Distillations magazine

An 1828 murder trial provides insight into the moral ambiguity of forensic science and scientific testimony.

Svante Arrhenius was one of the founders of modern physical chemistry. His later work cosmological work carried him beyond the scientific limits of many of his colleagues.

David Healy reviews Nicholas Rasmussen’s On Speed: The Many Lives of Amphetamine.

Aspirin has had a long history as a pain reliever—2,000 years of history. But only in the 1970s did scientists begin to uncover its chemical secrets.

A personal portrait of the Nobel prize-winning crystallographer.

Interactions between the pharmaceutical industry, the biomedical sciences, and legislators is a longstanding hot topic in Washington.

The history of pasteurization and the controversy surrounding it demonstrate the complexity of milk as a chemical substance.

Cellophane celebrates its 100th anniversary with a comeback, after losing out to cheaper imitations in the 1970s.

Assessing J. Robert Oppenheimer as a leader.

Scientists have only recently begun to investigate the chemical components that give wines their distinct and complex flavors.

How 50,000 people tried to maintain a normal existence while living in isolation at the largest the Manhattan Project site.

Part experimenter and part entertainer, Humphry Davy was a 19th-century icon.

The founding of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers represented the beginning of American technological dominance in the 20th century.

The invention of nylon in 1938 promised sleekness and practicality for women and soon ushered in a textile revolution for consumers and the military alike.

Fatal results of the lax safety standards of yesterday provide powerful lessons in the importance of safety in today’s labs.

The rise and fall of hormone replacement therapy.

Innovations have reduced industry’s impact on human health and the environment while also saving companies money.

Technologies using nanosized objects have been around for hundreds of years.