Matt Blois

Flavor chemists are out there making the world tastier for all of us!

They’re here! Introducing the Talented 12 Class for 2025. These early-career scientists are taking on big global #chemistry challenges.

Meet the 2025 Class: cen.acs.org/people/profi...

#CENT12 #chemsky🧪

Lithium iron phosphate comes to America Companies are planning the first large-scale factories in North America for the inexpensive battery raw material

The cheap battery cathode material lithium iron phosphate (LFP) was invented in the US. But LFP manufacturing was perfected and scaled up in China. Now, some companies are trying to bring LFP back to North America: cen.acs.org/energy/energ...

Can microbes replace synthetic fertilizer? Companies aim to curb pollution from fertilizer by replacing it with nitrogen-producing microbes. Some farmers and researchers doubt they work as advertised

Several companies have engineered microbes to release it into the soil. Fertilizer made from fossil fuels has a massive carbon footprint, so the technology could have a huge impact. The products are already used on millions of acres, but some farmers are still skeptical: cen.acs.org/food/agricul...

Biomanufacturing isn’t cleaning up chemicals Synthetic biology firms promised a low-carbon industry, but so far they haven’t delivered

Biobased chemical companies have been promising to slash the carbon footprint of chemical production by making chemicals with micorbes instead of refineries. But even after years of work, the industry hasn't lived up to those claims: cen.acs.org/business/bio...

The search for long-duration energy storage Companies face hurdles as they develop batteries that can store enough power for days

Wind and solar farms are proliferating rapidly, but completely switching to renewable energy will probably require cheap batteries that can store enough electricity for days. I wrote about some of the companies developing technologies to enable a renewable powered grid: cen.acs.org/energy/energ...

The rocky path from PhD to CEO It’s harder than ever to found a chemistry start-up, but young scientists are still taking on the challenge

Through 2023 and 2024, I followed the founders of 3 early-stage chemistry start-ups to understand how they transformed themselves from scientists in to CEOs: cen.acs.org/business/sta...

Hi all. I'm new here. I'm a reporter at @cenmag.bsky.social covering clean tech, climate tech, batteries, biobased chemicals, food, sustainable agriculture, pesticides, and more. I'm linking some of my favorite stories below.

Reach out if you hear about a story I should be writing about.