Here’s something to try over the Easter weekend: take a UV light and shine it on some eggs. You’ll be rewarded with a red glow from their shells. What causes this red glow? That’s what this graphic looks at!
Spring is here, and daffodils are blooming. You might have some in your garden, or you might pick some up at a florist to put in a vase at home. If you do, it’s a good idea to place them in a vase on their own – there are chemical reasons why daffodils and other flowers don’t mix!
Snowdrops and chemical warfare aren’t two things you’d expect to mention in the same sentence. However, there’s a surprising link between the two thanks to a compound found in these winter flowers. This graphic looks at this compound and how it helps treat both Alzheimer’s disease and nerve agent poisoning.
January is National Blood Donor Month. If you’ve ever donated blood (or received blood from a donation) then you might have wondered why some types of blood can’t be given to some people. And what is it that makes blood types different anyway? This graphic looks at the compatibilities of different blood types, and below we’ll try to get to the bottom of what makes them different.
Broccoli, like other green vegetables, gets greener when you start cooking it. Why is this, and why does this green colour fade to a grey-green the longer it’s cooked? This graphic looks at the compounds produced when preparing broccoli to find the answer.
It’s October, which means mating season for a lot of the spiders that lurk in our gardens and around our houses. Like them or loathe them, these arachnids use some fascinating biochemistry to weave their webs – and the material properties of their webs have inspired a variety of attempts to emulate them! Click through to the C&EN site to view the full graphic.