Highlights
Science: Nobel Prize honors researchers who showed how ‘handedness’ can emerge in chemistry
08 October 2026Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai win award for reactions leading to mirror-image molecules.
Nature: Chemists struggle to ditch hazardous solvents — even after decades of ‘green’ efforts
26 September 2026Laboratories are still using dangerous and carbon-intensive liquids much more often than environmentally friendly ones, according to a 40-year survey of patents.
C&EN: Precise deuteration eases ‘heavy drug’ synthesis
10 September 2026Nickel catalyst swaps hydrogen for deuterium to produce drugs that are metabolized more slowly.
Engineering: Can ‘Superwood’ Replace Concrete and Steel?
25 August 2026Engineered woods aim to curb construction’s climate emissions.
ACS Central Science: These Graphene Experts Are Trying to Close the Reproducibility Gap in Two-Dimensional Materials Research
14 May 2026Too much work on graphene and related materials cannot be repeated — a problem that wastes time and holds back commercialization. New rules could help solve it.
TESTIMONIALS
“As an editor and reporter, Mark Peplow is fast, accurate, and versatile. He covers science policy and pure research with equal passion, and his writing combines a scientist’s precision with a journalist’s verve.” Tim Appenzeller
Former Chief Magazine Editor at Nature, now News Editor at Science
"Mark guided me through some of the most challenging stories I've written. These are pieces I might not have attempted were it not for his steady editorial hand." Linda Nordling
Freelance Journalist, South Africa
“Working with Mark is never anything other than a pleasure. He is the kind of editor that writers hope for: able to identify what needs fixing and what doesn’t, bringing to bear a wealth of knowledge, always clear, prompt and easy to talk with. Much of that comes from being a splendid writer himself.”
Philip Ball
Freelance Science Writer
Category Archives: Highlights
Science: Whistleblower alleges Finnish startup’s vaunted solid-state battery isn’t what it claims
Donut Lab’s assertions of lightning-fast charging and high energy storage have led to a criminal complaint.
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Nature: Fresh claim of making elusive ‘hexagonal’ diamond is the strongest yet
After decades of debate, researchers say that they have found the clearest evidence yet for this rare form of carbon.
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C&EN: Copper finally joins the metallocene club
More than 70 years after ferrocene’s discovery, cuprocene fills a long-standing gap in the sandwich menu.
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C&EN: Lighting a better path for biobased furans
Photocatalytic hydrolysis offers a shortcut for renewable chemicals.
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C&EN: Gas looping boosts efficiency of carbon nanotube production
Methane pyrolysis reactor recycles process gases to improve output of nanotubes and hydrogen.
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C&EN: Enhanced rock weathering shows little climate benefit in large trial
3-year Swiss study underscores the importance of site selection to maximize CO2 sequestration.
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Nature Nanotechnology: Brain–computer interfaces race to the clinic
Advances in materials science, microelectronics and semiconductor manufacturing are helping these devices to benefit patients.
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C&EN: Europium complex harvests ambient energy to power minirobots
Inchworms can stroll for hours using scraps of heat from the environment.
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Nature Biotechnology: Chemistry Nobel materials in the clinic
Human trials using metal–organic frameworks for drug delivery are underway, but challenges remain.
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C&EN: Trace additive cleans up Fischer-Tropsch synthesis
A dash of bromomethane curbs carbon dioxide emissions from industrial process used to make olefins from syngas.
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