The Chemistry of Blood

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 ...

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The 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

The last of this year’s Nobel Prizes, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, was awarded today. This year’s prize went to the development of cryo-electron microscopy, a technique that allows the structures of biomolecules to be revealed where other techniques fail. It also gives scientists insights into ...

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Fat is an important nutrient in our diets, but there’s a lot of talk of different types of fats, and whether these types are beneficial or harmful to our health. These different fat classifications have their roots in chemistry – and chemistry can also help explain their effects. This graphic ...

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The Chemistry of Bread-Making

Though chemistry teachers might have to regularly field questions about the chemistry of ‘Breaking Bad’ these days, baking bread is probably more likely to figure on a list of their recreational activities. Bread-making is a process that seems simple, essentially involving the mixing of just four ...

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As the chemistry of chocolate is a topic that’s been pretty much exhausted on the site (see here, here, here, here, and here), for the Easter weekend we’re instead homing in on the ‘egg’ side of Easter Eggs. For such a simple staple of the kitchen, the chemistry of eggs is surprisingly complex. ...

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Science Hits The Bar

Ever wondered about the chemistry behind cocktails? If so, then this mini-series of graphics is for you! As part of the Pint of Science festival taking place in May, I’m running an event at La Raza inCambridge (UK) looking at how chemistry can be used to make ‘molecular cocktails’. I’ve also ...

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Today’s post crosses over into the realm of biochemistry, with a look at the chemical structure of DNA, and its role in creating proteins in our cells. Of course, it’s not just in humans that DNA is found – it’s present in the cells of every multicellular life form on Earth. This graphic provides ...

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Spider venoms can be grouped into two broad categories: necrotic, and neurotoxic. Necrotic, or cytotoxic venoms, are those which cause cell and tissue damage after envenomation. This can lead to the appearance of inflammation, lesions, and blisters. Neurotoxic venoms, on the other hand, exert ...

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Human blood, as well as that of most other vertebrates, is red as a result of haemoglobin, a large protein found in red blood cells which contains iron atoms within its structure. Haemoglobin is what’s known as a respiratory pigment, and it plays a vital role in the body, ferrying oxygen around ...

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