9th January) in 1868, Danish chemist Søren Sørensen was born. He’s best known for developing the pH scale, which we’ve likely all encountered, to measure the acidity or alkalinity of solutions. This graphic gives a brief overview of the pH scale and what it means.

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Women in Chemistry

International Women’s Day: Highlighting 100 women in chemistry

March 8 is International Women’s Day. Over the years, I’ve made a number of graphics highlighting important women in chemistry history. But highlighting and supporting women in chemistry isn’t just about pointing to historical figureheads. So, this year, I wanted to create something that instead focused on women working in chemistry here and now.

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Chemistry in the News Coronavirus Medicinal Chemistry

Antibody tests, part 1: What can antibody tests tell us?

Have you already had COVID-19? Even if you’ve had symptoms consistent with it, you may not know for certain if you didn’t have a test at the time. But newly approved antibody tests may be able to tell you if you had the infection. What exactly can these tests tell us? Part one of this […]

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Biology Coronavirus Medicinal Chemistry

How does immunity work? In C&EN

When you recover from an infection, what stops you from catching it again? The latest edition of Periodic Graphics in C&EN looks at how our immune system responds to infections like coronavirus, how we can test to see if someone’s had an infection, and how vaccines work to prevent them. View the full graphic on […]

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Chemical Concerns Nuclear Power

Nuclear waste and its disposal

Today (22 April) is Earth Day. While currently, we’re somewhat preoccupied with a different crisis, the climate crisis remains a pressing concern. Nuclear power is an oft-mentioned alternative to fossil fuels but comes with the associated problem of nuclear waste. Here, Matthew Harris explains some of the storage solutions and puts the problem in perspective.