Stereo Chemistry

On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of ACS, C&EN is convening perspectives across two panel discussions to explore how chemistry societies might support science into the future. As chemistry remains the "central science," AI, climate change, and a shifting global landscape are some of the factors putting these institutions under pressure to adapt. This is an opportunity to hear from global industry leaders as they explore what the future for communities of science might look like.

Subscribe to Stereo Chemistry now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Executive producer: David Anderson
Hosts: Nick Ishmael-Perkins, Liam Conlon
Panelists: Andre Argenton, Lee Ellen Drechsler, Debra Luffer-Atlas, Jeffrey Whitford
Audio Producer: Jeremy Barr
Episode artwork: American Chemical Society
Music: Shutterstock
Contact Stereo Chemistry: Contact us on social media at @cenmag or email cenfeedback@acs.org.

The 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Henri B. Kagan at Paris-Saclay University and Kenso Soai at the Tokyo University of Science for their work on manipulating the synthesis of chiral molecules. C&EN reporter Bri Barbu joins host Gina Vitale to discuss what these chemists discovered, how their insights are now applied to medicines, and how their work shed light on the origin of life itself.

Bri's story on the Chem Nobel: https://cen.acs.org/people/nobel-prize/chemistry-nobel-chirality-kagan-soai/104/web/2026/10

More about Donna Blackmond: https://cen.acs.org/biological-chemistry/origins-of-life/closer-understanding-origins-biological-homochirality/104/web/2026/05

C&EN's story on the physiology or medicine prize: https://cen.acs.org/people/nobel-prize/nobel-2026-physiology-medicine/104/web/2026/10

C&EN's story on the physics prize: https://cen.acs.org/people/nobel-prize/nobel-prize-physics-halzen-neutrino-icecube/104/web/2026/10

Audio Producer: Jeremy Barr
Music: Shutterstock
Reporter: Bri Barbu
Host: Gina Vitale

Contact Stereo Chemistry on social media at @cenmag or email cenfeedback@acs.org.

On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of ACS, C&EN is convening perspectives across two panel discussions to explore how chemistry societies might support science into the future. As chemistry remains the "central science," AI, climate change, and a shifting global landscape are some of the factors putting these institutions under pressure to adapt. This is an opportunity to hear from global thought leaders as they explore what the future for communities of science might look like.

Subscribe to Stereo Chemistry now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Executive producer: David Anderson
Hosts: Nick Ishmael-Perkins, Liam Conlon
Panelists: Kate Biberdorf, Mathieu Denis, Rao Kotamarthi, Jennifer Schwartz Poehlmann
Audio Producer: Jeremy Barr
Episode artwork: American Chemical Society
Music: Shutterstock
Contact Stereo Chemistry: Contact us on social media at @cenmag or email cenfeedback@acs.org.

In this episode of C&EN Uncovered, host Craig Bettenhausen speaks with C&EN Editors, Fionna Samuels and Brianna Barbu, about their contributions to C&EN's Space Package and how sustainability and geochemistry will have an effect on humanity's future space endeavors. You can find their articles here and here.

Subscribe to Stereo Chemistry now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Credits

Executive producer: David Anderson

Host: Craig Bettenhausen

Reporter: Laurel Oldach

Video + Audio Producer: David Anderson, Jeremy Barr

Music: Commercial Flow, Shutterstock

Contact Stereo Chemistry: Contact us on social media at @cenmag or email cenfeedback@acs.org.

In this episode of Stereo Chemistry's sister podcast, Inflection Point, hosts David Anderson and Gina Vitale travel back in time to understand how we are capturing carbon at the source and removing existing CO₂ from our atmosphere. They also bring in C&EN reporters Alex Scott and Fionna Samuels to explain how CO₂-scrubbing technology from a 19th-century submarine is still basically used today and how making the ocean more basic might help us mitigate our emissions.

C&EN's award-winning podcast Inflection Point leans on our 100-year archive to trace headline topics in science today back to their disparate and surprising roots. In each episode, we explore three lesser-known moments in science history that ultimately led us to current-day breakthroughs. With help from expert C&EN reporters, this show examines how discoveries from our past have shaped our present and will change our future.

Subscribe to Inflection Point now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.