
Nobel Prize in Chemistry Goes to Discovery of ‘Genetic Scissors’ Called CRISPR/Cas9
Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna win for technology that gives scientists unprecedented abilities to change the code of life

Nobel Prize in Chemistry Goes to Discovery of ‘Genetic Scissors’ Called CRISPR/Cas9
Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna win for technology that gives scientists unprecedented abilities to change the code of life

Bricks Can Be Turned into Batteries
Pumping cheap iron-oxide-rich red bricks with specific vapors that form polymers enables the bricks to become electrical-charge-storage devices.


Google’s Quantum Computer Achieves Chemistry Milestone
A downsized version of the company’s Sycamore chip performed a record-breaking simulation of a chemical reaction

Long-Awaited Update Arrives for Radiocarbon Dating
Scientists who study organic materials from the past 55,000 years may see some changes in their data

Color-Changing Ink Turns Clothes into Giant Chemical Sensors
A silk-based substance could lead to new wearables

Science Briefs from around the World
Here are some brief reports about science and technology from all over, including one from Antarctica about how there’s something funny about penguin poop.

Bread Science: A Yeasty Conversation
“Baking is applied microbiology,” according to the book Modernist Bread. During pandemic lockdowns, many people started baking their own bread. Scientific American contributing editor W. Wayt Gibbs talks about Modernist Bread, for which he was a writer and editor.

How Could the Beirut Explosion Happen? Experts Explain
To get to the roots of disasters like this one, investigators rely on video footage, documents, interviews and other evidence

Future Cars Will Be Made of Magnesium
Originally published in August 1946

What Is Ammonium Nitrate, the Chemical That Exploded in Beirut?
The blast injured thousands and killed at least 78 people

Altered Mice Breathe Water instead of Air
Originally published in August 1968

Fluoridated Water Criticized as Socialized Medicine
Originally published in February 1955