News & Comment

Nadezda V. Tarakina and Bart Verberck explore the colourful history and assets of element 48.

Michael Donnay and Michelle Francl want chemists to share the stories behind the work they do, and not be afraid to identify the heroines and heroes — and their epic adventures — that paved the way.

As compared to the drug discovery process, the development of new ¹⁸F PET tracers lacks a well-established pipeline that advances compounds from academic research to candidacy for (pre)clinical imaging. In order to bridge the gaps between methodological advances and clinical success, we must rethink the development process from training to implementation.

Imagine a class without lessons, tests and homework, but with missions, quests and teamwork. Video games offer an attractive educational platform because they are designed to be fun and engaging, as opposed to traditional approaches to teaching through lectures and assignments.

Discovered during secret testing by the United States, Joanne Redfern tells us about element 99 and why its namesake cautioned against the very technology that led to its creation.

Naturally scarce but synthetically accessible, Gauthier J.-P. Deblonde and Rebecca J. Abergel discuss element 89 and its emergence as a candidate radio-theranostic metal for cancer treatment.

Taking chemical technology from the bench to the consumer is a formidable challenge, but it is how research can ultimately benefit wider society. Companies are now beginning to incorporate metal–organic frameworks into commercial products, heralding a new era for the field.

Researchers should spend more time doing science than cataloguing every last detail about how they get it done, argues Bruce Gibb.

Omar Farha (Chief Science Officer & technical founder) and Ben Hernandez (Chief Executive Officer) of NuMat Technologies, talk to Nature Chemistry about the release of one of the first MOF-based commercial products and the challenges the journey posed.

Lars Öhrström tells of the fleeting, but still tangible, chemistry of dubnium, the heaviest of the group 5 elements.

Michelle Francl wonders just how old the water in her tea is.

Although Friedrich Stromeyer is best remembered for writing one of the founding works in plant geography — the forerunner to modern-day biogeography — his contributions to chemistry should not be underestimated, argues Malte C. Ebach.

Alpha decay into flerovium? It must be Lv, says Kat Day, as she tells us how little we know about element 116.

When it comes to water and its unique properties, Bruce Gibb explains that although there is undoubtedly some mystery, there is certainly no magic.

Ksenija Glusac takes us on a journey through some of the most important light-driven reactions upon which nature and chemists rely.

Stanislav Strekopytov relates the history of rare-earth element samarium, from its geological origins to its geochronological uses.

Michelle Francl wonders if more chemists should be reading science fiction on the job.

Nitric oxide (NO) is an important signalling molecule in biological systems, but it is unclear exactly how it interacts with some metalloproteins. Now, a collection of articles in this issue reveal how NO binds to proteins containing type-1 copper sites.

Matic Lozinšek and Gary J. Schrobilgen consider krypton — namesake of Superman's home planet — its superoxidant compounds, and their roles in coaxing elements into their highest oxidation states.