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Modern life depends on the petrochemical industry — most drugs, paints and plastics derive from oil. But current processes for making chemical products are not sustainable in terms of resources and environmental impact. Green chemistry aims to tackle this problem, and real progress is being made.
Whether in passports, credit cards, laptops or mobile phones, automated methods of identifying people through their anatomical features or behavioural traits are an increasing feature of modern life.
The evidence for rapid climate change now seems overwhelming. Global temperatures are predicted to rise by up to 4 °C by 2100, with associated alterations in precipitation patterns. Assessing the consequences for biodiversity, and how they might be mitigated, is a Grand Challenge in ecology.
A carbon revolution has occurred — carbon atoms can be coaxed into several topologies to make materials with unique properties. Nanotubes are the vanguard of this innovation, and are on the cusp of commercial exploitation as the multifunctional components of the next generation of composite materials.
Autophagy is the degradation of redundant or faulty cell components. It occurs as part of a cell's everyday activities and as a response to stressful stimuli, such as starvation. Connections with cellular life-and-death decisions and with cancer are now emerging.
The stability of the chemical bonds in saturated hydrocarbons makes them generally unreactive. But the invention of processes in which carbon–hydrogen (C–H) bonds in hydrocarbons can be activated is allowing chemists to exploit organic compounds in previously unimaginable ways.
The natural habitat of eukaryotic genomes is the cell nucleus, where each chromosome is confined to a discrete region, referred to as a chromosome territory. This spatial organization is emerging as a crucial aspect of gene regulation and genome stability in health and disease.
