Distillations magazine

When does self-experimentation cross the line?

A molecule used in antifreeze may one day heal damaged spinal cords.

How do art historians know who painted a work of art and when it was painted?

Alchemists once wrote of chaos, dragons, and spirits, but did they know more about chemistry than we give them credit for?

Filippo Marinetti thought he could change Italian society through its collective belly.

Pop artists set themselves apart by addressing throwaway culture. But how could they make the disposable last?

In the 1940s two chemists joined forces to fight Los Angeles’s stinky, stinging air.

Ernest Lawrence championed the idea of science done collectively. But he failed to champion his own scientists during the Red Scare.

How do we think about a world that doesn’t yet exist?

In Silicon Valley’s renegade days, a hardheaded Texan chased dreams of a flying car.

A simple invention that saved lives and led to the discovery of a hidden form of life.

Synthetic fibers not only changed the fashion industry; they changed how women lived their lives.

Step into the weird and wonderful world of stuffing animals.

The story of Louis Pasteur and the development of the rabies vaccine.

Data overload is nothing new. How have people in the past managed their versions of big data?

Dive into the world of nixtamalization, and find out how you’re eating a small piece of ancient chemistry each time you bite into a taco.

Resurrecting radium’s role in early genetics research.

Two space-loving PR men consider the marketing of NASA’s Apollo program.