News & Comment

Cloud droplets form in the atmosphere on aerosol particles, many of which result from nucleation of vapors. Here the authors comment on current knowledge and open questions regarding the condensational growth of nucleated particles to sizes where they influence cloud formation.

First-row transition metals play several roles in biological processes and in medicine, but can be toxic in high concentrations. Here the authors comment on the sensitive biochemistry and speciation chemistry of the first-row transition metals, and outline some of the remaining questions that have yet to be answered.

Isobe et al. recently introduced the phenine concept, whereby a 1,3,5-trisubstituted benzene system (a phenine unit) is used as a basic building block instead of an sp²-hybridized carbon atom. Now, they apply it in a concise synthesis of a nitrogen-doped phenine nanotube.

Science disengagement amongst school children remains a global challenge, leading to calls for more scientists to engage with the public. Here the authors discuss how a voluntary, flexible program can enhance graduate attributes in addition to addressing barriers to public engagement.

Organic polymers have demonstrated promise as photocatalysts, but their photocatalytic efficiencies remain relatively low. Now, borrowing principles from organic photovoltaics, heterojunctions of polymer photocatalysts and small molecule acceptors have been shown to have excellent solar hydrogen production efficiencies.

Organic 2D materials display valuable properties that are unique from their bulk counterparts, but creating covalent sheets with long-ranging order remains a formidable challenge. Now, reacting complementary monomers right below a surfactant monolayer on water proves to be a powerful method to create organic 2D materials with long-range order.