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: Highlights
C&EN: Simple method converts fluorspar into fluorochemicals
Generating common fluorinating agents directly from the mineral avoids the dangers of hydrogen fluoride.
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Science: Coming of Age
Twenty years after the ballyhooed discovery of graphene, the atom-thin carbon sheets are finding their footing.
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C&EN: Recycling DNA origami nanostructures
New methods could drive down costs and waste in burgeoning applications.
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Nature Biotechnology: Enzymes boost ‘rock weathering’ to trap CO2 in soil
Spreading powdered basalt on farmland may help to achieve key climate goals.
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C&EN: Porous organic crystals raise hopes for hydrogen storage
Molecules assemble into interlocked networks that can pack in plenty of hydrogen, albeit at low temperatures.
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C&EN: Promising plastics recycling method relies on simple catalysts
Waste polyethylene and polypropylene can be turned into useful propene and isobutene.
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Engineering: Marine CO2 Removal Joins Race to Scale Up Mitigation Tech
Companies aim to shift greenhouse gas from air to ocean to tackle climate change.
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Engineering: Controversy Clouds Real Progress in Superconductor Research
Debunked claims of room-temperature superconductivity obscure recent advances.
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Nature Biotechnology: Next-generation psychedelics: should new agents skip the trip?
Companies attract venture funding for redesigned psychedelic drugs and notch clinical trial milestones.
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Nature: Element from the periodic table’s far reaches coaxed into elusive compound
Chemists achieve synthetic feat with radioactive promethium for the first time.
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