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Next month's general election in Germany may see the end of the Green Party's spell in government. The party has fared well, as has science with it, except where ideology won out over good sense.
At first it was just an unusual, geeky hobby. But by combining their twin passions of chemistry and history, Jim and Jenny Marshall are now running an acclaimed project in science education. Alexandra Witze reports.
The whole orchestra tunes up to an A note from the oboe — but how do our brains tell that all the different sounds are the same pitch? The discovery of pitch-sensitive neurons provides some clues.
Nature provides lessons about developing ‘green chemistry’ in seemingly out-of-the-way places. One such lesson comes from an enzymatic step in the production of a leaf toxin by a bacterium.
The ratio of helium isotopes in some oceanic volcanoes seemed to demand a reservoir of virgin primordial gas in the Earth's mantle. In fact, that might not be necessary — a relief for other geophysical models.
The technique of directed evolution creates thousands of mutant enzymes from a single original. A new approach helps to search for variants that have an increased range of substrates — and can thus be used for organic synthesis.
The myosins are a superfamily of protein motors. Analysis of their sequences in a wide range of organisms reveals an unexpected variety of domains, and provides insights into the nature of the earliest eukaryotes.
Reactions that produce only one of two mirror-image forms of a molecule are a hot topic in organic synthesis. A light-driven catalyst provides good results, and the technique could be generally applicable.
Pay for academic life scientists is disproportionately low compared with other non-scientific professions with similar levels of education and training
Recruitment of chemists in traditional bulk commodities and manufacturing may be slumping, but fresh opportunities are opening up for those whose skill sets are amenable to biotechnology applications, say Claudia Caruana and Paul Smaglik.