The lanthanide (4f) and actinide (5f) elements (collectively the “f-block”) comprise around a quarter of the periodic table, and many are essential to key aspects of modern life and society. These ...

Iron and oxygen bind together throughout the body. Most famously, iron binds dioxygen, or two oxygens paired with each other, in hemoglobin that transports oxygen through blood. But iron-oxo compounds ...

A new approach reveals unexpected ways oxygen can bind to rare metals. Iron plays a central role in how the body uses oxygen. In hemoglobin, it binds dioxygen, a pair of oxygen atoms, allowing blood ...

Polly Arnold is drawn to challenging problems at the far reaches of the periodic table. “It’s all about the f block,” she says of the work in her group, which is split between the University of ...