The chemical breakdown & Chemistry in its element

Katrina Krämer investigates a marine toxin that drives animals crazy and might have inspired one of Alfred Hitchcock's most famous films

Mike Freemantle revisits battlefield surgery to investigate boric acid, a key part of Dakin's antiseptic solution used extensively in the first world war

Patrick Hughes delves into the molecule at the centre of a decades-old cancer treatment conspiracy theory

Georgia Mills tackles the feel-good neurotransmitter and hormone behind thrill seeking, addiction and mobile gaming

Mike Freemantle finds the connection between Land of Hope and Glory and the noxious, corrosive, flammable gas that stinks of rotten eggs

One doctor's battle with alcoholism and self-experimentation with baclofen led to a rush of people desperate to try the drug to curb their addictions. But are we simply replacing one problem with another, asks Enna Guadalupe 

Microplastics, including polypropylene, are present in our oceans, on our beaches and even in bottled water. Ian Robertson from PerkinElmer investigates the scale and some solutions

Lay back in the chair and say 'Ahh', as Mike Freemantle introduces zinc polycarboxylate dental cement

The versatile gemstones that give scientists insights into the chemistry of the early Earth, introduced by Brian Clegg

Chemistry's tastiest bonds for an explosive anaesthetic that was as useful as it was dangerous

Ben Valsler introduces a class of hallucinogenic phenethylamines, explored by the 'godfather of psychedelics' Alexander Shulgin and sadly implicated in a tragedy at a 2017 music festival

The first drug approved in the US to treat Aids required a completely new approach to clinical trials – Frances Addison explores the history of azidothymidine

How the compound that ushered in a photographic revolution has taken to the skies to try to control the weather

Katrina Krämer investigates how one of the smallest small-molecule drugs around saved Jeanna Giese's life

Kat Arney investigates a potent chemical that might explain the brain-bending powers of bacteria

Mike Freemantle introduces amber – the valuable organic gemstone that invests unwary insects in a durable tomb

Brian Clegg examines the duality that makes beryllium oxide so valuable to the electronics industry

Jamie Durrani diverts his attention to the rise of Ritalin, a drug first identified as a way of improving tennis performance

Frances Addison takes a look at the discovery that brought horseshoe crabs to the heart of the pharmaceutical industry

Kit Chapman investigates the drug that has been one of the top five prescription medications in the UK every year for the last two decades

Inspired by a mention of arrowroot in Jane Austen's Emma , Mike Freemantle investigates how subtle differences in composition mean starch can be resistant dietary fibre or easily-digested nourishment.

How an early synthetic dye chemical came to play a role in a mysterious disease outbreak in 1980s Spain

Coating your naked body with powdered magnesium silicate may sound strange, but it's an important part of many bathtime rituals

Mike Freemantle discovers sea buckthorns, also called 'beauty berries' because of their high concentration of tocopherols and tocotrienols, collectively known as vitamin E.

If you've ever been unlucky enough to experience 'corked' wine, then 2,4,6-trichloroanisole, or TCA was likely the chemical culprit