With a Little Help from Martha

A fluffy crab that wears a jaunty hat!? Tell me more!

The recently discovered Lamarckdromia beagle - named after Charles Darwin's famous ship - wears a living sponge on its head like a cap, trimming it to size with its claws. 😮
The sponge's biochemicals help ward off predators.

Hello there 👋

Harp seal pups (Pagophilus groenlandicus) are nursed by their mother for only the first 12 days of their life. They are then left alone for several weeks, leaving them vulnerable to predators and unable to hunt for food.

by Sandra Photography via Instagram

El cacomixtle :)

Don't forget to register for your free place on our sustainability sessions starting on Tuesday 26 October running through until 9 December.

View the first group of sessions in our timetable ➡️ https://edu.rsc.org/events

Enjoying the summer sun? Hopefully you've been using sunscreen, too – here's how it works: https://www.compoundchem.com/2014/06/05/sunscreenchemicals/

On 6 July 2020 a group of scientists published an article calling for greater recognition of airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 virus. We’ve marked this in our timeline with Compound Interest in this graphic looking at SARS-CoV-2 transmission and how chemistry has helped to understand and tackle the .

The chemical sciences have played a role in providing evidence for different methods of transmission. For example, in understanding the behaviour of droplets released when we breathe or cough – how droplets evaporate, how far they can travel before falling to the ground, and how long the virus can stay alive in different conditions. Understanding virus transmission helps introduce mitigations to limit the spread of .

The pandemic has shown science happening in real-time, with evidence emerging rapidly from all over the world. The increasing understanding of methods of SARS-CoV-2 transmission throughout 2020 and until now is reflected in changes to public health measures such as the addition of “fresh air” to the UK’s public health campaign. Surface transmission is now thought to play a much smaller role.

For more info, visit Compound Interest page ➡️ https://www.compoundchem.com/2021/07/06/covid-transmission/

Close up of a leafy sea dragon seahorse underwater.

https://futurism.com/neoscope/graphene-cheap-easy-test-kidney-disease

Doctors are using graphene to test for kidney disease antibodies "Our research has the potential to make antibody testing for various diseases more widely available."