Jennifer Newton
Newsletter and research editor, Chemistry World
As the daughter of a chemistry teacher, chemistry has always been in my blood. Teaching science for 5 weeks in Ghana when I was 16 confirmed my suspicions that I didn’t also want to be a teacher.
I studied natural sciences at the University Bath, doing a little bit of everything, mainly chemistry and pharmacology but no physics. My degree included a year-long industrial placement at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, part of the Ministry of Defence – although if I told you what I did there, I’d have to kill you.
I joined the Royal Society of Chemistry in September 2008, collecting over 4 years of experience in journals publishing, before moving to Chemistry World in April of 2013. Cooking and gardening dominate when I'm not at work.
- Research
Teaching enzymes new reactions through genetic code expansion and directed evolution
Anthony Green’s research group at the University of Manchester, UK, reengineers enzymes to have catalytic functions beyond those found in nature
- Opinion
Allotrope or not?
Loose terminology causes disquiet among guardians of the chemical nomenclature
- Opinion
High entropy or just complex?
Several elements mixed in a single crystal phase isn’t necessarily a high entropy material
- Research
Explainer: What are water microdroplets and why are chemists talking about them?
Researchers are struggling to agree on the underlying reasons for accelerated rates and altered reaction mechanisms in water microdroplets. Here’s what we do know and where open questions lie…
- Opinion
Crystal prophecies
There’s no guarantee that making a thermodynamically feasible structure will be easy, or even possible
- Research
Developing custom apparatus to determine battery electrolyte sweet spots
Susan Perkin discusses the unique technique she uses to understand liquids and how they interact with surfaces
- Opinion
N-heterocyclic carbenes are more than passive spectators
The practical importance of N-heterocyclic carbenes continues to grow
- Opinion
How long until papers list an AI as an author?
Artificial intelligence is superior to humans at numerous tasks, but it is still vulnerable to human biases
- Opinion
Why glycans?
Glycoscience is turning out to be more interesting than anyone might have imagined
- Research
This computational chemist is experimentalists’ secret weapon in the hunt for new materials
Kim Jelfs discusses how software development feeds – and needs – collaboration
- Opinion
Diversifying in two dimensions
Artisanal assemblies are opening up pathways to exciting and exotic phenomena