Letters to a Young Chemist

Shuo Han, one of C&EN's 2026 Talented Twelve, jokes with his students that being a scientist is a lot like being a pop star. Publishing a paper is akin to releasing an album; you go on tour to promote your work at conferences; and most of all, you have to blend collaboration with creativity to stand out.

Current affiliation: Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology

Age: 33

PhD alma mater: Stanford University

If I were an element, I’d be: “Y [yttrium]. Be rare (it’s a rare earth element), be useful, and keep asking Y!”

My favorite book is: “The Power Law: Venture Capital and the Making of the New Future. It’s a book on the history of venture capital. I think running a lab is like being a venture capitalist, investing in high-risk, high-reward projects and finding the right people to work with.”

Read more: https://brnw.ch/21x2BoV

Researchers used lasers to encode quantum information into a single molecule of carbene—a first step toward a molecular quantum computer.

Learn more: https://scim.ag/43fzE33

Materials science has spent decades chasing purity—fewer elements, cleaner crystals, and more control. Chaochao Dun’s work runs in the opposite direction. At the Molecular Foundry at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, he makes materials by cramming 5, 10, even 25 different elements onto a single crystal lattice.

Current affiliation: Molecular Foundry, Berkeley Lab

Age: 38

PhD alma mater: Wake Forest University

My lab superpower is: “Working with flames and fast reactions, adjusting conditions by instinct until the right material forms. Years of experience have given me a feel for when chaos is about to turn into something stable and useful.”

My alternate-universe career is: “High school teacher in my hometown, helping students from small rural villages discover the beauty of science. I’d hope to show them that curiosity and hard work can open doors far beyond where they started.”

Read more about C&EN's 2026 Talented Twelve: https://brnw.ch/21x2z2a

Today marks the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia & Biphobia — a global call to uphold dignity, equality, and human rights for all. 💛

First observed in 2004, this day honors the 1990 decision to remove homos*xuality from the list of mental disorders — and reminds us how far we’ve come, and how far we still have to go.

At its core, this day is about humanity. About recognizing that every person deserves to live freely, safely, and authentically.

Dr. Maya Angelou once said: “We are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike.”

Let that truth guide us — toward compassion, understanding, and respect for one another. 💛

Soumitra Athavale, one of C&EN's 2026 Talented Twelve, doesn’t have Tony Stark’s high-tech, high-flying suit of armor, but it’s still tempting to call him Iron Man. That’s because Athavale is engineering iron-containing enzymes to do chemistry they’ve never done before. His work could change the way drugs are made by using sustainable and environmentally friendly systems to replace ones that use precious metals, compressed gases, and specialized ligands.

Current affiliation: UCLA

Age: 35

PhD alma mater: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

If I were an element, I’d be: “Iron. It is the most versatile metal in the universe and one that has made life possible on earth.”

My favorite movie is: “Too many to list, but for a nonscientific pick, I will go for the Bollywood movie Lagaan—a terrific mix of fiction, history, sport, incredible music which reminds me of India.”

Read more: https://brnw.ch/21x2v3q

Self-Declared Pseudosabbatical
By treating breaks in the academic calendar more intentionally, faculty can carve out informal periods of time away between once-every-seven-years sabbaticals. https://www.insidehighered.com/opinion/career-advice/advancing-faculty/2026/05/07/self-declared-pseudosabbatical-opinion

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Best. Day. Ever. What does a good day in science look like?

Best. Day. Ever. What does a good day in science look like? Struggling to remember why you picked a career in science? Here are some heart-warming tales to jog your memory.

Great scientist, appropriately recognized. The chemistry of HIV drugs is eminently teachable in organic chemistry courses! Lecturers take note!

President’s Medal honors biomedical researchers who developed lifesaving HIV medications | Emory University | Atlanta GA Emory professors Dennis Liotta and Raymond Schinazi and former postdoctoral research associate Woo-Baeg Choi developed key HIV antiretroviral medications that helped transform HIV from a fatal disease to a manageable condition, saving millions of lives worldwide.

As a professor obliged to work with a wide range of people, I do not view faith as problematic in and of itself. Provided of course, that faith does not conflict with the tenets of science, such as evolution, vaccines and climate change. Equally important, people of faith must not dictate how others live, how they dress, who they have s*x with, and the like.

“When I am open about my own experiences, I’ve found others tend to open up themselves.”

This week’s Working Life. https://scim.ag/4neLOlQ

“Your purpose as a scientist is not to achieve fame or money, that is not your purpose, those might be side effects and good for you, that could be wonderful for you but it is a side effect, it is not the main goal. The main goal is to make discoveries and gift them to humanity. And those discoveries and that knowledge stays with humanity long after you are gone.”

- Carolyn Bertozzi on the scientist's purpose

Meet chemist and 2022 Nobel Prize laureate Bertozzi in our podcast where she speaks about her love of science and music.

Listen here: https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/2022/bertozzi/podcast/