Stereo Chemistry

Nov 27 2024 90 ep. 25 mins 982

Stereo Chemistry Podcast artwork

Stereo Chemistry shares voices and stories from the world of chemistry. The show is created by the reporters and editors at Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), an independent news outlet published by the American Chemical Society.

Copy RSS

Subscribe on Podcast Addict

C&EN Uncovered: Indoor air monitoring goes to school

Nov 27 2024 19 mins

The COVID-19 pandemic put the importance of indoor air quality in stark relief. The air in schools was of particular concern, and that concern spurred collaboration between researchers and school staff to find interventions to improve air quality to safeguard the health of students and staff. Data from indoor air monitors revealed that filter-based portable air cleaners were effect

Stereo Chemistry: How the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was won

Oct 29 2024 27 mins

On Oct. 9, the 2024 Nobel Prize for Chemistry was awarded to David Baker, Demis Hassabis, and John M. Jumper for their work in prediction and design of protein structures. C&EN’s executive editor for life sciences, Laura Howes, joins a special episode of Stereo Chemistry to discuss why the trio won, the significance of their work around proteins, and how she accurately predicted

C&EN Uncovered: PhD to CEO, how chemistry entrepreneurs are making the jump

Sep 30 2024 22 mins

In the 20th century, corporate powerhouses like Bell Labs and DuPont Central Research funded R&D from their balance sheets, creating a clear path for postdoctoral scientists to innovate beyond their university research. In 2024, with the decay of corporate laboratories, graduates are taking the commercial start-up route more and more. C&EN, business reporter Matt Blois discusses se

C&EN Uncovered: Solvent Waste Levels, EPA Regulations, and Disposal

Aug 30 2024 20 mins

On average, from 2011 to 2021, academic labs generated around 4,300 metric tons of hazardous waste each year. One of the largest lab-used solvents discarded is dichloromethane and more than half of that waste ends up burned. In today’s episode, policy reporters Krystal Vasquez and Leigh Krietsch Boerner dive into the processes academic labs use to dispose of said waste, the conse

C&EN Uncovered: Ongoing tragedies in Flint and East Palestine

Jul 19 2024 18 mins

Tragedies in the communities of Flint, Michigan, and East Palestine, Ohio, continue to affect residents 10 years and 1 year on, respectively, from the initial events. Residents of both cities continue to rebound and rebuild despite ongoing issues revolving around the toxic chemicals that were introduced to their towns through human decisions. C&EN physical sciences reporter Priyank

C&EN Uncovered: Can ‘forever chemicals’ be destroyed?

May 17 2024 19 mins

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, a class of chemicals known as PFAS, are often called “forever chemicals” because of how long they persist in the environment. They are prevalent in drinking water and have been linked to negative health outcomes. A slew of cleantech start-ups are cropping up with the aim of breaking down and destroying PFAS molecules. In this episode of C&EN

C&EN Uncovered: The small-molecule drug renaissance

Feb 09 2024 19 mins

As the science of drug discovery has grown in scale and gotten more complicated, so have the drug molecules themselves. But there’s a promising class of drugs made of just a handful of atoms that punch above their weight by leveraging the natural chemistry of the cell. Recent discoveries have opened up a new era of pharmaceutical chemistry that some people are calling a golden ag

C&EN Uncovered: The ocean floor is littered with valuable minerals. Should we go get them?

Dec 11 2023 15 mins

Resting on the bottom of the ocean are potato-sized nodules of valuable minerals that are more or less up for grabs. Multiple corporations and some nations are racing to build deep-sea drones that can withstand the extreme conditions at the seafloor and bring these 1-20 cm nodules to eager buyers on the surface. Many of the metals in these nodules are critical for green technolog

C&EN Uncovered: The race to report on the Nobel Prizes

Oct 31 2023 19 mins

The Nobel Prize announcements are big events at Chemical & Engineering News. But we find out the winners at the same time as everyone else. Then, the race is on for our reporters. This year, staffers Laurel Oldach and Mitch Jacoby took on the task of covering the science prizes. In this episode, they reflect on this year’s winning research in chemistry and medicine and shar

C&EN Uncovered: Looking back on 100 years of chemistry

Sep 29 2023 13 mins

The first issue of C&EN was published in 1923 with the stated purpose of “the promotion of research, the development of the chemical industry, and the welfare of the chemist.” The world of chemistry has grown a lot since then, and the magazine has been there to report on it all. To celebrate our 100th anniversary, C&EN reporter and informal historian Alex Tullo has sifted thro