Letters to a Young Chemist

16/09/2026

A lot. They touched on how to solve big problems, how to collaborate, and how to overcome barriers

14/09/2026

Changing the substituents on a dialkene molecule influenced which bicyclic product formed during a photocycloaddition reaction

14/09/2026

Chemistry organisations on the continent are looking to professionalise and get involved in setting standards in their home countries

14/09/2026

Frameworks built from multiple different metals and ligands are expanding the possibilities for materials that can do many things at once

13/09/2026

Potassium-studded macrocycle extracts high-purity gold, leaves behind other metal ions

13/09/2026

How did humans discover iron? https://youtu.be/v9QbFkgYj9k?

For roughly 295,000 years, humanity was surrounded by iron but comp...

13/09/2026

The scientist honoured by the newest telescope in space spearheaded a pioneering programme as NASA’s first chief astronomer.

13/09/2026

For centuries, science has been a top-heavy enterprise. A vanishingly small number of field-leading experts has the propensity to shape knowledge. They who win the Nobels. They who secure the multi-year, millions-of-dollars grants. They who rewrite the textbooks. Other workers in science are merely passing through, riding the coattails of these giants.

But how does a researcher’s capacity for invention, innovation, and insight change over the course of a career in science?

https://nautil.us/is-this-why-science-advances-one-funeral-at-a-time-1280650?giftLink=1afb701f8310cbf9b536fff1b94ce11c

13/09/2026

Haruki Murakami was born in 1949 in Kyoto, Japan. He grew up surrounded by literature and music, but never imagined that he would become one of the world's most famous novelists. After university, he opened a small jazz bar in Tokyo with his wife and spent years running the business.

The moment that changed his life came in 1978 while watching a baseball game. When he saw a player hit a double, Murakami suddenly had the thought that he could write a novel. He had never written fiction before, but that evening he bought writing supplies and began. His first novel was published the following year. He eventually realised that if he wanted to become a serious writer, he would have to change his entire life.

One of the hardest lessons Murakami learned was that meaningful work requires a willingness to live differently. He gave up the jazz bar and devoted himself to writing. He also developed a strict routine, writing in the morning and running or swimming later in the day. His success did not come from waiting for inspiration. It came from repeating the work for years.

One of his most famous lines captures this philosophy: “Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.”

Murakami's life reminds us that sometimes a new life begins with a very small decision. You may not know where it will lead. You simply recognise something you want to do, begin, and then build your life around it.

12/09/2026

A great video on copper, tin and the Bronze Age https://youtu.be/oTXtRyWqUPU

Before it transformed soft copper into revolutionary bronze weapons...