Company Updates

A few weeks ago, South Africa was in an enviable state. After several massive COVID-19 surges, including one fueled by the highly contagious delta variant, the country's daily cases had plummeted and were in a lull. Then, a sudden burst of cases showed up among university students around the city of Pretoria.

Credit: C&EN/Wikimedia Commons (Vedeneyeva)/Associated Press (Barres)/Library of Congress (LC-USZ62-114302) (Carver)/J. Montgomery (Hillhouse)/Acc. 90-105 - Science Service, Records, 1920s-1970s, Smithsonian Institution Archives (Pearce)/National Gay and Lesbian Task Force records, #7301/Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections/Cornell University Library (Voeller)/YouTube (Redmond)/Associated Press (Carson)/University of Washington (Gouterman) To celebrate Pride Month-and to play our part in filling gaps in the historical record-C&EN has gathered this preliminary list of trailblazing LGBTQ+ chemists from history and a few we lost more recently.

The first signs of Huntington's, an inherited disease that slowly deteriorates bodies and minds, don't typically surface until middle age. But new findings suggest that something in the brain might be amiss long before symptoms arise, and earlier than has ever been observed. Using a new technology, Rockefeller scientists were able to trace the causes ...

In order to understand the brain, scientists must be able to see the brain-cell by cell, and moment by moment. However, because brains comprise billions of microscopic moving parts, faithfully recording their activity comes with many challenges. In dense mammalian brains, for example, it is difficult to track rapid cellular changes across multiple brain structures-particularly ...

Doctors typically prescribe anti-inflammatory drugs to people suffering from inflammatory bowel diseases like Crohn's or ulcerative colitis. These medications, however, leave much to be desired: they are often ineffective and can come with unpleasant side effects. What's more, they tend to remedy the symptoms of the disease rather than fixing the underlying problem.

Food is, generally speaking, a good thing. In addition to being quite tasty, it is also necessary for survival. That's why animals have evolved robust physiological systems that attract them to food and keep them coming back for more. Now, research in mice reveals the existence of brain cells that have the opposite effect, curbing ...

Like many of the processes that drive a cell's basic functions, those enabling the splitting of a newly-replicated cell into two, shown above, happen quickly. So quickly, in fact, that scientists often have a hard time pinpointing the functions of the molecules involved. But a new chemical probe designed by Rockefeller's Pels Family Professor Tarun ...

Perpetually hungry, worms are strategic when it comes to searching for food. The microscopic roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans, or C. elegans, is known to spend up to 20 minutes seeking out snacks in its immediate surroundings before endeavoring to look elsewhere. Now, Rockefeller scientists have identified circuits in the C.

Cancer cells are, in some respects, impressive: They can grow relentlessly, sidestep the aging process by becoming immortal, and evade the immune system's persistent attacks. But in the process of acquiring such superpowers, the cells must occasionally relinquish other, more mundane skills-including the ability to produce certain nutrients.