Welcome to the fourth annual Talented 12 issue. We’ve spent months searching high and low for these bright, young scientific minds and are excited to finally introduce you to them. Here, you’ll meet a dozen chemists pushing the boundaries in their fields. To say they are tackling life’s great mysteries would be an understatement. The interests of these distinguished researchers include deciphering the chemistry that enabled life on Earth, exploring molecules in far-flung parts of our solar system, designing out-of-this-world materials that can store energy or mimic human organs, and developing technology to precisely alter the code of life.