chemistry

Latest in chemistry

Roses blooming in a garden.
Science

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
Technology

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

By Rob Verger

Super Glue tube on blue background
Environment

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
Science

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
Science

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

By Ben Guarino

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

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

By Rahul Rao

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

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

By Dan Levitt

Grilled bass on a bed of vegetables.
Environment

Freshwater fish are loaded with ‘forever chemicals’

By Laura Baisas

Hand wiping up liquid spill on table with a paper towel
Technology

New hydrogel sheets could one day replace paper towels

By Andrew Paul

volcano erupting
Technology

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

By Charlotte Hu

gray puffy clouds cover the sky
Environment

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
Science

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.
Science

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

By Rahul Rao

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

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

By Laura Baisas

Plastic trash on a beach.
Science

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.
Science

Perseverance’s MOXIE tool turns Martian air into pure oxygen

By Eva Botkin-Kowacki

A chemist can sense this scientific data with their fingers.
Science

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

By Rahul Rao

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

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

By Rahul Rao

A silver machine containing boiling grains.
Health

How have non-alcoholic beers gotten so good?

By Philip Kiefer

Lithium batteries in a pile.
Science

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

By Rahul Rao

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.
Environment

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.
Environment

Why chemists are watching light destroy tiny airborne particles from within

By Rahul Rao

An illustration of sneakers stained with unremovable substance.
Technology

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
Technology

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

By Danielle Friedman

Two chemists pulling apart an old computer in a rare earth metal recycling experiment
Science

Inside the high-powered process that could recycle rare earth metals

By Rahul Rao

Mushroom, sandwich, sushi, ice cream, pasta, tomato and other illustrated foods with important texture
Science

Can texture change the way food tastes?

By Kendra Pierre-Louis

Grapes, cocktail, pie, and oil illustrated on a red background to show examples of weed edibles
Science

The tasty chemicals flavoring the edible cannabis boom

By Jenni Avins

Scientists finally solve the mystery of why comets glow green
Science

Scientists finally solve the mystery of why comets glow green

By Leto Sapunar

The planet Venus
Science

Something is making Venus’s clouds less acidic

By Nikita Amir

This year’s Nobel in Chemistry recognizes the tech underpinning everything from meds to batteries
Science

This year’s Nobel in Chemistry recognizes the tech underpinning everything from meds to batteries

By Margo Milanowski

Cleaning supplies.
Health

Why you shouldn’t mix cleaning supplies, even if it looks cool

By Sara Kiley Watson

Soy sauce, cilantro, broth, and other umami foods on a pink and purple background
Science

What is umami? No, really.

By Elana Spivack

The technology behind Shrinky Dinks can make better robots
Technology

The technology behind Shrinky Dinks can make better robots

By Rahul Rao

brave-robot-ice-cream-scoop
Environment

This could be the milkiest vegan ice cream ever

By Stan Horaczek

The world’s worst conductor could be a game changer in the climate crisis
Science

The world’s worst conductor could be a game changer in the climate crisis

By Rahul Rao

A fibrous black diamond.
Environment

Diamonds contain remnants of Earth’s ancient atmosphere

By Rahul Rao

Crushed single-use plastic water bottle in hand.
Environment

Adding enzymes to bioplastics can make them disappear

By Shaena Montanari

A man walks beneath a shooting star.
Science

5,000 tons of ancient ‘extraterrestrial dust’ fall on Earth each year

By Leto Sapunar

person's hand with silver rings
DIY

Go full silver alchemist and clean your jewelry with science

By Sandra Gutierrez G.

An exploded view of Callaway's golf balls.
Science

Callaway designed its Supersoft golf balls to spin, but not break

By Stan Horaczek

cleaning stain on carpet
DIY

How to remove stains of any kind

By Dan Seitz

White bowls of white sugar, brown sugar, cane sugar, and unrefined sugar
Health

High-fructose corn syrup vs. sugar: Which is actually worse?

By Sara Chodosh

A reimagined prehistoric bird chasing a dragonfly over plants
Science

Were rocks on the menu for these ancient birds?

By Erin Fennessy

bananas in cast iron pan
DIY

How to season a cast iron pan

By Sara Chodosh

Mona Chalabi fermented food chart
Science

See the wonderful world of fermented foods on one delicious chart

By Hannah Seo

Masha Krasnova-Shavaeva illustration
Technology

This lightbulb is more than 100 years old—and it still works

By Claire Maldarelli

A running water faucet
Technology

Hackers accessed a Florida water treatment plant’s system and tried to make a dangerous change

By Stan Horaczek

An orange truck spreading salt on a snowy airport runway
Technology

Fish blood could hold the answer to safer de-icing solutions during snowstorms

By Monika Bleszynski/The Conversation

legumes and whole grains
Health

Anti-nutrients might sound scary, but you need them in your diet

By Jill Joyce/The Conversation

Bridgestone Blizzak tire packed.
Technology

Everything you thought you knew about winter tires but didn’t

By Dan Carney

Masha Krasnova-Shavaeva illustration
Science

Learn your sourdough starter’s funky secrets

By Eleanor Cummins

How to make perfect pie crust with the power of science
DIY

How to make perfect pie crust with the power of science

By Rachel Feltman

Shipwreck on shore
Science

How scientists keep ancient shipwrecks from crumbling into dust

By Sara Kiley Watson

This image of the Moon was created with images taken by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Science

The moon is (slightly) wet, NASA confirms. Now what?

By Charlie Wood

two people doing fondue with a bunch of food and using forks to dip potatoes in a pot of melted cheese
DIY

The scientific way to make perfectly creamy fondue

By Pat Polowsky/Saveur

The blast at the Port of Beirut from August 4 seen on a rendered satellite map.
Technology

Why the Beirut blast created a mushroom cloud

By Erik Olsen

A cup of pistachio gelato
DIY

How to make creamy, authentic-tasting gelato at home

By Max Falkowitz/Saveur

The Cahokia Mounds in Collinsville, Illinois, mark the site of one of the biggest pre-Colombian civilizations in the US.
Science

Colonial bias gave us an incorrect history of North America’s Indigenous people

By Sturt Manning/The Conversation

Cheese shop
Health

Almost everything you know about cheese is wrong

By Stan Horaczek

A ball of homemade Silly Putty
DIY

Stay-at-home science project: Two-ingredient Silly Putty

By Purbita Saha

Beer bottles stacked on top of each other
DIY

How to brew beer at home in a week

By Martha Harbison

Chipotle queso blanco
Environment

Inside Chipotle’s two-year process of reinventing its queso

By Stan Horaczek

A methane and ethane lake on Titan's surface.
Science

If life exists on Titan, it’s even weirder than we thought

By Charlie Wood

espresso being made
Science

For better coffee, start with fewer beans

By Molly Glick