The rich, roasted aroma of coffee or the golden-brown colour of crispy French fries are enough to set most mouths watering. But the high-temperature cooking that gives these foods their alluring taste, scent and texture also adds a sting: acrylamide, a probable human carcinogen.

The inedible parts of plants are feeding the next generation of biofuels. But extracting the energy-containing molecules is a challenging task.

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In the past two decades, the green-chemistry movement has helped industry become much cleaner. But mindsets change slowly, and the revolution still has a long way to go.

Air travel shows no sign of losing its allure but its environmental impact is not going to go away. Katharine Sanderson looks at some of the ways that scientists and engineers hope to reduce the carbon wing-print of aircraft.

Petrol might yet survive the green revolution. Some investors are taking seriously the concept of

Manufacturers in the solar-energy industry are downsizing and scaling back their once-ambitious plans. Katharine Sanderson reports.