Debunked claims of room-temperature superconductivity obscure recent advances.
Highlights
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.
C&EN: Metal complexes rip open benzene
17 July 2025Scandium and chromium compounds team up to convert iconic molecule into linear product at room temperature.
C&EN: Crystals defy their symmetry to discern chiral light
24 June 2025Centrosymmetric crystals have always absorbed equal amounts of left- and right-handed circularly polarized light—until now.
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
