Why antibiotic resistance could be bacteria's Achilles heel
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are a well-established threat to human health. Now, US researchers report that while antibiotic resistance provides some advantages for the bacteria to survive, it’s also linked with a physiological limitation that hinders potential dominance. This fact could be exploited to stop the spread of antibiotic resistance without the use of drugs, they claim.
Advanced materials
Read the latest Advanced Materials highlights in C&I Magazine Issue 12 2024 written by Arno Kraft, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK.
Developing a new way to capture PFAS using electrochemistry
A new way to capture and concentrate per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) has been developed using electrochemistry for the first time. This traps PFAS – dubbed “forever chemicals” – from water in a single process.
Finding a safer way to produce fluorochemicals
A milder, safer way of obtaining fluorochemicals has been reported by chemists in Oxford, UK. They sought to avoid hydrogen fluoride (HF), a highly dangerous chemical that has been involved in numerous industrial accidents.
AstraZeneca at 25: ‘The opportunity and the potential is enormous’
A quarter of a century ago AstraZeneca was formed by the merger of Astra and Zeneca. SCI’s CEO Sharon Todd talks to the company’s UK Chair Shaun Grady about future plans.
Can neuroscents change the way we feel?
Modern perfumes are promising a lot more than to merely make us smell good. New ‘neuroscents’ are claimed to alter our brain chemistry and change how we feel. But do they work? Jasmin Fox-Skelly reports.
Wine science
With several millennia of cultural history, wine is older than chemistry or even alchemy. It ranks among the earliest human endeavours in fermentation, together with beer and bread, and counts as a foundation of biotechnology. Cultivating grapes in different types of soil and climate, growers have produced an almost infinite variety of complex tastes and flavours – as described by the flowery language in wine reviews.
Water warning
The author, journalist Tim Smedley, has written numerous articles for leading UK newspapers such as The Guardian, The Sunday Times and the Financial Times and has also worked for the BBC. His first book Clearing the Air highlighted the global consequences of air pollution and was shortlisted for the Royal Society’s Science Book Prize. This book, Smedley’s second, received The Times’ Book of the Year award for 2023.
AstraZeneca and the importance of innovation
In this month’s issue of C&I we take the time to celebrate the remarkable success of AstraZeneca, a modern powerhouse of scientific and business innovation and a company that’s consistently outperformed in terms of long term stock price growth.