Sugar is a surprisingly versatile substance.
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Sugar is maligned for its effects on our health, but it’s an amazing substance and can be used for more than just making things taste sweet.
The molecules that make up life may have arrived from space, and many are chiral.
NASA / Jenny Mottar
A new theory could explain why the key molecules of life - DNA and RNA - only come in one of two possible forms.
What’s in a name?
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As four new chemical elements are named, here’s all you need to know.
Physicists Joe Hamilton, who discovered tennessine, and his colleague A. V. Ramayya autograph a period table on June 8, 2016.
(AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
Some 18 elements have had placeholder names derived from the Latin to stop scientists fighting over what their discoveries should be called.
The Maillard reaction is what gives brisket it’s brown colour and delicious flavours.
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Have you ever wondered how freshly baked bread gets its a golden brown crust, or why coffee beans smell so good? You can thank the miracle of the Maillard reaction.
You need the right one for the job.
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From non-Newtownian fluids, to hydrophobic starch, to plasticisation - various flours can do amazing things. But you must choose the right one for the job!
A butterfly’s wing viewed through an optical microscope (left) and the scanning helium microscope (right).
University of Newcastle
A new scanning helium microscope offers the potential for capturing images with finer resolution than optical microscopes, but without damaging samples as with electron microscopes.
Is there any science in that?
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Just a few awkward questions.
Big questions.
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Does it have a formula?
Salt seems common enough, but it has some astounding properties.
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That salt on your table can do amazing things chemically, and to the flavour of your favourite food. But don’t eat too much!
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Scientists have found a way to encrypt messages using common chemicals such as cola and mouthwash.
Nano-architects design materials that can work together at very tiny scales, like these interlocking gears made of carbon tubes and benzene molecules.
NASA
One of the great technological challenges of this century is to design novel items and then make them – and have the results match the intent.
Chemicals or a spice rack? Or both?
Hans Splinter/Flickr
Chemicals have a bad rap these days. But the fact is that everything is made of chemicals. Here are some of the chemicals at work in your kitchen.
Chilli: not nice for mice.
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Discover the chemical wonders in your kitchen cupboard.
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Scientists have discovered the first easy-to-grow bacteria that can break down plastics.
Chemistry is all around us.
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Our civilisation is built on chemistry, and the science has a bright future, with the launch of a new Decadal Plan that will steer the science into the future.
The Pantheon dome - made entirely out of concrete.
MatthiasKabel/wikimedia
Think atomic theory was invented in the 19th century? Try 5th century BC.
Shaken not stirred …
StudioVin
Getting tellurium and phosphorus to form a molecule is stupidly hard and not very glamorous. Here’s why it’s worth the effort.
New elements were discovered in early thermonuclear bomb tests.
Pixabay
New elements found in the reactions of nuclear tests during World War II sparked the hunt for additions to the periodic table.
The expanding periodic table of elements.
Shutterstock/Olivier Le Queinec
They might only last for a fraction of a second but four new elements have finally won their place in the periodic table. The hunt is now on to find even more.