The hottest Chemistry Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Science Topics

The Lab Spills Edition

Why is this interesting? • 1447 implied HN points • 03 Feb 26
🔬 Science Chemistry
  1. Many major artificial sweeteners were found by accident when people in labs tasted or otherwise noticed unexpected sweetness from spilled or handled chemicals.
  2. Human senses, especially taste, act as extremely sensitive high-throughput detectors and can spot potent effects that controlled screenings often miss.
  3. Accidental discoveries can beat deliberate testing in impact, but safety matters—breakthroughs from exposure to the unknown should never justify reckless lab behavior.

Working in Glass

Asimov Press • 322 implied HN points • 04 Mar 26
🔬 Science Chemistry
  1. Learning to make and modify glassware let chemists build cheap, hands-on experiments and get repeatable results; teaching glassblowing spread that do-it-yourself approach.
  2. Advances in glass chemistry and manufacturing—especially borosilicate formulations and standardized fittings—made labware tougher, more accurate, and interchangeable, which helped standardize modern labs.
  3. Glassblowing shifted from a core skill to a specialized trade as industrial brands mass-produced equipment, but glass remains essential for optics and high-temperature work while plastics handle many disposable tasks.

How To Break Up With Your Toxic Acid

Intercalation Station • 59 implied HN points • 23 Oct 24
🕹 Technology Chemistry
  1. Fluorine plays a big role in making lithium-ion batteries better. It's important for key parts like the electrolyte salt that helps the battery work efficiently.
  2. Hydrogen fluoride is super toxic and can cause serious harm on contact. Finding safer ways to handle fluorine is crucial for both workers and the environment.
  3. FluoRok, a new company, is working to make fluorination safer and more sustainable. They aim to provide a better way to create essential materials without the risks associated with traditional processes.

Scent, In Silico

Asimov Press • 432 implied HN points • 16 Feb 26
🔬 Science Chemistry
  1. Smell is an ancient, highly combinatorial sense driven by hundreds of receptor types, so odors come from complex mixtures and are inherently subjective.
  2. New computational tools like graph neural networks create odor embeddings that map molecules into a perceptual space, letting machines predict smells and design novel odorants.
  3. Digitizing scent promises faster fragrance discovery, diagnostics, safer repellents, and more sustainable synthetic alternatives, while also raising questions about authenticity and how we value natural versus machine-made ingredients.

But good sir, what is electricity?

lcamtuf’s thing • 18977 implied HN points • 23 Feb 25
🔬 Science Chemistry
  1. Electricity is about how electrons interact with atoms. Electrons can move from one place to another, creating electric current in conductive materials like metals.
  2. Conductors, like metals, allow electrons to flow freely, while insulators hold onto their electrons tightly. This difference determines how well materials conduct electricity.
  3. The movement of electrons in a wire is what allows us to use electricity for various tasks. It can be quick, but individual electrons move slowly compared to the speed at which electrical signals travel.
Get a weekly roundup of the best Substack posts, by hacker news affinity:

High-Throughput Chemistry and Engineering with Kadi Saar

Lever • 19 implied HN points • 24 Oct 24
🔬 Science Chemistry
  1. Kadi Saar has an impressive background in both chemistry and engineering. She excelled in academics and sports, even winning a talent show in mental arithmetic.
  2. Her research focuses on combining high-throughput structural biology with computational chemistry to help develop new drugs. She has shown that analyzing diverse ligand structures can lead to better drug design.
  3. Kadi emphasizes the importance of enjoying the people you work with when choosing projects. Collaborating with good people makes the journey more fulfilling.

How to turn a number into a rooted forest

A Piece of the Pi: mathematics explained • 90 implied HN points • 01 Mar 26
🔬 Science Chemistry
  1. Matula arborification is a recursive recipe that turns any positive integer into a rooted forest: 1 is the empty forest, 2 is a single node, primes become trees by attaching a new root to the forest of their index, and composites are represented by juxtaposing the trees of their prime factors.
  2. This correspondence is useful in number theory and combinatorics — it can help prove relationships between primes and encodes integer sequences (for example the primeth sequence appears as vertical chains of trees).
  3. The idea also has practical applications in chemistry for canonically labeling alkane structures (with valence limits ruling out some forests), and there are online tools that generate and visualize Matula trees for given integers.

What Makes an Experiment Beautiful?

Asimov Press • 522 implied HN points • 10 Nov 25
🔬 Science Chemistry
  1. A beautiful experiment is efficient and clever, showing that you can get more useful information from it than the effort put in. This idea is not just about being smart; it's also about designing experiments that yield significant results.
  2. The qualities that make an experiment beautiful include clarity, simplicity, and decisiveness. A good experiment should be easy to understand and should clearly show the results or answers it seeks.
  3. Historically, the appreciation of experiments has shifted. In the past, the focus was on revealing nature's beauty, but now it's more about the design and ingenuity behind the experiment itself.

4.2.2 Fluid Theories of Electricity

Fields & Energy • 259 implied HN points • 03 Jul 24
🔬 Science Chemistry
  1. Electricity was thought to behave like a fluid that could flow through conductors, which helped scientists understand how it could be transmitted over distances.
  2. Benjamin Franklin proposed a one-fluid theory of electricity, categorizing electricity into 'positive' and 'negative' charges, which laid the groundwork for future electrical theories.
  3. Alessandro Volta created the first battery, making it possible to study electricity as a continuous flow, leading to advancements in electrical science and technology.

Science and Serendipity

Dr’s Newsletter • 746 implied HN points • 11 Feb 24
🔬 Science Chemistry
  1. PhD research can be challenging but can lead to unexpected and serendipitous discoveries
  2. The stability of certain compounds is crucial in preventing toxicity, as observed in experiments with aluminium and silicic acid in fish
  3. Understanding the chemistry behind experimental outcomes is key, as seen in the success of a PhD research project despite initial doubts

A short brainstorm on niobium

Intercalation Station • 779 implied HN points • 18 Jan 24
🔬 Science Chemistry
  1. Niobium is a versatile material with unique properties like superconductivity and strength.
  2. Thermal runaway in batteries can be analyzed and mitigated using tools like differential scanning calorimetry.
  3. 90% of niobium is used in steelmaking, but it has potential in battery technology for durability and fast charging.

Complex systems emerge from simple rules

Tecnica • 55 HN points • 28 Jul 24
🔬 Science Chemistry
  1. Complex systems can develop from just a few simple rules, like in the Game of Life. It shows how starting with basic ideas can create amazing patterns and interactions.
  2. Emergence means that new, complex properties appear from simpler components interacting together. This is true for nature, biology, and even technology like AI.
  3. Human thoughts and actions also have an emergent nature. We often wonder where our ideas come from and what rules guide our decisions.

Guilt by Association

Doomberg • 6508 implied HN points • 12 Apr 23
🔬 Science Chemistry
  1. Old practices of thrift are now merchandised as 'upcycling.'
  2. Utilizing byproducts from manufacturing and petrochemical industry is both necessary and economical.
  3. High oil prices incentivize more oil drilling, leading to oversupply and lower natural gas prices in the US.

What Makes a Mature Science

Asimov Press • 348 implied HN points • 21 Jul 25
🔬 Science Chemistry
  1. For a science to mature, it needs to explain its subject clearly using specific entities, properties, and rules. Just having a mechanism isn't enough.
  2. Fields like biology and psychology are still developing because they struggle to define their key entities and rules, making it difficult to fully understand their subjects.
  3. To progress, sciences must move beyond descriptions and start building models that predict outcomes, much like how chemistry evolved from alchemy to a mature science.

THOR - How?

Remote View • 294 implied HN points • 21 Jan 24
🔬 Science Chemistry
  1. The post discusses THOR and its workings
  2. The post includes a link to learn more about Bob Greenyer
  3. A livestream is scheduled for January 21, 2024 at 22:30 CET

AI-Designed Enzymes

Asimov Press • 457 implied HN points • 13 Feb 25
🔬 Science Chemistry
  1. Researchers are now able to design complex enzymes from scratch using AI. This new ability could help create custom enzymes for various chemical reactions.
  2. The process of designing these enzymes is not easy, as they need to change shape during reactions. Scientists have developed methods to improve their ability to predict how these enzymes will work.
  3. Even though the newly designed enzymes are not as fast as natural ones yet, this work is a big step toward making more effective enzymes for scientific and industrial purposes.

News! & Longer Living Through Chemistry

Unsettled Science • 545 implied HN points • 26 Oct 24
🔬 Science Chemistry
  1. A new Substack newsletter is being launched due to challenges faced in a joint project. Leaving the previous newsletter was not an easy decision but necessary to move forward.
  2. There is a mention of an anti-aging pill in the news. It's important to think carefully about whether to take such a pill or not.
  3. The focus is on exploring longer life through chemistry. This suggests that science might hold keys to better health and longevity.

Issue 07 is Coming on Monday

Asimov Press • 161 implied HN points • 10 Jul 25
🔬 Science Chemistry
  1. The upcoming issue will explore the unclear history of aspirin, revealing that many established facts might be incorrect. A deep dive into its origins promises to be fascinating and informative.
  2. There's a discussion about the potential resurgence of leech therapy, highlighting its effectiveness and how modern understanding might revive this ancient practice.
  3. The issue will also cover the advancements in gene delivery methods, making it easier to understand how modern therapies are developed, showcasing improvements over older techniques.

Friday Links

Niko McCarty • 39 implied HN points • 31 May 24
🔬 Science Chemistry
  1. Forever chemicals are really tough to break down because of their chemical structure. Researchers are looking for ways to engineer microbes that can help eliminate these harmful substances.
  2. SGLT2 inhibitors can help the immune system clear out old cells, which could be important for health. There’s growing interest in how these inhibitors can benefit kidney treatment.
  3. Advances in cotton plant genomes could make it easier to breed better plants in the future. This could lead to improvements in cotton production and farming.

The chemical reason that PFAS are "forever chemicals"

Trevor Klee’s Newsletter • 149 implied HN points • 16 Jun 25
🔬 Science Chemistry
  1. PFAS, or 'forever chemicals', are super strong substances that don't break down easily in our bodies. Once they get in, they can stick around for a long time, causing potential health issues.
  2. These chemicals are hard to get rid of because our bodies mistake them for fat, allowing them to be reabsorbed instead of eliminated. This reabsorption can lead to long-term interference with our health.
  3. NeutraOat might help reduce the impact of PFAS by trapping these chemicals and preventing them from being absorbed into the bloodstream. It could be an important tool in managing their harmful effects.

Is Earth A Computational Process?

Surfing the Future • 119 implied HN points • 28 Jan 24
🔬 Science Chemistry
  1. Stephen Wolfram's TED talk on computational thinking explores AI, the universe, and more, opening up new possibilities for the future.
  2. Earth being a computing process is a fascinating concept with implications for sustainability and AI.
  3. The work of James Lovelock, especially his Gaia theory, holds significance and influences the thinking of many individuals.

O-Day - Wormhole

Remote View • 216 implied HN points • 09 Mar 23
🔬 Science Chemistry
  1. The presentation shared experimental evidence about the operation of the Great Pyramid of Giza.
  2. Macro photography gave a first look at the sample and detailed study of the disruption zone.
  3. Speculation was made about the use of iron as a possible fuel, along with other metals, in a related process.

O-Day - Explaining Frank Polifka's Windhexe

Remote View • 216 implied HN points • 30 Mar 23
🔬 Science Chemistry
  1. A technology called Windhexe can turn various materials into powder, even turning gravel to dust and reducing waste into powder.
  2. The Windhexe device functions by creating a tornado-like vortex in a chamber, causing materials to be smashed and pulverized into tiny particles.
  3. Windhexe technology has been used by different companies for processing food wastes, manufacturing debris, and even for drying materials quickly.

1.3 Wait... That's All There Is To It?

Fields & Energy • 179 implied HN points • 15 Nov 23
🔬 Science Chemistry
  1. To understand how fields guide energy, you need to think deeply about concepts like light and electromagnetic waves. This involves understanding how energy balances between electric and magnetic forms.
  2. There's a new way to look at electromagnetism that contradicts a lot of what we've assumed for over a century. This new view can help explain some confusing aspects of quantum mechanics.
  3. Even though electromagnetism seems fully understood, there’s still room for fresh ideas that could change our understanding. Just like a miner finding new gems in a familiar mine, new insights might be waiting to be discovered.

How to Measure Molecules

Asimov Press • 367 implied HN points • 17 Nov 24
🔬 Science Chemistry
  1. In the late 19th century, Lord Rayleigh measured the size of a single molecule using simple materials like oil and water. This clever experiment showed how basic observations can lead to important scientific discoveries.
  2. Benjamin Franklin also made significant observations about oil on water in the 18th century, but he didn't calculate the size of molecules. His work laid the groundwork for future scientists like Rayleigh.
  3. Rayleigh's experiment demonstrated that you don’t always need complex tools to make groundbreaking discoveries. Even simple experiments can provide valuable insights that inspire later research.

O-Day - Morning, not mourning

Remote View • 196 implied HN points • 12 Feb 23
🔬 Science Chemistry
  1. Discussion on the potential challenges of working technologies
  2. Caution needed when dealing with Fractal Toroidal systems to ensure safety
  3. Respectful treatment of developments in science and technology is essential

O-Day - Balance

Remote View • 196 implied HN points • 01 Mar 23
🔬 Science Chemistry
  1. Presentation to Russian community to support hypothesis
  2. Elemental analysis in the main off-set changed areas of the vortex pair
  3. Balancing via simultaneous synthesis and de-synthesis

The Botanical World is Full of DMT 🌱

Tripsitter • 159 implied HN points • 28 Aug 23
🔬 Science Chemistry
  1. DMT is common in nature, found in various plants, animals, and sea sponges.
  2. Our body efficiently disables DMT from taking effect with the enzyme monoamine oxidase (MAO).
  3. Plants like Acacia, Yopo, and Giant River Reed contain DMT and related tryptamine alkaloids used in rituals and cultural practices.

Literally Imagine Dragons

Eat Shit and Prosper • 259 implied HN points • 07 May 23
🔬 Science Chemistry
  1. Chlorophyll and heme are both essential chemicals in life, with similar structures that play key roles in energy production and oxygen transport. Chlorophyll helps plants make energy from sunlight, while heme carries oxygen in our blood.
  2. There's a mysterious porphyrin with vanadium at its center found in crude oil. It could belong to an ancient life form, and studying it may reveal new insights into the history of life on Earth.
  3. The idea of a lost type of microbial chemistry, possibly allowing for 'silanogenesis', imagines how ancient creatures might have used silicon compounds like silane for energy, similar to how some modern microbes produce methane.

Alexander Shulgin's Greatest Psychedelic Hits

Tripsitter • 119 implied HN points • 26 Jun 23
🏥 Health & Wellness Chemistry
  1. Alexander Shulgin, known as 'the godfather of psychedelics,' created hundreds of psychedelic compounds, with 6 standing out as his favorites, named the 'magical half-dozen.'
  2. Shulgin's work revolutionized the field of designer drugs and led to the exploration of thousands of psychoactive substances.
  3. Shulgin's approach to testing new compounds was meticulous, starting with low doses and gradually increasing, emphasizing safety and understanding the threshold dose for each substance.

Tuesday Links

Niko McCarty • 19 implied HN points • 28 May 24
🔬 Science Chemistry
  1. New AI models are being developed to design DNA sequences and create new antibodies. These advancements could help in understanding genetic activities better.
  2. Researchers have found a clever way to help microbes absorb molecules that usually cannot enter cells by attaching them to compounds that can. This could lead to new methods in biotechnology.
  3. Joining cancer trials might not help patients live longer, according to a study. It's important for patients to consider this when thinking about trial participation.

Designer Drug Exposé: Lysergamides

Tripsitter • 79 implied HN points • 16 Dec 23
🏥 Health & Wellness Chemistry
  1. Lysergamides like LSD are potent psychedelics with similar effects, challenging one's sense of self and reality.
  2. Designer lysergamides, such as 1P-LSD and ALD-52, mimic the effects of LSD and are often converted into active LSD in the body.
  3. Legal complexities surround lysergamides with only LSD explicitly listed as a controlled substance, leading to the creation of various analogs and prodrugs.

Arsenic and old faces

The Quack Doctor • 19 implied HN points • 10 May 24
💾 History Chemistry
  1. Arsenic was once thought to provide a youthful complexion, leading to the trend of advertising arsenic pills and soaps in the 1890s.
  2. Entrepreneurs in the 1890s marketed commercial arsenic products for complexion, openly promoting the poisonous ingredient as a benefit.
  3. Chemists faced legal trouble in the late 1800s for selling arsenic soap that did not actually contain arsenic, signaling a dangerous trend of mislabeling products.

Recycling Atoms With Supercritical Water

Splitting Infinity • 59 implied HN points • 27 Dec 23
🔬 Science Chemistry
  1. Supercritical water can break down organic matter like sewage, paper, plastic, and food into simple molecules, helping in recycling and generating energy.
  2. Using supercritical water can address the issue of a potential future carbon shortage by breaking down carbon present in waste into simple molecules.
  3. Supercritical water enables a wide range of chemical processes like producing green hydrogen, desalination, and supporting different chemical reactions, offering potential for creating sustainable systems.

Could AI's Dream Of Synthetic Sheep?

SCIENCE GODDESS • 78 implied HN points • 20 Mar 23
🔬 Science Chemistry
  1. The term 'hallucination' in the context of AI does not imply consciousness, but rather refers to AI systems stating untruths or false information.
  2. AI's ability to 'hallucinate' new proteins opens up possibilities for innovative developments in synthetic biology and drug discovery.
  3. There is speculation about whether AI could one day imagine and create entirely new forms of life based on alternative biochemistries, like synthetic sheep or silicon-based life.