College of Chemistry

The criteria for whether a new chemical element has been discovered are set to change, a provisional report by the International Unions for Pure and Applied Chemistry (Iupac) and Physics (Iupap) has announced.

The upper end of the periodic table. For each known isotope the element name, mass number and half-life are given. Colours are attributed to their decay mode: α-...

Photo: Nobel Laureate and professor, Harold Urey in his office at UC San Diego circa 1965-66. Photo by Ansel Adams, courtesy of the UC RIverside collection.

Book review: The Life and Science of Harold C. Urey, Matthew Shindell, University of...

Illustration: A catalyst (center) based on iridium (blue ball) can snip a hydrogen atom (white balls) off a terminal methyl group (upper and lower left) to add a boron-oxygen compound (pink and red) that is easily swapped out for more complicated chemical groups. The reaction works on simple hydrocarbon chains (top reaction) or more complicated carbon compounds (bottom reaction)....

While plastic bags clog the waste stream, recycling them isn’t financially attractive, since they’re usually turned into very low-value products. If polyethylene packaging could be processed into high-value products, more of them would be recycled instead of ending up in landfills. (photo: Adobe Stock)

While many cities and eight states have banned single-use plastics, bags...