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.”
Philip Ball
Freelance Science Writer
Category Archives: My Work
The hole story
Nature article about Swiss-cheese-like materials called metal–organic frameworks.
Posted in Feature reporting
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The robo-chemist
A Nature article about the effort to build a machine that can synthesize any organic compound.
Posted in Feature reporting
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Lights, Camera, Acrimony!
A torrid tale of physics and showmanship, for Nautilus magazine.
Posted in Feature reporting
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Cellulosic ethanol fights for life
Exclusive news story for Nature magazine.
Posted in News reporting
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Malaria drug made in yeast causes market ferment
Synthetic biology delivers combination therapies into an uncertain market.
Posted in News reporting
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China’s stem-cell rules go unheeded
Nature investigation discovers that unproven therapies are still widely available despite health ministry ban.
Posted in News Editing
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Molecular robot mimics life’s protein-builder
Ribosome-inspired nanomachine links amino acids in pre-determined sequence.
Posted in Highlights, Molecular, My Work
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Chernobyl’s legacy
A journey to the heart of the exclusion zone, on the 25th anniversary of the nuclear accident.
Posted in Feature reporting, Highlights
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