The 2026 Wolf Prize Goes to a Berlin Chemist

From cleaner “cracking” to black gold

Pitt startup finds a cooler, cleaner method to produce battery-quality graphite and hydrogen

New membrane technology could transform hydrocarbon processing by slashing energy use

Re‑thinking a century‑old process

Artificial intelligence evaluates chemical spectra in minutes

Researchers from the University of Jena, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, and Zakodium develop AI system for chemical structure analysis

Carbon nanotubes make the electronic nose suitable for everyday use for the first time

The smart fridge of the future: E-nose warns of off chicken and nut allergens

Tailor-made functionalized gelatin – manufactured with reproducible results

Fraunhofer scales up chemical functionalisation

DECHEMA Research Institute opens new site in Bad Homburg

New impetus for the technologies of tomorrow – Hesse is bolstering its position as a research hub with €1.5 million a year

Rare-earth-free zinc oxide achieves a first in stress-to-light conversion

Sodium doping and controlled lattice defects generate mechanoluminescence at pressures as low as a few kilopascals

Designable van der Waals crystal realizes artificial neuronal cell mimicking with light

Single-step plasma process produces optoelectronic synapse for 3D stackable neuromorphic vision

Extending cryo-electron microscopy beyond water

Tohoku University solves the problem of rapidly evaporating organic solvents in sample preparation

On the trail of the missing hydrogen atoms

A new method could enable more accurate simulation of materials for various applications in the future

Chemists achieve breakthrough: Editing molecules instead of rebuilding them

Modern drug research enables simple testing of hundreds of variants of a molecule

Interpretable AI in materials discovery: Uncovering how models make predictions

The proposed method extracts insights from AI models and groups materials by both structural and optical spectral similarity

Efficient Manufacture of Hydrogen and Chemical Products

The Joseph von Fraunhofer Prize for 2026 for an innovative high-temperature electrolysis stack

Water, Clay and Carbon: A New Route to Sustainable Energy Storage

Researchers demonstrate an all-water supercapacitor stable over 60,000 charging cycles

A new route to safe and sustainable synthetic chemistry

CO₂ as a source of oxygen: University of Bayreuth revolutionises oxidation chemistry

AI helps scientists design better biochar catalysts for removing antibiotic pollution

Biochar produced at 450 to 550 °C generates particularly high levels of reactive oxygen species

A Step Forward for Solar-Driven Ammonia Production

Iron-containing MOF catalysts enable ammonia synthesis without the extreme conditions of the Haber-Bosch process.

Turning food waste into carbon captors

Expected to be cheaper than other capture methods

Platinum oxidation observed in real time: the key to longer-lasting electrolysers

New insights into platinum oxidation could make hydrogen technologies more affordable

Precision Measurement Under Impact – When the Balance Itself Becomes the Object of Measurement

In future, material losses and chemical changes could be investigated simultaneously

Festo is cutting approximately 1,300 jobs in Germany

Family-owned company responds to intensifying competition in Asia and geopolitical crises with a global transformation program

Atomic reshuffle paves way for record-breaking catalysts for hydrogen production

"This opens a new strategy for designing adaptive catalysts for a wide range of applications"

Focused Energy secures US$240 million: the world’s first laser fusion power plant is set to be built in Germany

Record funding round positions the start-up at the forefront of the international fusion industry

Water splitting catalyst creates hydrogen at low temperatures

Birmingham researchers’ novel way of producing hydrogen fuel has a lower cost than existing methods

German plastics recycling on the brink of collapse

Six proposals to save the industry

Metso introduces an advanced lithium carbonate process to support battery materials production

At the core of the process is soda pressure leaching, which selectively extracts lithium with fewer soluble impurities in one pass

Frequency combs: the key to the next generation of spectroscopy

A review article demonstrates how dual-comb interferometers can determine resolution solely through temporal coherence.

German government publishes technology roadmaps for six key technologies

Strengthening competitiveness, value creation and technological sovereignty

Cooking plastics into oil

University of Amsterdam pilot plant brings advanced plastic recycling technology closer to industry

Magnetic field during catalyst synthesis triples ammonia yield

A scalable strategy for developing next-generation electrocatalysts for efficient and sustainable chemical production

Making Chemistry Greener: The 2026 Gerhard Ertl Lecture Award goes to Professor Marc Koper

His findings are crucial to advancing the use of renewable energy and the development of sustainable chemistry

MIT researchers develop a low-cost technique to get lithium out of rocks

MIT spinout Rock Zero aims to make U.S. lithium production less dependent on China

It may not just be what’s in ultra-processed foods, but how they’re made

New observational study suggests processing itself could partly explain links to diabetes, heart disease, and early death

Ultra-processed foods damage your focus even if you eat healthy

One extra bag of chips a day reduces your ability to focus and raise dementia risk factors regardless of diet quality

Detecting heavy metals in soil and water: New method for on-site analysis

Simple technology replaces expensive laboratory procedures

New drug could slow the development of Alzheimer’s

The active ingredient also shows anti-ageing effects

Could cultured chocolate unlock the next food revolution?

Chocolate from a bioreactor: UC Davis and food-tech start-up California Cultured aim to reinvent cocoa

New technology detects bacteria on surfaces in five minutes using a smartphone

UMass spun off HertZ Innovation launches smartphone-based bacterial test

New antibiotics discovered to treat multi-resistant germs

A well-known soil bacterium produces a previously unknown antibiotic that was discovered through improved fractionation methods

Future Foods Lab: Nomad Foods advances two startups to concept development

Swedish clean-label pizza brand For Real! Foods and Spanish functional snack maker Mia Puccia enter the next innovation phase

Why doesn't coffee taste like caffeine?

Compounds created by the Maillard reaction during coffee bean roasting tame caffeine’s bitterness

Cytospire Therapeutics announces oversubscribed £61 million Series A financing

London-based start-up aims to activate gamma-delta T cells in both the blood and the tumour to fight cancer

New research finds that almost all plant-based meat alternatives contain mycotoxins

Grains, legumes and seeds used in vegan products are particularly prone to mould exposure during cultivation and storage

Holography meets spectroscopy: Ultrafast microscopy method for optical processes

Research team from Heidelberg and Milan develops novel microscopy technique to study energy materials

Egg consumption is associated with a lower risk of Alzheimer’s Disease

Eating one egg per day for at least five days a week reduces risk of Alzheimer’s by up to 27%

Less hunger, more environmental problems?

Study investigates tradeoffs between human health and sustainability

Researchers solve a 50-year-old mystery: how acid removes water from proteins

Cryo-electron microscopy reveals for the first time which amino acids bind water and which ones release it when acidified

Miltenyi Biotec expands Cologne production site for clinical reagents

Milestone for biotechnology made in Germany: More capacity for cell and gene therapies

Nordzucker is revising its beet pricing model and investing €160 million in its factories

Two high-yield beet harvests in succession, high stocks in the EU sugar market and decreasing prices have impacted the earnings position

Common structural analysis of interfacial water is inadequate, according to a new study

Water molecules at the air-water interface characterised layer by layer for the first time

Mini-Brains from Patient Cells Point to Vitamin B3 as Treatment for Rare Childhood Disease

Lab-grown brain organoids revealed cholesterol build-up in astrocytes as the driver of DHDDS-related neurodegeneration.

Nestlé to acquire smart food pioneer yfood to accelerate the brand’s international expansion

Nestlé manager Jolanda Schwirtz takes over as head

For the first time, researchers are peering inside record-breaking superconductors

Atomic-level insights into lanthanum superhydrides are expected to enable more energy-efficient technologies in the long term

Insect larvae as a screening tool

How wax moth larvae can help reduce the need for mammalian testing in infection research

Not all ultra-processed foods are unhealthy

Healthy ultra-processed foods should be exempt from food policy restrictions

Haga Bioscience raises $2.3m in oversubscribed seed round to bridge spatial biomarker discovery and clinical translation

First European biotech with CAR-T and LNP technology under one roof

T-CURX integrates Pantherna Therapeutics, bringing together 16 patent families and 35 employee

Coffee doesn’t just wake you up — it may help protect your body from aging

New research identifies a key biological pathway that could explain how coffee helps protect against aging and chronic disease.

Pyrolysis oil instead of crude oil: Faster fluorine analysis reduces the risk for refineries

New method solves a key analytical challenge

Fewer animal experiments thanks to virtual mouse

AI-supported in silico mouse model for biomedical research

Green light for Arla Foods and DMK Group merger ​

The combined milk pool totals 19.4 billion kilograms annually

PFAS detection in minutes rather than weeks: deep-tech start-up Grapheal secures €2.5 million in EU funding

The new EU Drinking Water Directive is driving demand for mobile PFAS analysis