Autumn is here, and for most of us, it’s a time of beauty as the leaves cascade through an array of hues before pirouetting down from the trees. If you have to travel by train, however, you might tire of ‘leaves on the line’ being the supposed cause of train delays. It turns out to be more than just a flimsy excuse – and particular chemical reactions are partly to blame.
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Over the past week, UK news has been dominated by the mysterious poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia. Today, this culminated in the British government revealing that it is believed a type of Novichok agent was the chemical culprit behind the attempted murder. This graphic takes a look at what we do know about Novichok agents and what is still unclear.
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Laundry pods have featured in the news this week after cases of people eating them in what’s being referred to as the ‘Tide Pod Challenge’. In case you didn’t already realise that this is a pretty terrible idea, this graphic looks at the chemical reasons why you really don’t want them anywhere near your mouth.
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Pufferfish: kind of cute, right? Also kind of poisonous. They hit the news this week after a Japanese supermarket accidentally sold five packages of fugu (as it’s known in Japan) without removing the highly poisonous livers. This post looks at what makes them so poisonous.
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Even in the depths of winter, wildfires have been raging in some U.S. states. There were over 66,000 wildfires across the U.S. last year, and this month’s edition of Periodic Graphics in C&EN magazine takes a look at the products of these large-scale combustion reactions, as well as the effects that these products can have on our health. Click through to the C&EN site to view the full graphic!
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As we head into 2018, it’s time to take a look back at some of the biggest chemistry news stories over the past year. This year’s chemistry news featured poisonous frogs, battery fires, element creation, and more!
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