Chemistry

Researchers used these five replica clay pipes to "smoke" tobacco and other native plants.

Early Residents of the Pacific Northwest Smoked Smooth Sumac

Researchers used a new technique to detect the chemical fingerprints of specific plant species in a 1,400-year-old pipe's residue

Nickelodon's slime in Space in the cupola of the International Space Station.

Astronauts Got Slimed in Space for Science

Nickelodeon teamed up with NASA to send packets of green slime into space to test its behavior in microgravity and to create a virtual field trip for kids

New research suggests that humidity is making the painting's yellow cadmium sulfide degrade into white.

Humidity Is a Nightmare for 'The Scream'

Moisture in the air—not light—has made the yellow pigments in Edvard Munch's masterpiece degrade

Folium was used to illustrate illuminated manuscripts—and color the rind of a popular Dutch cheese.

Researchers Follow a 15th-Century Recipe to Recreate Medieval Blue Ink

The purplish-blue pigment, derived from a Portuguese fruit, fell out of use by the 19th century

Fragments of a large early Neolithic vessel that was likely used to process meat stew

Traces of Millennia-Old Milk Help Date Pottery Fragments to Neolithic London

These dairy products are no longer edible, but they're still valuable to researchers

Now that's a big bubble.

Here’s How to Blow the Perfect Giant Soap Bubble, According to Physics

Sometimes, science really blows

Scientists filmed a pair of rhenium atoms (simulated here in green) as they bonded over a carbon nanotube (grey)

Watch First-Ever Footage of Atoms Forming and Breaking Bonds

The team used transmission electron microscopy to film the atoms dancing down a carbon nanotube

(Clockwise from left) Michela Puddu, Elias Sime, Richard Yim and Miranda Wang

Eight Innovators to Watch in 2020

From plastic recycling pioneers to landmine foes, these dreamers have big plans for the coming year

Bioluminescent "sea fireflies," a species of ostracod crustacean, covering the rocks on the coast of Okayama, Japan.

How Studying Bioluminescent Creatures Is Transforming Medical Science

The natural light of insects and sea creatures can help doctors illuminate H.I.V. and even kill cancer cells

John B. Goodenough, M. Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino

Development of the Lithium-Ion Battery Earns Nobel Prize in Chemistry

The award honors three scientists whose contributions led to the rechargeable battery that makes our modern world possible

Nobel Prize in Medicine Awarded to Scientists Who Revealed How Cells Respond to Different Oxygen Levels

Three medical scientists will share the award for further explaining how the body responds to oxygen abundance

California’s Saltiest Lake Is Home to This Arsenic-Resistant, Three-Sexed Worm

Prior to their discovery, only two species could survive in the super-salty, highly alkaline lake in the Sierra Nevada mountains

Graphene-Coated Fabric Causes Mosquitoes to Buzz Off

Researchers found the insects can't penetrate thin layers of the wonder material, which also blocks the scent of human sweat

Rust film could be used to cover buoys to generate power for scientific equipment at sea, or on bridges to create electricity for nearby structures.

Could a Rusty Bridge Generate Electricity?

New research shows that water flowing over thin layers of rust can generate power

Samples of trinitite from the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

A Chunk of Trinitite Reminds Us of the Sheer, Devastating Power of the Atomic Bomb

Within the Smithsonian's collections exists a telltale trace of the weapon that would change the world forever

Stephanie Kwolek's initial ambition was not to be chemist at all.

You Can Thank Chemist Stephanie Kwolek for Bulletproof Vests and Yoga Pants

The long-serving researcher at DuPont invented kevlar and contributed to spandex

A natural color view of Titan and Saturn taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on May 6, 2012, at a distance of approximately 483,000 miles (778,000 kilometers) from Titan.

Dragonfly Spacecraft to Scour the Sands of Titan for the Chemistry of Life

The NASA rotorcraft, resembling a large quadcopter drone, will fly through the orange clouds of the ocean moon in the outer solar system

Would you drink it?

Why Scientists Are Making Vodka in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone

It’s perfectly safe to drink, according to a new report

An artist's depiction of Earth during the Archean Eon, from 4 to 2.5 billion years ago, when life consisted of only single-celled microbes with no nucleus (prokaryotes). How these primitive organisms first formed from chemical reactions remains one of the greatest mysteries of science.

Searching for the Key to Life's Beginnings

From exoplanets to chemical reactions, scientists inch closer to solving the great mystery of how life forms from inanimate matter

The team derived acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, from a plant wall polymer called lignin.

Researchers Develop Plant-Based, Eco-Friendly Method to Produce Tylenol

Current manufacturing processes rely on coal tar, which is produced using fossil fuels

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