Chemistry

A bowl brimming with Burgundy truffles ready for analysis.

Good News, Foodies: Truffles Are Not Stuffed With Chernobyl Radiation

Unlike some mushrooms in Europe, truffles do not seem to be accumulating radiation leftover from the infamous nuclear disaster

How many more seats are left at the table?

When Will We Reach the End of the Periodic Table?

Even with new elements in hand, scientists are struggling to predict the future of the iconic chemical roadmap

Superheavy elements round out the seventh row of the periodic table. (Editor's Note, November 23, 2021: Image updated to reflect most accurate and up-to-date version of the periodic table.)

Four New Elements Are Added to the Periodic Table

Superheavy elements round out the seventh row of the periodic table

This New App Wants to Help You With Your Homework

With GotIt!, high school students take a photo of a tricky math or science problem and get live tutoring by text from the highest bidder

Making Sugar Twice as Sweet

An Israeli startup has invented a process to coat inert particles with sugar molecules, tricking the tongue into thinking food is sweeter

Astronomers have discovered strange chemicals in interstellar objects like the Horsehead Nebula.

Scientists Are Searching for Space Chemicals That Could Never Exist on Earth

Bizarre chemicals in deep space could help explain the origins of life

Metal microlattice

This Metal Is 99.9 Percent Air

A new metal "microlattice" is strong yet incredibly light, lending itself to a wide variety of aerospace, automotive and medical uses

Smithsonite, or zinc spar, is a carbon zinc ore.This mineral was named in 1832 after English chemist and mineralogist James Smithson (founding donor of the Smithsonian Institution).

We Are Missing At Least 145 Carbon-Bearing Minerals, and You Can Help Find Them

The Carbon Mineral Challenge is asking rock enthusiasts around the world to hunt for the undiscovered forms of this common element

Cataract of the human eye

This Chemical Compound Could Melt Away Cataracts

Eye drops made from "compound 29" have been shown to reduce cataracts in mice. Researchers hope the same will hold true for humans.

George Harrison’s master tapes for "All Things Must Pass" (pictured here in 1970) are likely well preserved, but many similar audio tapes of the era could be deteriorating.

History and Culture of the 1960s to 1980s Is Disintegrating With the Tapes That Recorded It

But a new test and a bit of chemistry can help preserve the past

The rapidly moving Mount Baldy dune has consumed everything in its sandy wake, including fungus-ridden black oak trees that are thought to be the source of the mysterious tunnels.

New Insights Behind the Sand Dunes That Swallowed a Boy

Scientists have confirmed that fungus-ridden trees are to blame

A Minecraft World Built for Exploring Chemicals

The new world, called MolCraft, is a virtual chemistry museum

Bleached coral pokes through the water's surface off the coast of New Ireland, Papua New Guinea.

Sunscreen May Be Destroying Coral Reefs

Just a tiny amount of a common chemical in sunscreen can bleach and break delicate coral

The Oldest Chemistry Lab in America?

A classroom designed by Thomas Jefferson was rediscovered

Mayapple plant

Scientists Manipulate Common Plants to Produce Cancer Drugs

Stanford researchers have figured out how to transfer a rare plant's chemical "assembly line" into a cheap, common lab plant

Fireworks go off over the Moskva River.

Dazzling Photos of Russia's First Annual Pyrotechnic Festival

At an international fireworks competition in Moscow, leading companies stretched far beyond pyrotechnics' ancient origins

A hole like this could be healed in matter of seconds.

This Plastic Heals Itself

How will it be used? For one, it could make space travel safer

This meth lab diorama entitled "Black Acid Co-op" [installation view] was displayed in 2009 by Jonah Freeman and Justin Lowe.

Meth Lab Injuries Are Increasing

Makeshift laboratories can cause burns, respiratory problems

Could a New Nanomaterial Reduce Greenhouse Gases?

Berkeley researchers have developed a way to split carbon dioxide into oxygen and carbon monoxide using a nano-mesh

Soon, Red Fireworks Might Not Contain Carcinogens Anymore

Scientists discover alternative to cancer-causing chemicals that give red fireworks their color.

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