Writing
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The chemical reaction used to deploy airbags has evolved, but one iteration resulted in massive recalls
Imagine that you’re driving on a two-lane road. It’s dark and rainy. Maybe you’re driving faster than you should be. Perhaps some animal darts into the road. Or maybe another driver loses control of their vehicle. You swerve and slam on the brakes, but the collision has already been set into motion. Your seat belt tightens as your car crashes, and the only object between you and a serious injury or even death is a thin nylon bag full of nitrogen gas—an airbag.
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Eliminating hallucinations is key to turning psychedelics into mental health treatments that can be used widely, some say. Others argue that it’s impossible to decouple the mystical experience from the therapeutic effects
Ancient civilizations revered them as spiritual guides. Counterculture embraced them for their ability to change consciousness. Governments demonized them as psychosis-inducing scourges. Now, after being disregarded for decades as too politically charged for serious scientific study, psychedelic compounds are poised to enter the mainstream of modern medicine as treatments for intractable mental illness. What a long, strange trip it’s been.
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Mixing hydrogen peroxide, oxalate esters, and certain dyes results in some illuminating chemistry
Breaking something rarely sparks joy—unless you’re activating a glow stick. Just bend the plastic baton until you hear a snap, and behold, you have a radiant wand to illuminate your way. Whether you’re trick-or-treating on Halloween or dancing the night away, glow sticks provide a cool source of light. That light is made by a chemical reaction—a phenomenon known as chemiluminescence.
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Experts say oral antivirals, long out of reach, could play a critical role in extinguishing the current coronavirus pandemic and preventing others from emerging
As the COVID-19 crisis unfurled, scientists accomplished feats once considered impossible. Cheap, reliable COVID-19 tests are now readily available in many parts of the world. And the fact that hundreds of millions of people have taken safe and effective vaccines for a virus first identified only 18 months ago is a marvel of modern medicine.
But those advances may not be enough to end the pandemic.
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Ice cream blues
Back in 2014, Newscripts featured a color-changing ice cream available in Spain. The confection was blue when scooped and changed to pink and purple when spritzed with an elixir. At the time, the ice cream’s inventor was keeping the sweet treat’s color-changing chemistry a secret.
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Behind the scenes of the medicinal chemistry campaign that led to the pill Paxlovid
As COVID-19 cases surge around the world because of the highly contagious Omicron variant, doctors are hoping that Paxlovid, Pfizer’s oral COVID-19 treatment, could be a lifeline for some. Although it’s currently in short supply, the antiviral showed tremendous promise in clinical trials: compared with a placebo, it reduced the risk of hospitalization or death from COVID-19 by 88% if given within 5 days of the onset of symptoms.
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Those looking for academic positions in chemistry in the US and Canada in 2020–21 found fewer opportunities in an already-tight market
Lorenzo Mosca has dreamed of becoming a chemistry professor for more than a decade, ever since he was a graduate student in Italy. As someone who enjoys teaching and research equally, he thought academia would be a perfect fit for him. He could mentor students and continue to make advances in his field of organic materials. Without question, he said, an academic career has always been plan A.
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With hard-to-treat systemic fungal infections on the rise, scientists search for new ways to bolster our antifungal arsenal
Damian Krysan had already fielded three phone calls about fungal infections when C&EN caught up with him on a Friday afternoon in early January. Krysan, an organic chemist turned pediatrician who studies pathogenic fungi at the University of Iowa, says the calls weren’t about the kinds of infections people think of when they hear “fungus”—a gnarly toenail growth or a childhood case of thrush. They were about rare, potentially life-threatening systemic fungal infections, which can attack internal organs, including the brain, heart, and lungs.
Krysan recalled one young patient he’d seen months before with a mold growth that was eating away at her jaw. Krysan had to explain to her family that there were no medicines that could treat the infection. Surgery was their only option. “You basically try to cut out as much as you can,” Krysan says. “And then hope.” The girl died.