If you go down to the woods this autumn, you might encounter a strange organism. It erupts from dead wood, lives for… | Continue reading
An aeroplane safety briefing always instructs on using oxygen masks in an emergency, but where does this oxygen come from? This edition… | Continue reading
A magical fox, running across the Arctic fells, its tail spraying snow and sparks into the air. The dead, playing football in… | Continue reading
Swimming pools, sunscreen, and the summer sun can all affect lighter hair colours. In the latest edition of Periodic Graphics in C&EN,… | Continue reading
Space elevators, a way of getting cargo and materials into space without rockets, have made frequent appearances in science fiction for decades.… | Continue reading
The Olympics are in full swing, so this graphic looks at the medals each competitor can win in their events. As well… | Continue reading
Constipation and diarrhoea: two extremes of a crappy spectrum. Luckily, we have medicines to deal with either, and this graphic examines the… | Continue reading
Today (June 29) is National Camera Day, so it feels appropriate to share this recent graphic. Polaroid photography lets users snap a… | Continue reading
With summer on its way in the Northern Hemisphere, the latest edition of Periodic Graphics in Chemical & Engineering News looks at… | Continue reading
Chemistry, art and history collide in the latest edition of Periodic Graphics in C&EN. The graphic examines pigments with links to the… | Continue reading
Today is International Women’s Day, and to celebrate here’s another edition in the Women in Chemistry History series. This graphic highlights another… | Continue reading
On 1 March in 1896, French physicist Henri Becquerel discovered radioactivity. This graphic summarises his discovery. For more Today in Chemistry History… | Continue reading
Chinese New Year is also known as the Spring Festival, or Chūnjié in Mandarin, and it usually falls on the second new… | Continue reading
Many consumers have developed a taste for plant-based meat alternatives in the past decade. In the latest edition of Periodic Graphics in… | Continue reading
December is here, and that means it’s Chemistry Advent season! It’s been a few years since I’ve put together a new edition,… | Continue reading
Disabled scientists are still vastly underrepresented in the sciences. With Enable Science, and with the help of a grant from the Royal… | Continue reading
Confectioners produce around 9 billion pieces of candy corn every year, according to the US National Confectioners Association, with a significant chunk… | Continue reading
The 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded jointly to Moungi G. Bawendi, Louis E. Brus and Alexei I. Ekimov for the… | Continue reading
Superconducting materials, capable of conducting electricity without resistance, have fascinated scientists for over a century. They’ve also been in the news recently… | Continue reading
Cooking is chemistry, so it should come as no surprise that chemical knowledge can help in the kitchen. The latest edition of… | Continue reading
Click to enlarge Dandelions: Loved by children, loathed by (most) gardeners. Often dismissed as a weed, dandelions lend themselves to several uses — and might be the solution to making more sustain… | Continue reading
Click to enlarge The delayed 2020 Olympics are currently taking place in Tokyo, and setting a number of firsts. Obviously, it’s the first Olympics to take place without a public audience in t… | Continue reading
Doubtless the majority of people reading this will, at some point in their life, have had the unpleasant experience of being stung by stinging nettles. But what chemicals do stinging nettles contai… | Continue reading
Click to enlarge Last week, we looked at what coronavirus antibody tests can and can’t tell us. In part 2 of this series of graphics on antibody testing, we look at how the tests work to arri… | Continue reading
Click to enlarge Have you already had COVID-19? Even if you’ve had symptoms consistent with it, you may not know for certain if you didn’t have a test at the time. But newly approved an… | Continue reading
Click to enlarge As coronavirus continues its spread, panic-buying has swept supermarket shelves of hand sanitisers. What’s in these sanitisers and how effective are they in comparison to han… | Continue reading
A brief detour from chemistry, branching out into science in general today. This graphic looks at the different factors that can contribute towards 'bad' science - it was inspired by the res | Continue reading
Coloured glass is something that's commonplace in our lives, from the green of wine and beer bottles, to the red, yellow, and green of traffic lights. The origin of these colours is something we don't give a lot of thought to, but a range of different elements are responsible. Th … | Continue reading
There are a wide range of gemstones used in jewellery, with each having its own characteristic colour - or, in some cases, a range of colours. The origin of these colours has a chemical basis, and the precise colour can vary depending on the chemical composition of the gemstone. … | Continue reading