Chemistry in its element

The pesticide that keeps pets free of pests, but may have also been responsible for the devastating collapse of bee colonies. With Harriet Brewerton.

6 Maalis 20206min

Rotund rodents revolutionised our understanding of the biological role of fat. Now, as Katrina Krämer discovers, the hormones created by fats could redefine obesity.

28 Helmi 202010min

Ben Valsler on vitamin K – the blood clotting factor that is likely to be the first supplement you ever receive

21 Helmi 20206min

Brian Clegg on the enzymes make life a little sweeter by breaking down starch into sugars, helping to make bread and beer

14 Helmi 20207min

Georgia Mills on a compound that explodes from a beetle's bum, and has a controversial role in skin depigmentation

7 Helmi 20206min

This week marks the 20th anniversary of the Baia Mare disaster, when toxic sodium cyanide spilled from a gold processing plant led to ecological damage on a huge scale. Mike Freemantle tells the tragi...

31 Tammi 20207min

Once thought of as an interesting – but useless – turpentine derivative, this oddly-named acid became the precursor to one of the world's most widely used plastics

24 Tammi 20207min

From ancient Egyptian pottery to distinctive blue bottles, cobalt oxide has been providing 'chemically and artistically perfect' pigments for centuries

17 Tammi 20206min