My Writing
When I first started as a full-time reporter, my biggest worry was finding enough story ideas. That has not been the problem. It turns out that "speciality chemicals" is incredibly broad, and I managed to sneak sustainability into that as well. Here are most of my feature articles, plus a few larger news items, organized by theme. Cover stories or other major coverage items are bolded. All of these are published by Chemical & Engineering News, where I am a full-time staffer, unless otherwise noted.
- Sustainability
- Can cool coatings combat climate change? October 2023
- Can small modular reactors at chemical plants save nuclear energy? September 2023
- Electrolyzers: The tools to turn hydrogen green June 2023
- Podcast: Here’s what happens when wastewater treatment facilities fail June 2023
- We are mining CO₂ in America April 2023
- Will ethanol fuel a low-carbon future? Feb 2023
- Editorial: Battling climate change January 2023
- 10 Start-Ups to Watch: Air Company November 2022
- Paul Anastas and his crew are coming to green up your world September 2022
- Flying the low-carbon skies on sustainable aviation fuel June 2022
- The case for direct air capture March 2022
- Chemical industry eyes scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions January 2022
- 10 Start-Ups to watch 2021: Natural Fiber Welding November 2021
- The life-or-death race to improve carbon capture July 2021
- Can FuelCell Energy’s molten carbonate fuel cell help solve the CO₂ problem? March 2021
- Chemical firms will coalesce around more ambitious climate goals January 2021
- Race To Create Pyrolysis Biofuels Gets Hot November 2013
- Home and personal care
- The chemistry of cold-water washing January 2024
- What’s inside toothpaste tablets, and can they clean your teeth effectively? June 2023
- Swapping out silicone in our skin and hair products May 2023
- What is a sustainable personal care ingredient? April 2023
- Microbes are colonizing the supermarket cleaning aisle January 2023
- Cloudy outlook for sunscreen ingredients in the US November 2022
- What's that Stuff? Laundry pod film July 2022
- Switching to sustainable surfactants May 2022
- The cleaning industry seems serious about sustainability February 2022
- Cleaning changed during the pandemic, and it may not change back January 2022
- Finding benzene everywhere we look December 2021
- Hyaluronic acid is just getting started May 2021
- Cutting the carbon out of cleaning at Unilever January 2021
- Making sandalwood oil without sandalwood trees November 2020
- Rhamnolipids rise as a green surfactant June 2020
- A chemist’s guide to disinfectants May 2020
- How companies are getting 1,4-dioxane out of home and personal care products March 2020
- Law, intellectual property, and policy
- CCU Parity Act gains chemical industry support December 2023
- The Inflation Reduction Act is already advancing carbon capture September 2022
- What’s in the Inflation Reduction Act for chemistry? August 2022
- Chemist convicted of stealing BPA-free can liner trade secrets for a Chinese firm April 2022
- A tale of PFAS, pollution, and patent claims March 2021
- Agilent wins IP case against firm started by ex-employees in China February 2021
- China’s 14th Five-Year Plan will favor specialty chemicals as part of an emphasis on high-end manufacturing January 2021
- Consumer product science, including food and drink
- Ketone ‘booze’ and breath-saving enzymes December 2023
- New ideas for snack time: Banana peels and mealworms September 2022
- Shape-changing pasta and edible-insect nutrition May 2021
- Sustainable materials make a play for the vegan leather market March 2021
- Tear gas and pepper spray: What protesters need to know June 2020
- Carbon capture for craft beer, and liquor from whey May 2020
- Career Ladder: Dana Garves of Oregon Brewlabs February 2019
- What’s gluten-reduced beer, and can celiac patients drink it? May 2016
- Brewing up an analytical services firm March 2016
- Helium Beer, From Prank To Tank November 2015
- What's that Stuff? Seitan June 2013
- Engineered Apples Near Approval April 2013
- Instrumentation and laboratory supply
- Behind a banner year at Waters November 2021
- Strem Chemicals is acquired by Ascensus Specialties April 2021
- With the majors knocking, independent analytical labs face the temptation to sell August 2020
- Electronics, construction, and infrastructure
- Electrolyzers: The tools to turn hydrogen green July 2023
- A tiny brain good only at video games, for now, and an elephant-trunk gripper arm November 2022
- What is pressure-treated lumber, and how does it forestall decay? March 2022
- Podcast: The helium shortage that wasn’t supposed to be March 2022
- Digesting fluorocarbons instead of destroying them October 2021
- Membranes open up new sources of helium October 2021
- 2021 Talented 12: Alaaeddin Alsbaiee August 2021
- Rigid foam insulation gets a climate chemistry upgrade May 2021
- New Chemical Technology: A paint that kills COVID-19 with Cu⁺¹ November 2020
- Self-driving cars are coming. Chemical makers are racing to keep up October 2020
- Podcast: How helium shortages have changed science October 2020
- Jaime Irick, a PPG executive, on the chemical industry’s response to racism and discrimination September 2020
- How peracetic acid is changing wastewater treatment April 2020
- Baltimore Fishbowl - Bill prohibiting expansion of oil terminals would make city safer, activists say - March 2018
- Grab bag!
- An American chemist in Barcelona June 2023
- Forget the Louvre, the City of Lights is a city of science June 2022
- Kid chemistry revisited: Electroplating and simulated germs January 2021
- How can chemist parents boost at-home science learning for kids? December 2020
- Starting a science business during a pandemic July 2020
- Whiskey made DIY and by AI October 2019
- Remington Community Newsletter Editorial: Eleven good years - August 2017
- Experimenting with EnChroma’s color-blind assistance glasses February 2017
- Copper Theft, Sulfur Mining April 2015
- Uranium-Glazed Pottery, Fluorescent Cats November 2011