At last: Separated and freshly bound

The carbon-hydrogen bonds in alkanes — particularly those at the ends of the molecules, where each carbon has three hydrogen atoms bound to it — are very hard to ‘crack’ if you want to replace the hydrogen atoms with other atoms. Methane (CH(4)) and …

Novel approach for developing new antibiotics

Researchers have developed a novel method for producing new antibiotics to combat resistant bacteria. Through an approach that would target bacteria with an antibiotic that is masked by a pro-drug, which the bacteria would themselves remove, the resear…

Novel coronavirus discovered in British bats

A coronavirus related to the virus that causes Covid-19 in humans has been found in UK horseshoe bats. However, there is no evidence that this novel virus has been transmitted to humans, or that it could in future, unless it mutates.

Repairing hearts with deadly spider venom: Study

A potentially life-saving treatment for heart attack victims has been discovered from a very unlikely source – the venom of one of the world’s deadliest spiders. A drug candidate developed from a molecule found in the venom of the Fraser Island (K’gari…