Features

  • C2W_ColumnIsabelle_2025-04-02_PhDCompletion
    English

    The struggle of timely PhD completion

    2025-04-01T09:38:00Z

    Isabelle Kohler explores the structural issues behind PhD delays and shares practical advice for both PhD students and supervisors to support timely and sustainable PhD completion

  • Meme palladium
    English

    Palladium

    2025-04-01T08:56:00Z

    Most scientific research will not win a Nobel Prize, writes columnist Sjoerd Rijpkema. Are we too attached to our boundaries?

  • Finfarma1
    English

    Putting the F in pharma

    2025-03-26T13:52:00Z

    Adding fluorine to drug molecules can be tricky, but is often worthwhile. Rachel Brazil talks to the chemists trying to tame the ninth element. 

  • Neumann-liggend
    English

    Podium: Kevin Neumann

    2025-03-26T11:06:00Z

    Our members form the beating heart of our societies. Here, we regularly highlight one of them. This time, it’s KNCV-member Kevin Neumann. 

  • Meme pechgeneratie
    English

    The unfortunate generation

    2025-03-24T09:14:00Z

    Our new columnist Sjoerd Rijpkema distills his thoughts and opinions about chemistry and society into a meme. This week: the compensation for students in the Netherlands who didn’t get a ‘basisbeurs’.

  • shutterstock_2247078069
    English

    First detected 40 years ago, a byproduct in chloraminated drinking water has finally been identified

    2025-03-19T08:21:00Z

    The nature of an ‘unidentified product’ in drinking water disinfected with chloramines, which serves over 113 million people in the US alone, has finally been revealed by researchers in the US and Switzerland.

  • C2W_ColumnIsabelle_2025-03-19_Money
    English

    Take charge of your finances

    2025-03-18T11:15:00Z

    Isabelle Kohler shares her journey from financial uncertainty to financial confidence and offers practical advice to help early-career researchers take control of their financial future.

  • C2W_ColumnIsabelle_2025-03-05_BlankPage
    English

    Finding your writer’s voice

    2025-03-04T06:59:00Z

    Writing is an essential skill in academia, yet many early-career researchers find it challenging. In this column, Isabelle Kohler shares her personal relationship with writing and offers practical advice to help researchers transform writing from a daunting task into a rewarding practice.

  • shutterstock_2424325787
    English

    Producing antibodies non-stop

    2025-02-26T08:56:00Z

    Huge batch reactors are still the norm in the bioprocessing industry. But they are not really sustainable, nor are they cheap. Start-up company SimAbs is now introducing a steady-state system in which antibodies are produced continuously. 

  • C2W_ColumnIsabelle_2025-02-19_LookBackward
    English

    The power of looking backwards

    2025-02-19T07:14:00Z

    Isabelle shares how her personal journey taught her the value of looking backwards rather than forwards or sideways. She applies these insights to academia, encouraging PhD students and postdocs to acknowledge their progress and small wins.

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    English

    E-boiler reduces gas consumption at Vopak Vlaardingen

    2025-02-11T15:24:00Z

    Tank storage company Vopak has recently installed an e-boiler at its terminal in Vlaardingen. This could reduce gas consumption by a third. ‘The benefits lie in sustainability and CO2 reduction.’

  • C2W_ColumnIsabelle_2025-02-05_CareerPrep
    English

    Prioritise your next step

    2025-02-03T14:16:00Z

    Career planning is often overshadowed by the demands of research, leaving many PhD students unprepared for their next step. That’s why they should start planning their next career move early, says Isabelle Kohler.

  • KUL_0505-14 klein
    English

    Green solvents for biogas membranes

    2025-01-22T07:20:00Z

    To help make the agricultural sector more sustainable, a team from KU Leuven designed a membrane with a green solvent strategy for biogas purification. 

  • Vast-composiet-elektrolyt
    English

    Solid composite electrolyte outperforms on all fronts

    2025-01-21T09:19:00Z

    A team from the University of Hasselt and the research institute imec presents in Advanced Science a new electrolyte that combines the properties of solid and liquid electrolytes in batteries. ‘We actually cheat a little.’

  • C2W_ColumnIsabelle_2025-01-22_Success
    English

    What does success mean to you?

    2025-01-20T13:31:00Z

    Isabelle Kohler explores the personal nature of success and guides early-career researchers through the process of defining what success means to them.

  • shutterstock_2311942791
    English

    More than pollution: secondary organic aerosols

    2024-12-20T08:38:00Z

    Air pollution interferes with plant olfactory communication by accelerating the breakdown of volatile compounds. However, a recent study published in Science suggests that the effects of pollution are not as simple as they seem.

  • Cover PCCP Zonnebrand
    English

    First step towards natural sunscreen

    2024-12-18T13:09:00Z

    Researchers in Amsterdam have laid the first foundations for a sunscreen based on a molecule found naturally in the skin: urocanic acid. They have published extensive spectroscopic data in two papers in Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics.

  • DEXSORB installatie RWZI Dordrecht
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    Ball mill removes PFAS from wastewater

    2024-12-12T09:50:00Z

    Many pharmaceutical residues and PFASs accumulate in the environment, including in our wastewater. A ball mill seems to be the solution in a Dutch pilot project.

  • Kytero_10_Labor_241115
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    One technology for all volumes

    2024-12-11T10:03:00Z

    With a smaller version of its Kytero single-use centrifuge, GEA enables customers to apply the same separation technology during each stage of the track from R&D to full-blown commercial scale.  

  • C2W_ColumnIsabelle_2024-12-11_Patience3
    English

    An ode to patience

    2024-12-10T09:45:00Z

    Isabelle Kohler offers valuable tips to help early-career researchers stay patient while pursuing their professional dreams.