Episodes
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On Oct. 9, the 2024 Nobel Prize for Chemistry was awarded to David Baker, Demis Hassabis, and John M. Jumper for their work in prediction and design of protein structures. C&EN’s executive editor for life sciences, Laura Howes, joins a special episode of Stereo Chemistry to discuss why the trio won, the significance of their work around proteins, and how she accurately predicted the win in C&EN’s annual “Who Will Win?” webinar.
Stereo Chemistry offers a deeper look at subjects from recent stories pulled from the pages of Chemical & Engineering News. Check out Laura’s story on how these computational chemists won this year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry at cenm.ag/chemnobel2024.
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In the 20th century, corporate powerhouses like Bell Labs and DuPont Central Research funded R&D from their balance sheets, creating a clear path for postdoctoral scientists to innovate beyond their university research. In 2024, with the decay of corporate laboratories, graduates are taking the commercial start-up route more and more. C&EN, business reporter Matt Blois discusses several such start-ups, exploring how the founders are making the transition from PhD to CEO and mapping the various routes they've taken to secure funding to continue their research.
C&EN Uncovered, a project from C&EN’s podcast, Stereo Chemistry, offers a deeper look at subjects from recent stories. Check out Matt’s story on how PhDs are learning to become CEOs at cenm.ag/chementrepreneurs
Cover photo: Laura Stoy inside a laboratory at Rivalia Chemical
Subscribe to Stereo Chemistry now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
A transcript of this episode is available at cen.acs.org.
Credits
Executive producer: David Anderson
C&EN Uncovered host: Craig Bettenhausen
Reporter: Matt Blois
Audio editor: Ted Woods
Copyeditor: Bran Vickers
Episode artwork: Jim Prisching
Music: “Hot Chocolate,” by Aves
Contact Stereo Chemistry: Contact us on social media at @cenmag or email [email protected]. -
Missing episodes?
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On average, from 2011 to 2021, academic labs generated around 4,300 metric tons of hazardous waste each year. One of the largest lab-used solvents discarded is dichloromethane and more than half of that waste ends up burned. In today’s episode, policy reporters Krystal Vasquez and Leigh Krietsch Boerner dive into the processes academic labs use to dispose of said waste, the consequences of new EPA regulations around dichloromethane, and what solutions academic institutions are coming up with to accommodate these new rules.
C&EN Uncovered, a project from C&EN’s podcast, Stereo Chemistry, offers a deeper look at subjects from recent stories. Check out Krystal’s story on the new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulations regarding dichloromethane at https://cenm.ag/dcmregs and check out Leigh’s story about solvent waste disposal in academic laboratories at https://cenm.ag/wastedisposal.
Cover photo: Lab solvents C&EN July 15th cover photo
Subscribe to Stereo Chemistry now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
A transcript of this episode will be available soon at cen.acs.org.
Credits
Executive producer(s): Gina Vitale, David Anderson
C&EN Uncovered host: Craig Bettenhausen
Reporter(s): Krystal Vasquez, Leigh Krietsch Boerner
Audio editor: Ted Woods
Copyeditor: Bran Vickers
Episode artwork: Will Ludwig
Music: “Hot Chocolate,” by Aves
Contact Stereo Chemistry: Contact us on social media at @cenmag or email [email protected] -
Tragedies in the communities of Flint, Michigan, and East Palestine, Ohio, continue to affect residents 10 years and 1 year on, respectively, from the initial events. Residents of both cities continue to rebound and rebuild despite ongoing issues revolving around the toxic chemicals that were introduced to their towns through human decisions.
C&EN physical sciences reporter Priyanka Runwal traveled to both Flint and East Palestine to speak with residents about how they are recovering, how the actions of their representatives have fallen short, and their hopes to return to something of a “normal” existence in the future.
C&EN Uncovered, a project from C&EN’s podcast, Stereo Chemistry, offers a deeper look at subjects from recent stories. Check out Priyanka’s cover story on Flint after 10 years at cenm.ag/flint; Check out Priyanka’s cover story on East Palestine at cenm.ag/eastpalestine
Cover photo: Residents of Flint, Michigan, march arm in arm as they demand justice and accountability for their community 10 years from the beginning of the water crisis.
Subscribe to Stereo Chemistry now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
A transcript of this episode will be available soon at cen.acs.org.
Credits
Executive producer: Gina Vitale
C&EN Uncovered host: Craig Bettenhausen
Reporter: Priyanka Runwal
Audio editor: Ted Woods
Copyeditor: Bran Vickers
Story editor: Laura Howes
Episode artwork: Brittany Greeson
Music: “Hot Chocolate,” by Aves
Contact Stereo Chemistry: Contact us on social media at @cenmag or email [email protected]. -
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, a class of chemicals known as PFAS, are often called “forever chemicals” because of how long they persist in the environment. They are prevalent in drinking water and have been linked to negative health outcomes.
A slew of cleantech start-ups are cropping up with the aim of breaking down and destroying PFAS molecules. In this episode of C&EN Uncovered, reporter Britt Erickson explores the technologies behind these companies and the competition among them.
C&EN Uncovered, a project from C&EN’s podcast, Stereo Chemistry, offers a deeper look at subjects from recent stories. Check out Britt’s cover story on the destruction techniques for these “forever chemicals” at cenm.ag/foreverchemicals.
Cover photo: Argon gas plasma, which can break down PFAS, on the surface of liquid water
Subscribe to Stereo Chemistry now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.A transcript of this episode is available now at cen.acs.org.
Credits
Executive producer: Gina Vitale
C&EN Uncovered host: Craig Bettenhausen
Reporter: Britt Erickson
Audio editor: Ted Woods
Copyeditor: Bran Vickers
Story editor: Michael McCoy
Episode artwork: Courtesy of Selma Mededovic Thagard/Clarkson University
Music: “Hot Chocolate,” by Aves
Contact Stereo Chemistry: Contact us on social media at @cenmag or email [email protected]. -
As the science of drug discovery has grown in scale and gotten more complicated, so have the drug molecules themselves. But there’s a promising class of drugs made of just a handful of atoms that punch above their weight by leveraging the natural chemistry of the cell.
Recent discoveries have opened up a new era of pharmaceutical chemistry that some people are calling a golden age. In this episode of C&EN Uncovered, reporter Laura Howes explains this exciting field of research and its implications for the drugs of the future.
C&EN Uncovered, a project from C&EN’s podcast, Stereo Chemistry, offers a deeper look at subjects from recent stories. Check out Laura’s cover story on small-molecule drugs at cenm.ag/smallmol.
Subscribe to Stereo Chemistry now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
A transcript of this episode is available at cenm.ag/smallmolpod.
Credits
Executive producer: Gina Vitale
C&EN Uncovered host: Craig Bettenhausen
Reporter: Laura Howes
Audio editor: Brian Gutierrez
Copyeditor: Bran Vickers
Story editor: Mitch Jacoby
Episode artwork: Chris Gash
Music: “Hot Chocolate,” by Aves
Contact Stereo Chemistry: Contact us on social media at @cenmag or email [email protected]. -
Resting on the bottom of the ocean are potato-sized nodules of valuable minerals that are more or less up for grabs. Multiple corporations and some nations are racing to build deep-sea drones that can withstand the extreme conditions at the seafloor and bring these 1-20 cm nodules to eager buyers on the surface.
Many of the metals in these nodules are critical for green technologies like batteries. But these nodules are also an important part of ecosystems we are just beginning to understand. In this episode, C&EN reporter Priyanka Runwal chats with host Craig Bettenhausen about this complex issue.
C&EN Uncovered, a project from C&EN’s podcast, Stereo Chemistry, offers a deeper look at subjects from recent stories. Check out Runwal’s full story at cenm.ag/seafloormine.
For more about mining the oceans, check out this episode of Stereo Chemistry from earlier this year about filtering minerals directly out of the water: cenm.ag/ocean
Subscribe to Stereo Chemistry now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
A transcript of this episode is available at cenm.ag/deapsea.
Credits
Executive producer: Gina Vitale
C&EN Uncovered host: Craig Bettenhausen
Reporter: Priyanka Runwal
Audio editor: Brian Gutierrez
Copyeditor: Bran Vickers
Story editor: Laura Howes
Episode artwork: Diva Amon/Craig Smith/University of Hawaii
Music: “Hot Chocolate,” by Aves
Contact Stereo Chemistry: Contact us on social media at @cenmag or email [email protected]. -
The Nobel Prize announcements are big events at Chemical & Engineering News. But we find out the winners at the same time as everyone else.
Then, the race is on for our reporters.
This year, staffers Laurel Oldach and Mitch Jacoby took on the task of covering the science prizes. In this episode, they reflect on this year’s winning research in chemistry and medicine and share what it’s like covering the most prestigious prizes in science.
C&EN Uncovered, a project from C&EN’s podcast, Stereo Chemistry, offers a deeper look at subjects from recent stories. Check out our reporting on the 2023 Nobel Prizes at https://cen.acs.org/magazine/101/10133.html.
Subscribe to Stereo Chemistry now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
A transcript of this episode is available at cenm.ag/nobelpod23
Credits
Executive producer: Gina Vitale
Host: Gina Vitale
Reporters: Mitch Jacoby and Laura Oldach
Audio editor: Brian Gutierrez
Copyeditor: Bran Vickers
Story editor: Chris Gorski
Episode artwork: Milad Abolhasani/NCSU
Music: “Hot Chocolate,” by Aves
Contact Stereo Chemistry: Contact us on social media at @cenmag or email [email protected]. -
The first issue of C&EN was published in 1923 with the stated purpose of “the promotion of research, the development of the chemical industry, and the welfare of the chemist.”
The world of chemistry has grown a lot since then, and the magazine has been there to report on it all.
To celebrate our 100th anniversary, C&EN reporter and informal historian Alex Tullo has sifted through thousands of issues of the magazine, and in this episode, he guides our host Craig Bettenhausen on a tour through the magazine’s history from the industrialization of plastics, to the environmental movement, to the modern era of digital publication.
When this episode was recorded, Tullo was preparing the From the Archives feature for the 1980s, which is now published.
C&EN Uncovered, a project from C&EN’s podcast, Stereo Chemistry, offers a deeper look at subjects from recent stories. Read Alex’s entire series about the C&EN archives at cenm.ag/fromthearchives.
A transcript of this episode can be found at http://cenm.ag/100yearspod.
Credits
Executive producer: Gina Vitale
C&EN Uncovered host: Craig Bettenhausen
Reporter: Alex Tullo
Audio editor: Brian Gutierrez
Copyeditor: Bran Vickers
Story editor: Manny I. Fox Morone
Episode artwork: Shutterstock/Kay Youn/Will Ludwig/C&EN
Music: “Hot Chocolate” by Aves
Contact Stereo Chemistry: Contact us on social media @cenmag or email [email protected]. -
Early-career scientists are increasingly gravitating toward science policy, but the transition from the research bench to the policy office can be a tricky one. What can that path look like, and how can chemistry knowledge translate into a successful science policy career? In this bonus episode of C&EN’s Bonding Time, Mark Feuer DiTusa sits down with recent science PhD graduates and science policy professionals Jennifer DiStefano and Jared Mondschein to hear about their intertwined journeys, what science policy looks like for them, and how they think policy is shaping the direction of chemistry in the US.
You can find the episode where we spoke with six chemists about their yearlong science policy fellowships in Washington, DC, at http://cenm.ag/lessons.
You can connect with Jennifer DiStefano and Jared Mondschein at their LinkedIn pages.
A transcript of this episode can be found at http://cenm.ag/scipolicy
Credits
Executive producer: Gina Vitale
Writer: Mark Feuer DiTusa
Audio editor: Mark Feuer DiTusa, Brian Gutierrez
Story editor: Ariana Remmel
Copyeditor: Sabrina Ashwell, Michael McCoy
Show logo design: William A. Ludwig
Episode artwork: William A. Ludwig
Music (in order of appearance): “The Beat Detector” by Novembers, "Sugar Cubes" by Avner Kelmer
Contact Stereo Chemistry: Tweet at us at @cenmag or email [email protected]. -
Hydrogen might be the key to a clean energy future, but only if it can be made without fossil fuels. Most hydrogen today is made from methane.
With generous government tax credits and enthusiasm for sustainable technology, the race is on for green hydrogen.
Craig Bettenhausen, our usual host, guides C&EN associate editor Gina Vitale through the hydrogen rainbow and how the periodic table’s number 1 element could become the number 1 fuel.
C&EN Uncovered, a new project from C&EN’s podcast, Stereo Chemistry, offers a deeper look at subjects from recent cover stories. Read Bettenhausen’s July 3, 2023, cover story about hydrogen electrolyzers at cenm.ag/hydrolyzers.
A transcript of this episode is available at cenm.ag/greenhydrogen.
Credits
Executive producer: Gina Vitale
Host: Gina Vitale
Cover story reporter: Craig Bettenhausen
Audio editor: Brian Gutierrez
Story editor: Michael McCoy
Copyeditor: Sabrina Ashwell
Show logo design: William A. Ludwig
Episode artwork: Nel
Music: “Hot Chocolate” by Aves
Contact Stereo Chemistry: Tweet at us @cenmag or email [email protected]. -
The modern world runs on electronic devices and energy systems that are powered by valuable elements such as lithium and uranium. There are a limited number of terrestrial mines that produce energy-critical elements, which makes the supply of these materials prone to disruption. So researchers are looking to an unconventional source: seawater. Almost every element on the periodic table can be found in global oceans–but most are dissolved in ultralow concentrations. In this episode of Stereo Chemistry, we’ll hear from scientists in the United States and European Union about why they’re interested in extracting metals and minerals from seawater and how they’re using chemistry to do it.
A transcript of this episode will be available soon at cen.acs.org.
Download the Chemistry News by C&EN mobile app for iOS and Android.
Learn more about lithium mining from our September 2022 episode.
Credits
Producers: Ariana Remmel, Kerri Jansen
Writer: Mitch Jacoby
Audio editor: Mark Feuer DiTusa
Story editors: Gina Vitale, Craig Bettenhausen
Copyeditor: Sabrina Ashwell
Show logo design: William A. Ludwig
Episode artwork: Shutterstock/C&EN Staff
Music (in order of appearance): “Daydream” by Ikoliks, “Distance” by Daniel Brown
Sound effects (in order of appearance): “Small waves, rocks and beach” from BigSoundBank.com
Contact Stereo Chemistry: Tweet at us @cenmag or email [email protected]. -
Be they powered by fossil fuels, batteries, or hydrogen, cars are here to stay. So what can be done to make tires greener? In this episode of Stereo Chemistry, C&EN reporters Alex Scott and Craig Bettenhausen look at where the rubber meets the road, literally. Scott examined efforts to make tires more sustainable in a recent cover story for C&EN. He found people working on the movement and fate of tiny specks of tire-and-asphalt dust in the environment as well as large-scale efforts to shift to biobased and recycled raw materials when making new tires.
C&EN Uncovered, a project from C&EN’s podcast, Stereo Chemistry, offers another look at subjects from recent cover stories. Read Scott’s May 29th, 2023, cover story about how the tire industry is pushing to become more sustainable at https://bit.ly/42MMseA.
A transcript of this episode is available at https://bit.ly/3Kw5gID.
Credits
Executive producer: Gina Vitale
C&EN Uncovered host: Craig Bettenhausen
Cover story reporter: Alex Scott
Audio editor: Mark Feuer DiTusa
Story editor: Michael McCoy, Ariana Remmel, Laura Howes
Copyeditor: Sabrina Ashwell
Show logo design: William A. Ludwig
Episode artwork: Pyrum Innovations
Music: “Hot Chocolate” by Aves
Contact Stereo Chemistry: Tweet at us @cenmag or email [email protected]. -
When two wastewater treatment facilities in Baltimore, Maryland, broke down in early 2021, the surrounding waterways began filling up with sewage. In this episode of Stereo Chemistry, C&EN business reporter Craig Bettenhausen takes the pod to visit the Back River Plant and Patapsco Plant in the Chesapeake Bay watershed to demystify how these facilities treat wastewater and take a deep dive into the chemistry behind enhanced nutrient removal systems. Chemical engineers, environmental advocates, and infrastructure experts explore what happens to aquatic ecosystems when wastewater treatment systems fail–and share their perspectives on reimagining wastewater as a chemical treasure trove in the future.
Listen to our bonus episode with Kerri Jansen here: cenm.ag/jansen-podcast
A transcript of this episode is available at https://cenm.ag/treatment.
Credits
Producers: Ariana Remmel, Kerri Jansen; Writer: Craig Bettenhausen; Audio editor: Mark Feuer DiTusa; Story editors: Ariana Remmel, Gina Vitale, Chris Gorski, Mike McCoy; Copyeditor: Sydney Smith; Show logo design: William A. Ludwig; Episode artwork: Craig Bettenhausen; Music (in order of appearance): "Refuge" by Walz, "Lunch Time" by Avner Kelmer -
Stereo Chemistry’s longtime host Kerri Jansen is stepping down from her role as executive producer of the podcast. Jansen has been with Stereo Chemistry since it began in 2018, and has played an integral role in the production of C&EN’s flagship podcast. In this bonus episode, Jansen talks with C&EN’s interim coeditors for audio & video, Ariana Remmel and Gina Vitale, about some of her favorite episodes from the Stereo Chemistry archives.
A transcript of this episode is now available at https://cenm.ag/jansen-podcast.
Listen to some of Kerri’s favorite Stereo Chemistry episodes:
How helium shortages have changed science
Lithium mining’s water use sparks bitter conflicts and novel chemistry
Nobel laureates Frances Arnold and Jennifer Doudna on prizes, pandemics, and Jimmy Page
A world without Rosalind Franklin
Why chemists are excited by exascale computing
There’s more to James Harris’s story
Credits
Producers/hosts: Ariana Remmel, Gina Vitale; Audio editor: Ariana Remmel, Mark Feuer DiTusa; Story editor: Michael McCoy, Krystal Vasquez; Copyeditor: Brianna Barbu; Logo design: William A. Ludwig; Episode artwork: Shutterstock/C&EN Staff; Music (in order of appearance): “Deer Dance” by Ian Post, “Hot Chocolate” by Aves, and “Sunbeam” by EFGR.
Contact Stereo Chemistry: Tweet at us @cenmag or email [email protected]. -
Carbon capture and sequestration is the trapping of CO2 emitted by industrial processes and depositing it beneath the Earth’s surface. Spurred on by tax credits offered by recent federal legislation, companies are racing to implement the technology in geologically suitable locations such as in Louisiana.
However, the community around Lake Maurepas, Louisiana, has resisted efforts by Air Products to greenlight such a project under the lake. In this episode, C&EN reporters Craig Bettenhausen and Rick Mullin discuss the fears of the community around the implementation of carbon capture and sequestration around Lake Maurepas and the response from Air Products.
C&EN Uncovered, a new project from C&EN’s podcast, Stereo Chemistry, offers another look at subjects from recent cover stories. Read Mullin’s April 2nd, 2023, cover story about carbon capture and sequestration around Lake Maurepas at https://bit.ly/3W4lbCE.
A transcript of this episode is available at https://bit.ly/uncoveredlakemaurepas.
Credits
Executive producer: Gina Vitale
C&EN Uncovered host: Craig Bettenhausen
Cover story reporter: Rick Mullin
Audio editor: Mark Feuer DiTusa
Story editor: Michael McCoy, Ariana Remmel
Copyeditor: Michele Arboit
Show logo design: William A. Ludwig
Episode artwork: Julie Dermansky
Music: “Hot Chocolate” by Aves
Contact Stereo Chemistry: Tweet at us @cenmag or email [email protected].
UPDATE
The episode description was updated on May 18, 2023, to include words that were accidentally omitted in the sentence about geologically suitable locations. The example location of Louisiana was originally missing. -
Lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries are cheaper, safer, and longer lasting than batteries made with nickel- and cobalt-based cathodes. In China, the streets are full of electric vehicles using this technology. But LFP never caught on as a chemistry for electric vehicle batteries in North America. In this episode, C&EN reporters Craig Bettenhausen and Matt Blois talk about the promise and risks of bringing lithium iron phosphate to a North American market.
C&EN Uncovered, a new project from C&EN’s podcast, Stereo Chemistry, offers another look at subjects from recent cover stories. Read Blois’s Jan. 30, 2023, cover story about lithium iron phosphate at http://bit.ly/3nbMkpK.
A transcript of this episode is available at https://bit.ly/3lzGtKy.
Credits
Executive producer: Kerri Jansen
C&EN Uncovered host: Craig Bettenhausen
Cover story reporter: Matt Blois
Audio editor: Mark Feuer DiTusa
Story editor: Michael McCoy
Copyeditor: Sabrina Ashwell
Show logo design: William A. Ludwig
Episode artwork: David Girai Photography
Music: “Hot Chocolate” by Aves
Contact Stereo Chemistry: Tweet at us @cenmag or email [email protected]. -
Researchers reported finding microplastics in drinking water nearly 5 years ago, prompting California lawmakers to require monitoring of the state’s drinking water for the tiny particles. But in 2018, there were no standard methods for analyzing microplastics. So California regulators reached out to chemists and toxicologists from all sectors to develop those methods. They also sought assistance in developing a health-based limit to help consumers understand what the monitoring results mean for their health. In this episode of Stereo Chemistry, we will hear from some of the scientists leading those groundbreaking efforts.
A transcript of this episode is available at https://bit.ly/41g6uPa.
Credits
Executive producer/host: Kerri Jansen
Writer: Britt Erickson
Audio editor: Mark Feuer DiTusa
Story editors: Jyllian Kemsley, Michael McCoy, Ariana Remmel
Audience editor: Dorea I. Reeser
Copyeditor: Sabrina Ashwell, Heather Holt
Logo design: William A. Ludwig
Episode artwork: Shutterstock
Music (in order of appearance): “The Process” by Kevin Graham, “Goodness Gracious” by Louis Adrien
Contact Stereo Chemistry: Tweet at us @cenmag or email [email protected]. -
At Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a supercomputer named Frontier has broken the exascale computing barrier, meaning it can calculate more than a million trillion floating-point operations per second. In this episode, C&EN reporters Craig Bettenhausen and Ariana Remmel discuss how Frontier works and what that kind of power could mean for computational chemistry.
C&EN Uncovered, a new project from C&EN’s podcast, Stereo Chemistry, offers a deeper look at subjects from recent cover stories. Read Remmel’s Sept. 5, 2022, cover story about exascale computing at https://bit.ly/3RkPjr6.A transcript of this episode is available at https://bit.ly/3HNK1S0.
Credits
Stereo Chemistry executive producer: Kerri Jansen
C&EN Uncovered host: Craig Bettenhausen
Audio editor: Mark Feuer DiTusa
Copyeditor: Sabrina J. Ashwell
Additional review: Dorea Reeser, Manny I. Fox Morone, Michael Torrice
Episode artwork: Matt Chinworth
Music: "Hot Chocolate" by AvesContact Stereo Chemistry: Tweet at us at @cenmag or email [email protected].
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In this bonus episode of C&EN’s Bonding Time, we hear from 2022 chemistry Nobel laureates Carolyn Bertozzi and K. Barry Sharpless, who shared the prize along with Morten Meldal for their work on click chemistry and bioorthogonal chemistry. After a November symposium honoring the US-based Nobel awardees at the Embassy of Sweden in Washington, DC, the two chemists discussed their long history of collaboration, how winning the 2022 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has changed their lives, and how they hope to use the spotlight to break down barriers within science.
A transcript of this episode is available at bit.ly/3BiU3GZ.
To learn even more about this year's Nobel-winning science, listen to our October bonus episode about the prize at bit.ly/3iJ1iSc.
Credits
Executive producer/host: Kerri Jansen
Writer: Gina Vitale
Audio editor: Mark Feuer DiTusa
Story editor: Michael Torrice
Copyeditor: Sabrina Ashwell
Logo design: William A. Ludwig
Episode artwork: Laura Morton (Bertozzi); Sandy Huffaker (Sharpless)/C&EN
Music: “Street Dreams” by Julian HartwellContact Stereo Chemistry: Tweet at us @cenmag or email [email protected].
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