Pea protein can taste really, really bad. And if it were just the taste, ok—but it's not. They just feel kinda gross clumping up on your tongue. Carolyn Wilke shows us there is hope that they will get better. I had the pleasure to edit her latest in @cenmag.bsky.social: cen.acs.org/food/food-in...

‘Protein-maxxing’ is here. Can chemists make plant-based protein taste good?

Microbes, enzymes, and synthetic chemistry might be able to help remove bad-tasting molecules in pea and other plant protein

cen.acs.org

Here's a little #FridayFun: @theanageorgescu.bsky.social finds a connection between lab-made sapphires and ketchup in the latest #Newscripts for @cenmag.bsky.social #chemsky🧪 cen.acs.org/materials/ta...

A taste for unusual colors

From Windex-blue sapphires to alga-green ketchup, researchers expand the palette

cen.acs.org

A little peek inside how seriously we take chemical structures at @cenmag.bsky.social. Last week at 5:30 AM we were literally losing sleep over it. Editorial with @fmorningstar.bsky.social, @bethanyhalford.bsky.social. and @laurahowes.bsky.social cen.acs.org/synthesis/st...

Editorial: How many chemists does it take to check a stereocenter?

The 2026 chemistry Nobel announcement sparked a frenzy of chirality fact-checking. Turns out, nailing stereochemistry is tough for everyone.

cen.acs.org

I spent 1.5 hours playing with this Nobel graphic. So so so many stories behind the data: blacklisted scientists, the Swedes behind the curtain, and a long, embarrassing history of misogyny: cen.acs.org/people/nobel... @laurahowes.bsky.social + @alejandrokennedy.bsky.social for @cenmag.bsky.social

It’s all fun and games until you have to quadruple check the absolute stereochemistry of the example molecules the committee presented… there may have been some arguing and model making, but we got there in the end thanks to @mannyfoxmorone.bsky.social and @bethanyhalford.bsky.social 🥳

Science journalism FTW

Manny I. Fox Morone@mannyfoxmorone.bsky.social · 2w ago

me at 5:59 AM

it was all hands (get it??) on deck for #ChemNobel coverage this morning--Henri Kagan and Henso Soai winning for work related to chiral catalysis was not on my bingo board but we love a good fundamental chem prize with big commercial apps over here! cen.acs.org/people/nobel...

Chemistry Nobel awarded for chiral chemistry advances

Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai win the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work on nonlinear effects and asymmetric catalysis

cen.acs.org

I really, really hate sticking things in my eye, but it is 1000% better than getting spinal tap. Marta Zaraska tells us why tears could be a player in diagnosing disease. Read her latest in @cenmag.bsky.social: cen.acs.org/analytical-c...

Our tears hold secrets about cancer, Parkinson’s, and Alzheimer’s

Eye swabs, bioassays, and even smart contact lenses can pick up biomarkers for various conditions

cen.acs.org

Even if you’ve never touched a serum before, your body is awash with hyaluronic acid! Can we manipulate it for cancer therapies? @rachelbrazil.bsky.social broke it down for @cenmag.bsky.social cen.acs.org/biological-c...

Hyaluronic acid could cut cancer risk, if we can get around its cons

The antiaging molecule, when broken down, can paradoxically drive inflammation. Drugmakers are trying to capture only its benefits

cen.acs.org

The C&EN Guild has learned that earlier this week, one of our members was required to attend a meeting concerning discipline without union representation.

The baby formula shortage was in 2022, and we're just starting seeing tech solutions and (hopefully) new laws around formula. I loved editing @ktjandra.bsky.social's latest for @cenmag.bsky.social. Shih seems like a fun dude.

C&EN (Chemical & Engineering News)@cenmag.bsky.social · last mo.

Patrick Shih bioengineered a tobacco-like plant to make human milk oligosaccharides, unique components of breast milk: cen.acs.org/food/food-in... #chemsky 🧪

What are the most important ingredients for chemical innovation? For @cenmag.bsky.social, my colleague Shea Murphy and I sought to find out. 🧵

As someone who has found himself in public too many times with too little clothes, i urge you to look back at what Kusama did with public nudity and performance art in the ’60s. A trailblazer in more ways than one. RIP www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

Yayoi Kusama, Japanese artist who became a global superstar, dies aged 97

From the 1950s to the 2020s, Kusama produced vivid paintings, sculptures and vast installations that often drew on her experience of hallucinations

theguardian.com

Sick

C&EN (Chemical & Engineering News)@cenmag.bsky.social · 2mo ago

The wolf in this fluorescence microscope image is a crystal, and it grew this way on its own. Prodipta Samadder works on organic boron compounds. When those compounds form crystals, their ordered molecular structures trap and reemit light: cen.acs.org/materials/ph... #CENChemPics #chemsky 🧪

Elsevier taking shots in this morning

Since editing this piece, i have wasted a lot of time watching videos of careen through his mass spec lab. Victoria Atkinson profiled him excellently for @cenmag.bsky.social: cen.acs.org/analytical-c...

Ben Katz showed the internet that some vegetables aren't vegetarian

His work has revealed a lack of transparency in fruit- and vegetable-based products

cen.acs.org

Researchers have developed a small-molecule glue that not only bonds strongly to nonstick surfaces but is easily removed with ethanol: cen.acs.org/materials/ad... #chemsky 🧪

DCM has been here the whole time...but will its newfound amide-coupling abilities be a game changer? Yet another new thing from me @cenmag.bsky.social : cen.acs.org/synthesis/re...

Dichloromethane was an amide coupling reagent this whole time

Chemists make simple amides using only inexpensive lab chemicals

cen.acs.org

ICYMI: Update on the helium scramble caused by the war in Iran. Asia is shopping for North American helium, supplies are getting shaky in Europe, and GCMS is hit harder for now than NMR. cen.acs.org/business/spe... #helium #chemistry #NMR #GCMS #Iran #news

Chemical & Engineering News

Chemical & Engineering News is a weekly news magazine published by the American Chemical Society, providing professional and technical news and analysis in the fields of chemistry and chemical enginee...

cen.acs.org

"Although some may find joy in the music of the digestive tract, there are more pleasing sounds you can make by forcing gas through a constrained space. Look no further than the venerable pipe organ." #chemsky 🧪

Data discovered in surprising places

There’s scientific information right under your nose, but some smells better than others

cen.acs.org

Ultrasound-activated nanoparticles breach bacterial biofilms: When hit with low-frequency ultrasound, the nanoparticles release antibiotics deep inside bacterial communities. #chemsky 🧪

Ultrasound-activated nanoparticles breach bacterial biofilms

When hit with low-frequency ultrasound, the nanoparticles release antibiotics deep inside bacterial communities

cen.acs.org

Diagnosing bacterial infections deep inside your tissues can be highly invasive, requiring procedures such as tissue biopsies or blood cultures. Now researchers have made strides toward solving this issue. #chemsky 🧪

A breath test reveals infections deep inside tissues of mice

Bacteria turn sugars labeled with carbon-13 into detectable carbon dioxide, quickly identifying infections in mice

cen.acs.org

Biologists would love to know exactly what happens inside a cell, but measuring every cellular process simultaneously is impossible. That’s why they turn to simulations, like this one, which tracks how a bacterial cell divides into two: cen.acs.org/physical-che... #CENChemPics #chemsky 🧪

Looking for some #FridayFun? I highly recommend @mannyfoxmorone.bsky.social's #Newscripts column in @cenmag.bsky.social. It's full of data delights. #chemsky cen.acs.org/biological-c...

Data discovered in surprising places

There’s scientific information right under your nose, but some smells better than others

cen.acs.org

How do test subjects feel about wearing a bonafide fart-rate monitor? @brantleyhall.bsky.social says: “At some point, Fitbit was weird, right? We got over it.” Read about it in C&EN: cen.acs.org/biological-c... @cenmag.bsky.social

Data discovered in surprising places

There’s scientific information right under your nose, but some smells better than others

cen.acs.org

In editing this script, i got to revisit what is perhaps my favorite piece of science journalism: www.fastcompany.com/3008346/deep...

Deep Inside Taco Bell's Doritos Locos Taco

From handshake deals to experiments at Home Depot, the history of Taco Bell's disruptive faux cheese-dusted taco.

fastcompany.com

C&EN (Chemical & Engineering News)@cenmag.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Each month, ChemReels features science communicators diving into chemistry subjects you've been curious about, with all the technical detail intact. Join Ruha Tacey as she guides us through the chemistry and engineering challenges at work in updating the Doritos formula. #ChemReels #chemsky 🧪

Only 2% of your serotonin is in your brain, and I've got questions. Read Elizabeth Hlavinka's feature breaking it all down in @cenmag.bsky.social: cen.acs.org/pharmaceutic...

Serotonin’s role in mental health is more complex than we thought

Recent research has opened the debate on whether chemical imbalances cause depression, anxiety, and other conditions

cen.acs.org

One by one, hospitals are abandoning trans kids as they preemptively cave to HHS threats over Medicaid/Medicare funding. They ought to consider the terrible message walking away from some kids sends about their dedication to caring for all of them. My latest @opinion.bloomberg.com (🎁 link):

Hospitals Are Walking Away From Trans Kids. They Shouldn’t

Over the last year, through fear and intimidation, the Trump administration has succeeded in shrinking transgender adolescents’ access to gender-affirming care. One by one, programs that previously se...

bloomberg.com

Looking for some #FridayFun? In the latest #Newscripts for @cenmag.bsky.social, Prachi Patel tells tales of two crystals. cen.acs.org/materials/Gr...

Growing crystals tiny and large

Edison unknowingly created graphene, and students meticulously produce a copper sulfate colossus

cen.acs.org

Gotta love a new big ol’ sheet of carbon 😙👌

C&EN (Chemical & Engineering News)@cenmag.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Researchers have prepared flat, porous sheets of just carbon and hydrogen arranged in a hexagonal network. The 2D material is the first crystalline covalent organic framework (COF) with an all-carbon backbone. Read more: cen.acs.org/materials/2-... #chemsky 🧪