Hitting the swimming pool this summer? Swimwear relies on a range of materials to keep you comfortable and prevent it from breaking down. This edition of Periodic Graphics in C&EN looks at what swimsuits are made of, and how a little chemistry knowledge goes a long way when it comes to keeping them in good shape and stopping their materials from fading and stretching.
It’s the final of the Women’s Football World Cup this weekend, with England facing off against Spain. Here’s a quick look at what the trophy the winners will lift on Sunday is made of.
Nothing embodies ‘life in plastic’ like Barbie dolls themselves. From relatively simple beginnings, today’s dolls have parts made of various plastics with varying properties. This graphic looks at Barbie’s chemical makeup and how it’s changed over the years.
This month’s edition of Periodic Graphics in C&EN comes off of the back of my ending up on tetracyclines for a chest infection a month or so ago. This alerted me to their ability to make the skin of people taking them more sensitive to sunlight. It turns out that there are a number of odd and unexpected side effects of medications people take for a variety of conditions, so this graphic rounds up some of the oddest I came across. View the full graphic on the C&EN site.
Alcohol: Well known to be carcinogenic to humans. Despite this, a large proportion of the population drink it regularly. More surprisingly, whenever the International Agency for Research on Cancer updates its carcinogen classifications for other substances with a lower cancer risk, there’s often media fanfare. In recent years, the IARC has upgraded classifications for red meat and aspartame, leading to a spate of panicked articles. This republished and updated post takes a look at what the classification groups actually mean, and how worried we should be about a substance’s classification.
Compounds in cosmetics such as phthalates and parabens have often been subject to concerns around their use, but the issue of cosmetic ingredient safety is rarely a black and white one. The latest edition of Periodic Graphics in C&EN summarises some of the evidence surrounding these components to give a balanced picture of how concerned we should be. Click to view the full graphic on the C&EN site.
