chemistry (Page 2)

Latest in chemistry

An Egyptian artifact with flecks of Egyptian dye being examined by researcher

Scientists recreate lost recipes for a 5,000-year-old Egyptian blue dye

Erupting volcano

Earth’s core is leaking gold

A group of bright colorful hot peppers on a red background.

Scientists discover why some hot peppers are total wild cards

white smoke coming out of a chimney

Ask Us Anything

What makes smoke black versus white?

By Laura Baisas

brown egg on blue background

How to make an egg bounce

By Laura Baisas

Gooseneck kettle pouring water into pour-over coffee carafe on table next to coffee beans and mugs

How to brew the best pour-over coffee, according to science

Green ocean island water against blue sky with mountains in distance

Earth’s oceans weren’t always blue, scientists say

Transparent wood sample overlaying 'Transparent wood (TW)' on computer screen

Eggs, sticky rice, and transparent wood create new kind of window

Mars Curiosity rover selfie picture against Martian background

Curiosity finds largest-ever organic molecules on Mars

Red tomatoes with googly eyes on yellow background

Scientists finally figured out why tomatoes don’t kill you

Image of nanoflower structure

Future bandages could be armed with nanoflowers

Thermogalvanic fridge prototype device held in blue gloved hand

The electrochemical cells that could power fridges of the future

Dimmable car sun visor

This company wants to redesign the humble car sun visor

Close up of white wine bottle pouring into wine glass

Bacteria-powered artificial tongue can taste-test alcohol for additives

Close up of dark roast coffee beans

Scientists figured out the optimal cup of coffee

Researchers have developed a hydrogel that melts into and preserves ancient waterlogged wooden artifacts. Without the gel, the artifacts need to be dried, and that risks damaging the relics.

New goo preserves 800-year-old wooden shipwreck samples

mercury broken thermometer

Ask Us Anything

Are ‘heavy metals’ dangerous? Yes, but not everything you’ve heard is true.

By Lauren Leffer

‘Unidentified product’ in tap water identified after 40 years

Each individual strand is too narrow to be clearly captured by any form of visible light camera or microscope.

Behold the world’s thinnest spaghetti

By Laura Baisas

Close up of blooming corpse flower

Scientists crack the mystery of why the corpse flower smells like death

a blue whale skeleton on display at a museum

Blue whale skeleton still leaking oil, 26 years after death

By Laura Baisas

Hydrogel device that plays Pong

A lifeless hydrogel blob can play Pong

Mug of beer splashing

Space beer may taste better than Earth beer

aerial drone view of an industrial installation that produces per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, PFAS

LED lights may be key to breaking down forever chemicals

pile of coffee beans and a steaming cup of coffee

The chemistry behind decaf coffee

By Michael W. Crowder / The Conversation

Glassy gel stretching

‘Glassy gels’ are a new class of strong, stretchy, sticky materials

The world’s oldest wine contains a cremated Roman aristocrat

Factory worker overseeing steel forge

Zero-emission ‘electric cement’ is an ‘absolute miracle’

Ultrasonic cold brew setup using espresso maker and transducer

Blasting coffee grounds with ultrasonic waves creates a 60-second cold brew

Jellyfish glowing green underwater

Jellyfish-inspired glowing dye can glom onto fingerprints at crime scenes

A gray asteroid against the black background of our solar system.

Why the heck is Earth wet?

Cape Fear River in North Carolina, which is polluted by PFAS, seen from above after a storm

8 new types of ‘forever chemicals’ found in river linked to US cancer cluster

Chicken feather fibers could help make less toxic hydrogen fuel cells

Chicken feather fibers could help make less toxic hydrogen fuel cells

Workers at rare earth mineral mine next to equipment in China

China says it discovered potentially vast amounts of a rare superconducting material

Person with short brown hair and glasses inhaling from a glass of red wine to describe the smell

Scientists are trying to teach AI how to smell

Three alkaline hydrolysis machines for pet remains at the Bio-Response manufacturing facility

Inside the warehouse that builds machines to liquify dead bodies

By Helen Bradshaw

super glue invention mistake

How a shot at making better gunsights became Super Glue instead

By Kelsey D. Atherton

MIT hydrogel cell closeup

How diaper tech enhanced with salt can draw water from thin air

Psychedelics and anesthetics cause unexpected chemical reactions in the brain

By Jocelyn Solis-Moreira

The Tungurahua volcano eruption.

Mixing volcanic ash with meteorites may have jump-started life on Earth

By Jocelyn Solis-Moreira

Danish painters used beer to create masterpieces, but not the way you think

Danish painters used beer to create masterpieces, but not the way you think

Roses blooming in a garden.

Chemists finally unlock the secret to a rose’s iconic aroma

By Jocelyn Solis-Moreira

A new kind of Kevlar aims to stop bullets with less material

A new kind of Kevlar aims to stop bullets with less material

Super Glue tube on blue background

Super Glue could make it easier to recycle plastic

By Jocelyn Solis-Moreira

a colorful illustration of ancient egyptians wearing robes embalming a dead body with wrappings and chemicals

This is the best look yet into ancient Egyptians’ mummy-making chemicals

By Jocelyn Solis-Moreira

ancient-style illustration of poseidon and workers building seawall

Inside the project to bring ‘self-healing’ Roman concrete to American shorelines

Earth’s natural air-scrubbing system works better when it’s wetter

Earth’s natural air-scrubbing system works better when it’s wetter

British navy boarding a ship where many sailors are sickened by scurvy from vitamin deficiency. Black and white illustration.

It took centuries (and vitamins) for doctors to finally stop scurvy

Grilled bass on a bed of vegetables.

Freshwater fish are loaded with ‘forever chemicals’

By Laura Baisas

volcano erupting

Monitoring volcanoes that could explode? A drone is on it.

By Charlotte Hu

gray puffy clouds cover the sky

The ocean’s iodine helps create clouds, but high levels burn through the ozone layer

By Tatyana Woodall

a fuzzy bumblebee settles on a pink flower

Bees can sense a flower’s electric field—unless fertilizer messes with the buzz

By Lauren J. Young

Silkworms like the one seen here spin cocoons of silk.

How researchers leveled up worm silk to be tougher than a spider’s

2022 Nobel Prize in Chemistry winners Carolyn Bertozzi, Morten Meldal, and K. Barry Sharpless in a gold and black illustration

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry just went to 3 scientists who simplified reactions in the lab

By Laura Baisas

Plastic trash on a beach.

Recycling one of the planet’s trickiest plastics just got a little easier

By Jocelyn Solis-Moreira

NASA's MOXIE instrument can make oxygen on Mars, an environment rich in carbon dioxide.

Perseverance’s MOXIE tool turns Martian air into pure oxygen

By Eva Botkin-Kowacki

A chemist can sense this scientific data with their fingers.

Blind scientists adapted a centuries-old art to make data that can be touched and seen

In the ceramic box atop a solar tower, a chemical reaction takes place that makes jet fuel.

This solar tower makes jet fuel from sunbeams, water, and gas

A silver machine containing boiling grains.

How have non-alcoholic beers gotten so good?

By Philip Kiefer

Lithium batteries in a pile.

This lithium-ion battery kept going (and going and going) in the extreme cold

Ocean simulator in giant saltwater tank at the Scripps Institute in San Diego, California. A Scripps researcher in a checkered shirt adjusts the settings on a computer with a COVID mask around his elbow.

A 120-foot-long ocean simulator is now making waves across the seven seas

By Avery Schluyer Nunn

Airborne particles are responsible for features like smog.

Why chemists are watching light destroy tiny airborne particles from within

An illustration of sneakers stained with unremovable substance.

4 lab accidents that changed the world

By Erin Blakemore

Three people in multicolored Lycra spandex exercise outfits in front of a light pink backdrop

If you love your workout gear, thank the girdles and Flexatards of the past

By Danielle Friedman