Sam Baker

1 month ago | dailymail.co.uk | Sam Baker

Imagine spending years writing your fourth novel, resulting in a life-changing megabucks bidding war and millions of copies sold. Big-name writers like Stephen King fall in love with it. Oprah Winfrey chooses it for her book club. In 2020, this is what happened to American author Jeanine Cummins. The then 45-year-old wrote American Dirt, a story about a Mexican mother and son escaping to America after the massacre of their family by a drug cartel.

2 months ago | dailymail.co.uk | Sam Baker

I have a complicated relationship with my hair. A hate-love tug of war that started when I was small. A battle that only ended when I accepted that I was never going to win. Before I go any further, let’s deal with the ginger elephant in the room. This is not a piece about having ginger hair, but it’s impossible to talk about my hair without acknowledging its colour.

Jan 16, 2025 | thechemicalengineer.com | Sam Baker

MORE than five tonnes of fusion-grade steel have been produced using an electric-powered furnace in Middlesbrough, the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) announced last week. It is the first time the metal has been produced to high enough strength to withstand the extreme temperatures and neutron radiation of nuclear fusion reactors at an industrial scale.

Jan 13, 2025 | thechemicalengineer.com | Sam Baker

BILLIONAIRE chairman of Ineos Sir Jim Ratcliffe has said the UK’s chemicals industry faces “extinction”, following the company’s closure of its ethanol plant in Grangemouth last week. Ratcliffe blamed the Scottish plant’s closure on what he called the UK’s “lack of energy strategy” as well as high energy prices. He added that the UK’s emissions trading scheme has effectively served as a tax on UK producers, favouring imported products from countries without such a scheme.

Jan 8, 2025 | thechemicalengineer.com | Sam Baker

EMISSIONS of ultra-potent greenhouse gases are much higher than official reported figures suggest, according to a recent study. Researchers at the University of Bristol, UK, have found that global emissions of the greenhouse gas HFC-23 are five times greater than official figures reported by governments. One expert described unreported emissions of the gas as a “major problem” in the fight against global warming. HFC-23 is a greenhouse gas 14,700 times more potent than CO2.