molecules and microbes

In the round-up of German pieces April to August 2022 we have microbes in cold geysers and on plants, as well as molecules from space, from early Earth, in suncream and on surfaces:

Diels-Alder Reaktion: Tanz der Elektronen
Chemie in unserer Zeit Volume 56, Issue 2, April 2022, Page 85
Restricted access via Wiley Online Library
related content in English: Diels-Alder reaction directly observed under the microscope

Ausgeforscht: Arachäen im kalten Sprudel
Nachrichten aus der Chemie Volume 70, Issue 4, April 2022, Page 98
restricted access via Wiley Online Library

This tongue-in-cheek piece is about archaea found in the cold water geyser at Andernach:

Image source: Wikipedia / Bungert55

I must have passed the site a hundred times going up and down the river Rhine on trains, but have never seen the geyser in action.

Das Mikrobiom der Pflanzen
Nachrichten aus der Chemie Volume 70, Issue 5, May 2022, Pages 79-80
restricted access via Wiley Online Library
related content in English: How plants grow their microbiome

Astrochemie: Moleküle aus dem Weltraum
Chemie in unserer Zeit Volume 56, Issue 3, June 2022, Page 153
Restricted access via Wiley Online Library
related content in English: Chemical ecosystem of Murchison meteorite molecules revealed in snapshots

(Blau)3 blüht der Ozean
Nachrichten aus der Chemie Volume 70, Issue 6, June 2022, Page 92
restricted access via Wiley Online Library

Paläobiologie: Lebensspuren oder chemischer Garten?
Nachrichten aus der Chemie Volume 70, Issue , 2022, Page 106
restricted access via Wiley Online Library

going to extremes

In the round-up of German pieces published August-October 2021 we have life under extreme conditions and new allotropes of carbon, all the fun of the fair.

Neue Kohlenstoff-Muster: Polyin und Biphenylen-Netzwerk
Chemie in unserer Zeit Volume 55, Issue 4, August 2021, Page 224-225
Restricted access via Wiley Online Library
related content in English: coming soon

Ausgeforscht: Hart auf hart
Nachrichten aus der Chemie Volume 69, Issue 9, September 2021, Page 123
restricted access via Wiley Online Library
the iron jaws of bristle worms (below)

Welwitschia: 80 Millionen Jahre Überleben in der Wüste
Chemie in unserer Zeit Volume 55, Issue 5, October 2021, Pages 294-295
Restricted access via Wiley Online Library
related content in English: How to survive in the desert

Leben im Untergrund
Nachrichten aus der Chemie Volume 69, Issue 10, October 2021, Pages 68-70
restricted access via Wiley Online Library
related content in English: Life underground

A random bristle worm picked for purely aesthetic reasons from Wikipedia. May have nothing to do with the iron jaw bristle worms discussed in the column cited above.

the world of RNA

The round-up of German pieces published in June to July 2021 is entirely made of RNA, from recreating the RNA world to saving the world with RNA vaccines and therapies.

RNA-Welt: Wie aus Chemie Biologie entsteht
Chemie in unserer Zeit Volume 55, Issue 3, June 2021, Page 153
Restricted access via Wiley Online Library
related content in English: Spark of life (feature in C&I)

Die neue mRNA-Medizin
Nachrichten aus der Chemie Volume 69, Issue 7/8, July/August 2021, Pages 60-61
access via Wiley Online Library - appears to be open access right now, probably because it's covid-related.
related content in English: The renaissance of RNA therapies
Also on the lovely cover (this is my second NCh cover story this year - a collateral benefit of the pandemic):

As it turned out, the weekly news magazine Der Spiegel also ran a cover story on RNA therapies at the same time. They probably put ten reporters on it, so I expect it will be a bit different from my story.

some viral stories

Quite Covid-heavy this round-up of German pieces, with the variants covered in December (just before the issue exploded) and the vaccines in February (see the cover below), as well as a tongue-in-cheek appreciation of the dog-led diagnostics. Other topics available include soil biodiversity, ammonia emissions from human skin, and protein crystals found inside the glass needles of marine sponges.

The Covid stories are on open access, and some of the others appear to be too, not sure why.

Ausgeforscht: Wir Emittenten
Nachrichten aus der Chemie Volume 68, Issue 11, November 2020, Page 98
Access via Wiley Online Library

Der Stammbaum der Pandemie
Nachrichten aus der Chemie Volume 68, Issue 12, December 2020, Pages 64-65
FREE access via Wiley Online Library
related content in English: Pandemic genomics

Verflixt verschachtelt
Nachrichten aus der Chemie Volume 69, Issue 1, January 2021, Pages 87-88
FREE access via Wiley Online Library

Der Covid-Schnuppertest
Nachrichten aus der Chemie Volume 69, Issue 1, January 2021, Page 114
FREE access via Wiley Online Library

Biomineralisation: Im Innern der Glasnadeln
Chemie in unserer Zeit Volume 55, Issue 1, February 2021, Page 12
Access via Wiley Online Library
related content in English: Sponges feature

Impfen gegen Covid-19
Nachrichten aus der Chemie Volume 69, Issue 1, January 2021, Pages 50-53
Access via Wiley Online Library
related content in English: Vaccines feature

cool cover of the Feb issue of Nachrichten aus der Chemie, although not quite a representation of how the vaccines work ...

legos and other building blocks

That awkward moment when I need to cite my own article from five months ago and find I have neither saved the PDF nor referenced it on the blog. So after a trawl through the Wiley Online Library, here are the publications in German I recently forgot to mention:

Von Viren und Tieren
Nachrichten aus der Chemie Volume 68, Issue 5, May 2020, Pages 63-65
Access via Wiley Online Library
related content in English (animal sources of Sars-CoV-2 and other coronaviruses)

Proteomik: Den Urmenschen auf den Zahn gefühlt
Chemie in unserer Zeit Volume 54, Issue 3, June 2020, Page 147
Access via Wiley Online Library
Related content in English (dental proteomics of hominins)

Stammzelltherapien - was ist dran?
Nachrichten aus der Chemie Volume 68, Issue 7/8, July/August 2020, Pages 62-64
Access via Wiley Online Library
related content in English (stem cell therapies)

Insekten-Pheromone: Scheidung auf Chemisch
Chemie in unserer Zeit Volume 54, Issue 4, August 2020, Page 215
Access via Wiley Online Library
Related content in English (coming soon)

Ausgeforscht: Langlebiges Lego
Nachrichten aus der Chemie Volume 68, Issue 9, September 2020, Page 114
Access via Wiley Online Library

So entsteht eine Proteinfabrik
Nachrichten aus der Chemie Volume 68, Issue 10, October 2020, Pages 65-67
Access via Wiley Online Library
related content in English (ribosome asembly and evolution)

two decades of taking the mickey

Rounding up the science journalism published in German in March and April we have biodegradable plastics, molecular Ferris wheels, and the completion of my second decade of making scientifically-minded fun of things:

Umwelt: Biologie gegen Plastikmüll
Nachrichten aus der Chemie Volume 68, Issue 3, March 2020, Pages 76-78
Access via Wiley Online Library
related content in English

Ausgeforscht: Erkenne deine Grenzen
Nachrichten aus der Chemie Volume 68, Issue 3, March 2020, Page 106
Access via Wiley Online Library
(peer review helps authors to appreciate the limitations of their findings)

20 Jahre Ausgeforscht: Auf der Suche nach dem verlorenen Sinn
Nachrichten aus der Chemie Volume 68, Issue 4, April 2020, Page 14-15
Access via Wiley Online Library
This is my regular column celebrating its 20th birthday in the context of the April pages which are generally in the spirit of advanced tongue-in-cheekery; the second decade's worth of the column is collected in the Tabakschwärmer book, out now.

Aromaten: Ein Hückelsches Riesenrad
Chemie in unserer Zeit Volume 54, Issue, 2 April 2020, Page 76-77
Access via Wiley Online Library
Related content in English




Hey, I haven't done enough trumpet-blowing for the Tabakschwärmer book so I'll re-use it as illustration here ...

splashing out

In the round-up of German pieces published since August, we have splashy art, molecular music, smells and old bones, bit of everything really ...


Ausgeforscht: Die Musik der Proteine
Nachrichten aus der Chemie Volume 67, Issue 10, Oct. 2019, Page 98
Access via Wiley Online Library

Der dritte Mensch
Nachrichten aus der Chemie Volume 67, Issue 9, Sept. 2019, Pages 60-62
Access via Wiley Online Library
related content in English

Ausgeforscht: Die Kunst des Spritzens
Nachrichten aus der Chemie Volume 67, Issue 9, September 2019, Page 98
Access via Wiley Online Library
(the science of Jackson Pollock style splashing)

Jedem sein eigener Riecher: Genetik und Geruchswahrnehmung
Chemie in unserer Zeit Volume 53, Issue ,4 August 2019, Page 210
Access via Wiley Online Library
related content in English




Nothing to do with my articles, but I'm loving the cover photo of a Kipp apparatus on the October issue of Nachrichten. The relevant article is a profile of a guy who collects ancient lab glassware (open access) - now there's an idea ... (PDF of the cover here)

slow news

As the US had a day off yesterday, it's a bit of a slow news day on EurekAlert today, so instead of filter-feeding on the science news I'm trying to catch up with my publications in German magazines:


Ausgeforscht: Muntermacherligand
Nachrichten aus der Chemie Volume 67, Issue 7/8, July/Aug. 2019, Page 106
Access via Wiley Online Library
Coffee is of course the most important reagent in all kinds of science ...

Erste Moleküle im Weltraum: Urknall der Chemie
Chemie in unserer Zeit Volume 53, Issue 3, June 2019, Page 145
Access via Wiley Online Library
related content in English - coming soon

Von Allen Seiten gegen Malaria
Nachrichten aus der Chemie Volume 67, Issue 6, June 2019, Pages 59-61
Access via Wiley Online Library
related feature in English

Ausgeforscht: Schwips ohne Kater
Nachrichten aus der Chemie Volume 67, Issue 6, June 2019, Page 98
Access via Wiley Online Library

Ausgeforscht: Auf die Mikrodosis kommt es an
Nachrichten aus der Chemie Volume 67, Issue 5, May 2019, Page 98
Access via Wiley Online Library

Pflanzenstoffwechsel: Biomarker melden unterirdische Symbiose
Chemie in unserer Zeit Volume 53, Issue 2, April 2019, Page 48
Access via Wiley Online Library

Neue lichtaktivierte Wirkstoffe
Nachrichten aus der Chemie Volume 67, Issue 4, April 2019, Page 58-60
Access via Wiley Online Library

Ausgeforscht: Alles fließt
Nachrichten aus der Chemie Volume 67, Issue 4, April 2019, Page 106
Access via Wiley Online Library

Ausgeforscht: Künstliche Dummheit
Nachrichten aus der Chemie Volume 67, Issue 3, March 2019, Page 114
Access via Wiley Online Library

all things German

Publications in a few German magazines keep happening, I'm just failing miserably in keeping track of them.

So, without any attempt at logic or regular patterns of updates, here is what has come in since the last update:


Synthetische Biologie: Lebensfunktionen neu erdacht
Chemie in unserer Zeit Volume 53, Issue 1, Februar 2019, Page 7
Access via Wiley Online Library
related content in English

Von Mikroben und Mineralien
Nachrichten aus der Chemie Volume 67, Issue 2, Februar 2019, Pages 52-53
Access via Wiley Online Library
related content in English


Ausgeforscht: Mit 150 fängt das Leben an
Nachrichten aus der Chemie Volume 67, Issue 2, Februar 2019, Page 98
Access via Wiley Online Library


Ausgeforscht: Künstliche Dummheit
Nachrichten aus der Chemie Volume 67, Issue 3, March 2019, Page 114
Access via Wiley Online Library


Chemie: Künstliche Intelligenz entdeckt neue Stoffe
Spektrum der Wissenschaft Heft 2/2019, S 24-27
related content in English (the second story mentioned in this blog entry)




Own photo of the event that inspired the Ausgeforscht column published in February (a product launch trying very hard to look cool).

summery smells

oooops, I've somehow lost track of tracking the publications in German, so there is a little gap in the record, but let's just carry on with July/August as if nothing happened ...

So in these two hot summer months we've had molecular wires, mysterious membranes, and the smells of summer:

Molekularer Draht von Hand gemacht
Chemie in unserer Zeit Volume52, Issue4, August 2018, Pages 211-212
Access via Wiley Online Library
(molecular wire made by atomic manipulation - related content in English)

Merkwürdige Membranen
Nachrichten aus der Chemie Volume 66, Issue 7-8, Pages 722-724, Juli ‐ August 2018
Access via Wiley Online Library
(why the membranes of archaea are so strange - related content in English)

Der Duft der Sommerferien
Nachrichten aus der Chemie Volume 66, Issue 7-8, Page 811, Juli ‐ August 2018
Access via Wiley Online Library


PS: I've now updated my publications list, so the missing German pieces should be here.

well connected

In the round-up of German pieces published in November and December, we gain information and energy from the bloodstream, while solar powered worms are running around in circles and everything is connected to everything else. Business as usual, really.



Netzwerk Leben: GTex - alles vernetzt
Chemie in unserer Zeit Volume 51, Issue 6, December 2017, pp 428-429
Access via Wiley Online Library
(last instalment of my 12-part series on the molecular network of life)


Ausgeforscht: Frankensteins Blutturbine
Nachrichten aus der Chemie
Volume 65, Issue 11, November 2017, page 1175
Access via Wiley Online Library

Warnende Moleküle im Blutkreislauf
Nachrichten aus der Chemie
Volume 65, Issue 12, December 2017, pages 1203–1204
Access via Wiley Online Library


Ausgeforscht: Solarkreisel statt Energiewende
Nachrichten aus der Chemie
Volume 65, Issue 12, December 2017, page 1267
Access via Wiley Online Library

connect seven

The roundup of German pieces published in September and October includes worms (separately) damaging books and plastic bags, the benefits of fish oil and cannabis, the networks of microglia in the brain and chemists' families, including the family of my PhD supervisor whose father worked with Haber, who invented the synthesis of ammonia, about which there is also an article. Obviously, you can buy fish in plastic bags and even catch it yourself using those very same caterpillars as bait, and cannabis probably influences the microglia in some ways, so everything is connected to everything else. Phew.


Stickstofffixierung: Ammoniaksynthese bei Zimmertemperatur?
Chemie in unserer Zeit Volume 51, Issue 5, October 2017, p 294
Access via Wiley Online Library


Abbau von Polyethylen: Kontroverse um Raupen und PE
Chemie in unserer Zeit Volume 51, Issue 5, October 2017, p 294
Access via Wiley Online Library


Netzwerk Leben: Mikroglia – Wächter im Gehirn
Chemie in unserer Zeit Volume 51, Issue 5, October 2017, pp 298–299
Access via Wiley Online Library


Ausgeforscht: Verjüngungsrausch für Senioren
Nachrichten aus der Chemie
Volume 65, Issue 9, September 2017, page 975
Access via Wiley Online Library

Ein Genschalter für Essgewohnheiten
Nachrichten aus der Chemie
Volume 65, Issue 10, October 2017, pages 989–991
Access via Wiley Online Library


Chemie als Familientradition
Nachrichten aus der Chemie
Volume 65, Issue 10, October 2017, pages 1036–1038
Access via Wiley Online Library


Ausgeforscht: Dem Bücherwurm auf der Spur
Nachrichten aus der Chemie
Volume 65, Issue 10, October 2017, page 1075
Access via Wiley Online Library

very hungry caterpillars

the roundup of German pieces published in July and August includes my take on the plastic-degrading caterpillars, along with the surprising regulatory role of ribosomal proteins, the quest for better fertilisers, and musings on a ban of concentrated hydrogen peroxide.


Raupen zerlegen PE
Chemie in unserer Zeit Volume 51, Issue 4, August 2017, Page 223
Access via Wiley Online Library


Netzwerk Leben: Die Proteinfabrik reguliert sich selbst
Chemie in unserer Zeit Volume 51, Issue 4, August 2017, Pages 282-283
Access via Wiley Online Library


Besser düngen
Nachrichten aus der Chemie Volume 65, Issue 7-8, Juli - August 2017, Pages 764-765
Access via Wiley Online Library

Jäger und Sammler
Nachrichten aus der Chemie Volume 65, Issue 7-8, Juli - August 2017, Page 859
Access via Wiley Online Library

strings attached

In the round-up of German pieces published in May and June we have 3D-printed aliens, tattooed cucumbers, as well as entanglements of DNA and shoelaces (which, of course stand in for DNA as well):


Netzwerk Leben: Verwicklungen der Schnürsenkel
Chemie in unserer Zeit 51, 154-155
restricted access


Ausgeforscht: Tätowierung für Gurken
Nachrichten aus der Chemie vol 65, no. 5, p619
restricted access

Ausgeforscht: E.T. aus dem 3-D-Drucker
Nachrichten aus der Chemie vol 65, no. 6, p751
restricted access

Medizin: Gefaltete DNA für Diagnose und Therapie
Nachrichten aus der Chemie vol 65, no. 6, pp636-639
restricted access

smelly socks

here comes the round-up of German pieces published in March and April, including serious science on zinc fingers and f-group chemistry, and slightly less serious stuff on champagne and smelly socks.


f-Gruppen-Chemie: Opposition erwünscht
Chemie in unserer Zeit 51, 138-139
restricted access

Netzwerk Leben: Zinkfinger gegen Fremd-DNA
Chemie in unserer Zeit 51, 82
restricted access


Ausgeforscht: Große Blasen, kleine Blasen
Nachrichten aus der Chemie vol 65, p411
restricted access

Ausgeforscht: Socken mit Katalysator
Nachrichten aus der Chemie vol 65, 511
restricted access

a mixed bag

My round-up of German pieces published in February (none in January) includes Trumpian chemistry, CRISPR in agriculture, enzymatic Si-C bonding, and cancer stem cells:


Organosiliciumverbindungen leicht gemacht
Chemie in unserer Zeit vol 51, p 9
open access (apparently, don't know why)

Netzwerk Leben: Die Stellknöpfe der Entwicklungsuhr
Chemie in unserer Zeit vol 51, pp 68–69
open access (apparently, don't know why)

Genetisches Tipp-Ex für die Landwirtschaft
Nachrichten aus der Chemie vol 65 , pp 128-130
abstract and restricted access to full text

Chemie ist Trumpf
Nachrichten aus der Chemie vol 65 , p 215
open access

catching up

oooops, I seem to have neglected the round-ups of my publications in German, so here goes from July through to December 2016:

Neurochemie: Vogelspinne zeigt neue Schmerz-Wege
Chemie in unserer Zeit Volume 50, Issue 4, page 159
abstract and restricted access to full text

Netzwerk Leben: Calcium rundum vernetzt
Chemie in unserer Zeit Volume 50, Issue 4, pages 224-225, August 2016
abstract and restricted access to full text

Ökosystem: Eine globale Nährstoffpumpe
Nachrichten aus der Chemie Volume 64, Issue 7/8, pages 738-740
abstract and restricted access to full text

Ausgeforscht: Bier - neu definiert
Nachrichten aus der Chemie Volume 64, Issue 7/8, pages 819
restricted access to full text and PDF download

Ausgeforscht: Küche gegen Labor
Nachrichten aus der Chemie Volume 64, Issue 9, page 935
restricted access to full text and PDF download

Netzwerk Leben: Ein Thermometer, das auch wehtun kann
Chemie in unserer Zeit Volume 50, Issue 5, pages 352–353, October 2016
abstract and restricted access to full text

Medizinische Chemie: Schmerzbehandlung ohne Suchtgefahr
Nachrichten aus der Chemie Volume 64, Issue 10, pages 952-954
abstract and restricted access to full text

Forensik: Fälschliche genetische Fingerabdrucke
Spektrum der Wissenschaft Nr 10, pages 29-30

Wie entstanden und funktionierten die ersten Nucleinsäuren?
Chemie in unserer Zeit Volume 50, Issue 6, page 370
abstract and restricted access to full text

Netzwerk Leben: Erkennt die Signale
Chemie in unserer Zeit Volume 50, Issue 6, pages 420-421, Dez 2016
abstract and restricted access to full text

Biowissenschaften: Insekten als Indikatoren
Nachrichten aus der Chemie Volume 64, Issue 12, pages 610-612
abstract and restricted access to full text

Ausgeforscht: Der Duft der alten Bücher
Nachrichten aus der Chemie Volume 64, Issue 12, page 1235

Also, congratulations to Chemie in unserer Zeit for completing its 50th year, here is how it all began, back in 1967:

boron, barbecue and biotech

In the roundup of German pieces published in June, we have biotechnological uses of algae, burning barbecues, hydrogen bonds, and circadian clocks:

Bor baut Brücken
Chemie in unserer Zeit Volume 50, Issue 3, page 159
abstract and restricted access to full text

Netzwerk Leben: Die Zeitschaltuhr
Chemie in unserer Zeit Volume 50, Issue 3, pages 160–161, Juni 2016
Free access to full text and PDF download

Impfstoffproduktion: Alge statt Ei?
Nachrichten aus der Chemie Volume 64, Issue 6, pages 610-612
abstract and restricted access to full text

Ausgeforscht: Jetzt wird's brenzlig
Nachrichten aus der Chemie Volume 64, Issue 6, pages 719
restricted access to full text and PDF download

licence to smell

The slightly belated roundup of German pieces published in April (there were none in March, I think) includes the whiff of dead people as well as the underappreciated sense of smell of living people, a dead chemist who could have become Bond, the rise and rise of vegetarian mycoprotein products (such as Quorn (TM)), a potential treatment for cataracts, and the question why elephants rarely get cancer.

Wir können besser riechen als wir denken
Chemie in unserer Zeit 2016, 50, 140-143.
Abstract and restricted access to full text

See also my feature in English, which is now on open access.

Grauer Star: Aggregate aufgelöst
Chemie in unserer Zeit 2016, 50, 83.
Abstract and restricted access to full text

Netzwerk Leben: Die Notbremse
Chemie in unserer Zeit 2016, 50, 88-89.
Abstract and restricted access to full text

Mykoprotein als Fleischersatz
Nachrichten aus der Chemie 2016, 64, 403-405.
Abstract and restricted access to full text

Beinahe Bond
Nachrichten aus der Chemie 2016, 64, 446.
Abstract and restricted access to full text

Ausgeforscht: Ätherisches Nachleben
Nachrichten aus der Chemie 2016, 64, 487.
Restricted access to full text

Asifa Majid from Radboud University Nijmegen has studied the smell lexicon of hunter-gatherer societies in South Asia. The photo shows her sampling the smell of wild ginger during a field trip to the Jahai in Malaysia. (Photo: Niclas Burenhult, Lund University, Sweden.)

caterpillars and cats

In the roundup of German pieces published in January/ February, we encounter Lewis Carroll's hookah-smoking caterpillar, sticky mussels, tortoiseshell cats and lignin:

Rohstoffquelle und Ballast
Nachrichten aus der Chemie 64, 17-18
open access

Ausgeforscht: Chemische Schwärmereien
Nachrichten aus der Chemie 64,207

Biomaterialien: Der Unterwasser-Klebstoff der Muscheln
Chemie in unserer Zeit 50, 14-15.
Abstract and restricted access to full text

Netzwerk Leben - Das Genom: Ein Chromosom wird ausgeschaltet
Chemie in unserer Zeit 50, 72-73
Abstract and restricted access to full text
(new series of short articles on the network nodes of the genome, starting with Xist and X-inactivation)

Chemie in unserer Zeit (also known as ChiuZ) has just entered its 50th year, so there are also some celebrations and reflections going on in the issue - although strictly speaking the round birthday is at the end of the 50th year, but hey, let's celebrate anyway ...

Update 16.8.2016: The genome of the nicotine resistant caterpillar Manduca sexta (tobacco hornworm / Tabakschwärmer) featured in Chemische Schwärmereien, above, has now been published.