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Chemistry

Mars, known as the red planet, might have gotten its hue from a different mineral than scientists once thought.

The Red Dust on Mars Might Be a Different Mineral Than Scientists Thought, Shedding Light on the Planet’s Past

A new study suggests the iron oxide responsible for the red planet’s distinctive hue is ferrihydrite, pointing to the bygone presence of water, an important ingredient for life

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Five Unusual Ways People Used Lead—and Suffered For It

Cultures throughout history have put lead to use for wacky and often deeply poisonous purposes

The scientists recorded dozens of scents, which they broke down into four categories, including embalming ingredients and odors from plant oils used by modern museum conservators.

Discover the Aromas of Ancient Egyptian Mummies, From Orange Peels to Pine to Incense

A new, first-of-its-kind analysis of the scents of nine mummies detected woody, spicy, herbal and rancid notes, among other odors

Researchers say they found a way to perfectly boil eggs that accounts for the different temperature needs of the white and the yolk.

Scientists Say They’ve Found the Perfect Way to Boil an Egg. It Takes 32 Minutes and Lots of Attention

The team used computer models of computational fluid dynamics, then tested out the painstaking—yet reportedly delicious—recipe for themselves

Residents of Summerville have reported sightings of a mysterious glowing light over the town's old railroad tracks. The pictured tracks, while not the "haunted" site, were studied in an effort to determine the source of the 1886 Charleston earthquake.

The ‘Ghost’ Haunting This South Carolina Town Might Have an Earthly Explanation, Scientist Says

In a new research article, a seismologist argues that earthquakes are the reason for the mysterious lights associated with a local urban legend in Summerville

A polar bear near Kaktovik, Alaska. New research reveals how polar bears keep ice off their fur.

How Do Polar Bears Keep Ice Off Their Fur? New Study Reveals the Secret—and It Could Improve Technology

The de-icing properties of polar bear sebum could fuel new innovations, scientists say, potentially unlocking alternatives to harmful “forever chemicals” used in ice-resistant coatings today

Parts of the deep Pacific Ocean are covered in metallic lumps known as polymetallic nodules. A study published last year suggested they produce oxygen without sunlight.

Scientists Who Found Mysterious ‘Dark Oxygen’ on the Ocean Floor Plan a New Expedition, Hoping to Settle Disputes

Last year, the team made headlines when it published a paper describing how metal lumps at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean seemed to produce oxygen without sunlight

Hand-drawn illustration of two of the seven sampled molars from Australopithecus

Ape-Like Human Ancestors Were Largely Vegetarian 3.3 Million Years Ago in South Africa, Fossil Teeth Reveal

Scientists suggest meat consumption was pivotal to humans’ development of larger brains, but the transition probably didn’t start with Australopithecus, according to a new study

An international team of scientists spent four summers working in average temperatures of -25.6 degrees Fahrenheit.

Scientists Drill 1.7 Miles Into Antarctic Ice, Revealing 1.2 Million Years of Climate History

Researchers say a collected sample is the longest continuous record of Earth’s past climate from an ice core

Computer simulated global view of Venus' northern hemisphere. 

Did Venus Have Oceans? This Surprising New Study Suggests Not, a Theory That Could Upend the Search for Extraterrestrial Life

The astronomers behind the research looked to the output from the nearby planet’s toxic volcanoes for clues

The Union Carbide India Limited pesticide plant in Bhopal, India

On This Day in History

The World’s Deadliest Industrial Disaster Exposed 500,000 People to Toxic Gas and Claimed Thousands of Lives

A web of technical failures, human errors and corporate malpractice in Bhopal, India, culminated in an unthinkable tragedy on this day in 1984

The plant-based egg substitutes available today are less than perfect. Food scientists are working hard to improve them — and, maybe, make them better tasting and more nutritious than the real thing.

Scientists Are Trying to Crack the Recipe for the Perfect Plant-Based Eggs

With new ingredients and processes, the next generation of substitutes will be not just more egg-like, but potentially more nutritious

The yellow powder is a type of compound known as a “covalent organic framework,” or COF.

This New, Yellow Powder Quickly Pulls Carbon Dioxide From the Air, and Researchers Say ‘There’s Nothing Like It’

Scientists say just 200 grams of the material could capture 44 pounds of the greenhouse gas per year—the same as a large tree

Albert Hoffman, the chemist who first synthesized LSD, as photographed in 1976

On This Day in History

Discover the Origins of a Psychedelic Drug Synthesized by a Swiss Chemist Who Claimed It ‘Found and Called Me’

Five years after he created LSD in a lab on this day in 1938, Albert Hofmann accidentally underwent the first acid trip in human history, experiencing a kaleidoscope of colors and images in a sleepy Swiss city

The researchers studied the dusky lory (pictured) and the rosy-faced lovebird.

A Simple Chemical Shift Explains Why Parrots Are So Colorful, Study Suggests

Unlike other birds, which get pigments from their diets, parrots produce their own—but scientists never fully understood the underlying mechanisms, until now

David Baker, Demis Hassabis and John M. Jumper shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry on Wednesday for their work on protein structure.

Scientists’ Work on Protein Structure, Which Governs All Aspects of Life, Wins Nobel Prize in Chemistry

David Baker, Demis Hassabis and John M. Jumper revealed how amino acids shape protein structure, a finding that could aid in drug discovery

Gears turn inside an antique watch.

World’s First Ultra-Precise Nuclear Clock Is Within Reach After Major Breakthrough, Researchers Say

The technology, enabled by thorium atoms, could keep time more accurately than atomic clocks and enable new discoveries about gravity, gravitational waves and dark matter

Researchers excavated a crypt in Milan and found human remains containing evidence of cocaine use.

New Research

Europeans Were Using Cocaine in the 17th Century—Hundreds of Years Earlier Than Historians Thought

Scientists identified traces of the drug in the brain tissue of two individuals buried in the crypt of a hospital in Milan

A view from the webcast of the 34th First Annual Ig Nobel Ceremony.

Anus-Breathing Animals and Pigeon-Guided Missiles: Ig Nobel Prizes Reward Unusual but Valuable Science

The annual award ceremony featured costumes, songs and paper airplanes as scientists recognized comedic research across ten disciplines

When earthquakes squeeze quartz crystals, the mineral generates electricity that attracts gold particles.

How Large Gold Nuggets Form in Quartz Crystals During Earthquakes

Quartz, which can generate electricity, attracts large chunks of gold when stressed and squeezed by seismic shaking, according to a new study

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