Our bones don’t just create the supporting frames for our bodies—they also perform a number of important roles for our health. In the latest edition of Periodic Graphics in Chemical & Engineering News, we look at the materials in bones and what some of them do. View the full graphic on the C&EN site.
Mummies are, perhaps, the easiest go-to costume for Halloween: grab some bandages, drape yourself in them, and job done. However, there’s a little more behind the traditional embalming process used in Ancient Egypt, as well as a surprising amount of chemistry. Here we take a look at the chemicals used in the process, and how modern chemistry can help us identify them.
With a week to go until Halloween, it’s time to get carving pumpkins! Before you do, check out this graphic on the chemistry of pumpkins I made for C&EN last year (you can view the full graphic on their site here). Stay tuned for more Halloween-related chemistry over the coming week!
Fake blood is an essential accessory if you’re going for a gory halloween look with your costume this year. There’s a lot of chemistry in the substance it sets out to mimic; we can explain the colour, smell, and different types of blood with the aid of chemistry (and some biology thrown in for good measure).Today’s graphic takes a look at each in turn.
Continuing this week’s Halloween theme, today we’re looking at death – more specifically, the chemical agents behind the smell of it. Decomposition is an incredibly complicated process, but we do know a little about the chemical culprits behind some of the terrible smells as the body breaks down – so, what compounds are the must-haves this season for your run of the mill decomposing zombie?
Halloween’s almost here, which, for a large number of costumes, will require a liberal dousing of fake blood to complete the look. You probably already have a pretty good idea of the reasons behind the red colouration of human blood that fake blood mimics. However, red is not the only blood colour available – it also comes in blue, green, violet, and even colourless varieties – and this is a result of the specific chemicals that make up blood in different organisms.
