I am a chemistry buff and also had a look at the original research paper. Aticle is open acess if anyone is interested https://www.nature.com/articles/s41557-025-02055-9. So here is the way too long explanation.

Sadly no, they didn’t discover an entirely new class of double bonds that are stable in this bent configuration. Instead those bent double bonds are very reactive and therefore can’t exist for very long. But they are reactive in a specific way that proved useful for attaching those big 3D shapes to something else in interesting ways. That means that the double bonds are “used up” in the reaction and are no longer present in the new molecules they made.

The clickbait headline in general just puts way too much emphasis on the unusual double bonds. It is not a new concept in organic chemistry at all that double bonds can be strained (=bent out of plane) and that they become more reactive when they are. The perfectly flat case is just the most stable geometry for double bonds, which makes it more difficult to have molecules that force them to be bent. Because of this the bonds in this case could also be more accurately described as one-and-a-half bonds than “true” double bonds.

Brendt’s rule (roughly, that you cannot have molecules where double bonds are strained this much) was not considered an unbreakable “principle that had stood for more than a century” at all. The first counter examples, including the ones in the article, already popped up in the eigthies, around 60 years after he established that rule. The remaining of the article actually represents the research paper pretty accurately, just the headline and first two paragraphs are heavily sensationalized.

TLDR: The molecules in the article are just two pretty extreme cases of bent double bonds that have been known for decades. The researches here “just” (this is still impressive work) managed to use these weird edge cases of double bonds for some interesting new reactions that provide a shortcut to structures that would be a pain to synthesize in another way. Is this actually immediately useful for drug discovery? Maybe. Someone made some interesting new shapes in an easier way for other scientists to play around with. Maybe that helps with something, maybe it does not. But now we have one more tool in the chemistry toolbox to try and make new helpful molecules.

I personally think so. It is in many ways similar to 5e but a bit denser on rules. It feels like the designers really wanted to make sure that there were no weird corner cases. And while there is a lot of them, the rules all seem very logical and consistent. So when playing it feels a bit more “mechanical” or “game-y” but also less wonky than 5e can be. It is a somwhat different experience than 5e and the rules are available for free at Archive of Nethys. But if you should pick it up really depends on whether your group is unsatisfied with DnD or itching for something new. Our group changed over after trying a one shot and because our DM was getting a bit bored with 5e.

Yeah, just a case of sausage fingers.

I don’t really have a “true” origin story for the setting of my fantasy ttrpg home game. But of course everyone that lives in the world has their own theories about the origin of everything. I like the creation myth of one of my dwarven cultures best/have it the most worked out, so I’ll share that here:

In the beginning the world was just an empty ball of clay. And nothing was and nothing could be. For noone was there to make it be. Yet still there was the Craft in the world and it was so great, that the First Beings arose, shaping themselves from the clay of the world.

There arose Noble Dhum. And so great was his Craft that he made himself the greatest toolsmith and the greatest stone cutter tat ever could be. Lord over all the mountains he then raised and everything thereunder. Ruler of everything in the newly made world.

And there arose Wise Erdake. And so great was her Craft that she made herself the greatest fountain of knowledge that could ever be. Knower of all secrets and most learned in the languages and runes she created. Cleverest engineer of mills and machines. Misstress of the rain and all the bodies of water she set flowing.

And there arose Exuberant Kruf. And so great was their Craft that they made themself the origin of all plants, the sun and moon and all the forces of nature that shook the world from its stasis. Driver of every storm, fuel of every fire, passion of every bolt of lightning, the hammerstrike behind every shake of the worlds stone.

And there was Wild Naveg. And so great was her Craft that she made herself the strongest warrior and the fastest hunter that ever could be. The bringer of all death, the champion of all fights. Most dangerous predator of all the animals she created.

And so these Four-that-created-themselves shaped the world, each according to the nature they had made themselves to posess. And each they united with each of the others. And from those unions arose their descendants, the six original clans of the dwarves. Seeing that these descendants posessed only a small fraction of their Craft, Dhum took to leading them and Erdake took to teaching them. Kruf however made new beings by themself. However, almost devoid of Craft they went of to live among the plants of their forests and graslands. And so the humans and halflings came to be. And Naveg as well made new beings by herself. However, equally devoid of Craft they went off to fight against another in lands far from the lands of the first dwarves. And so the elves and orks came to be.

And for long the Four-that-created-themselves lived among the dwarves. But the dwarves grew lazy and instead of striving to better their craft so they might one day reach the greatness of their creators they demanded their gods solve every problem for them with their great Craft. And so insolent and bothersome grew the dwarves that the gods retreated from their lands and withdrew to the far reaches of the world. Noble Dhum went far beneath the moutains, deeper than any dwarf could dig, to practice his Craft in peace. And Wise Erdake sank far beneath the ocean, deeper than any dwarf could ever dive, to practive her Craft in peace. Exuberant Kruf went to walk among all living things, present in every gust of wind yet never showing themself to any dwarf or other mortal being, to practice their Craft in peace. And Wild Naveg went to roam the battlefields and graveyards of the world beyond deaths door, only to be reached by dwarves and other mortals after they left behind their lives and troubles, to practice her Craft in peace.

And ever since then the dwarves have to strive to regain the Craft. And only if they are diligent and virtuous may those-that-created-themselves look apon them with grace and aid them in the perfection of their Craft.

Wow, that sounded shorter in my head. Anyway, long story short: four beings made themselves then made everything else. The dwarves are their children but then drove their own gods away by being lazy.