Highlights
C&EN: Europium complex harvests ambient energy to power minirobots
20 November 2025Inchworms can stroll for hours using scraps of heat from the environment.
Nature Biotechnology: Chemistry Nobel materials in the clinic
14 November 2025Human trials using metal–organic frameworks for drug delivery are underway, but challenges remain.
C&EN: Trace additive cleans up Fischer-Tropsch synthesis
31 October 2025A dash of bromomethane curbs carbon dioxide emissions from industrial process used to make olefins from syngas.
Nature: AI is dreaming up millions of new materials. Are they any good?
03 October 2025Critics slammed attempts by Google, Microsoft and Meta to speed up materials discovery. But behind the hype, there is progress.
Nature: How should ‘mirror life’ research be restricted? Debate heats up
16 September 2025Some researchers are calling for strict limits, while others speak out against prematurely halting basic science.
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.”
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Freelance Science Writer
Category Archives: Highlights
C&EN’s Talented 12: Chibueze Amanchukwu
This electrochemist invents new electrolytes to boost batteries.
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C&EN’s Talented 12: Julian West
This organic chemist harnesses the catalytic power of iron with light.
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Nature: Meet ‘goldene’: this gilded cousin of graphene is also one atom thick
Sheets of gold might find use as catalysts, or in light-sensing devices.
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C&EN: Mechanochemistry strips cargo molecules from a loaded rotaxane
Using polymer strands to pull a ring along an axle could release repair molecules in self-healing materials.
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C&EN: Machine learning improves beer flavor
Algorithm correlates online reviews with chemical profiles of hundreds of beers, providing a roadmap to enhance taste.
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C&EN: Scorching heat turns MOF into discerning hydrogenation catalyst
By selectively turning alkynes into alkenes, the porous material could pave the way for more efficient purification of polymer feedstocks.
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C&EN: Photochemistry unleashes a one-two radical punch for efficient ring synthesis
Iridium and nickel catalysts cooperate to install nonaromatic rings in drug molecules.
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C&EN: Water boosts light-driven coupling chemistry
A thin film of organic molecules floating on water can undergo useful photochemical reactions, without needing organic solvents or catalysts.
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C&EN: Lasers liberate hydrogen from ammonia water
Light pulses offer an alternative approach to harnessing ammonia as a carrier for green hydrogen.
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C&EN: Roll up for flexible silicon solar cells
Thin cells could wrap around corners and use less silicon without sacrificing efficiency, potentially reducing solar costs.
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