News & Comment

Legacy energy production has generated a climate crisis and left in its wake a history of injustices that have disproportionately impacted marginalized communities. Integrating energy justice into the curricula and research of those who aim to fix this crisis is essential to equip students with the expertise needed to create and implement equitable energy solutions.

Much natural-product-based drug discovery has depended on the practices of Indigenous Peoples, who have sometimes invested centuries of care into the cultivation and use of plant or fungal matter. However, the contributions of the original discoverers can be lost as the natural products are developed into pharmaceutical products.

The role of computers in the chemical sciences is changing. Previously the ___domain of the theoretical or computational chemist, advanced digital skills, including data analysis, automation and simulation, are becoming extremely relevant to all. Here, we discuss the importance of integrating digital skills into an undergraduate chemistry programme and highlight some work currently being carried out to achieve this.

Critical realism distinguishes the ‘real’ world from the ‘observable’ one, which scientists explore as actors rather than as passive, neutral observers. Through this lens, it is clear that a diverse community that interrogates the world from different angles is an asset to the practice of chemistry itself.

Critical race theory — an academic framework that serves to understand systemic racism in the USA and beyond — can help inform endeavours to advance justice and equity in the chemistry community.

Fires are relatively common yet underreported occurrences in chemical laboratories, but their consequences can be devastating. Here we describe our first-hand experience of a savage laboratory fire, highlighting the detrimental effects that it had on the research group and the lessons learned.

Does the pursuit of scientific research based on a well-defined technological outcome hamper our ability to be creative? And does it limit opportunities to explore and develop fundamental areas of science that may ultimately lead to applications we hadn’t even thought of yet?

Governments worldwide are committing more funding for scientific research in the face of the ongoing pandemic and climate crises. However, the funding process must be restructured to remove the barriers arising from conscious and unconscious biases experienced by minoritized groups, including women, and particularly women of colour.

In 1931, Erich Hückel published a landmark paper — the seed of the now famous 4n + 2 rule for aromaticity in annulenes that bears his name. Electron counting has since been extended to other classes of compounds, resulting in a multitude of rules aiming to capture the concept of aromaticity and its impact in chemistry.

Chemistry plays a key role in tackling today’s challenges and ensuring a sustainable future. Since 2019, IUPAC has been identifying technologies with the potential to advance our society and improve our quality of life.

Statistical tools based on machine learning are becoming integrated into chemistry research workflows. We discuss the elements necessary to train reliable, repeatable and reproducible models, and recommend a set of guidelines for machine learning reports.

Ingrained prejudices and a lack of action addressing discrimination are some of the main reasons why academic chemistry is overwhelmingly white. Data and discussions on racial inequalities are often greeted with scepticism and cynicism within the community, yet they are necessary to fight racism — and anti-Black racism in particular.

Storytelling can be a powerful educational tool to help address equity in the chemical sciences.

Stay-at-home policies invoked in response to COVID-19 have led to well-publicized drops in some air pollutants. The extent to which such reductions translate to improved air quality is dictated by not only emissions and meteorology, but also chemical transformations in the atmosphere.

Valuing diversity leads to scientific excellence, the progress of science and, most importantly, it is simply the right thing to do. We must value diversity not only in words, but also in actions.

The gap between fundamental academic research and the applied industrial research that is necessary to ensure real-world applications can be bridged by engaging in well-defined collaborative academia–industry projects and fostering better communication between the scientists involved in them.

Chemistry is now starting to embrace preprints, with more and more researchers in chemical and materials sciences posting their manuscripts online prior to peer review. Preprints can speed up the dissemination of scientific results and lead to more informal exchanges between researchers, hopefully accelerating the pace of research as a whole.

Academic labs can be difficult places to work — but why is that the case and what can be done to address the issues that lead to harmful working environments?

A curious chemical structure from the imagination of a child will forever be connected with a cancer diagnosis for one particular family. And now the challenge is on to make this molecule a reality.

Very few consumers are aware that chemistry and synthetic chemicals are indispensable in making everyday goods because the products that people buy — such as cell phones, cars and processed foods — are typically far removed from the raw chemicals used in their production.