A powder made from the scabs of pustules on the skin of people who had survived smallpox. The eradication of this horrific disease, which is thought to have first appeared around 10,000 B.C., is...
The second part of the question is easy to answer.聽 鈥淪altpetre,鈥 (the term refers either to potassium or sodium nitrate) has no effect on carnal urges.聽 The story that this chemical was put into...
With mercuric chloride, also known as 鈥渃orrosive sublimate.鈥 People have been intrigued by mercury and its compounds for over 3500 years. Ko Hung, an ancient Chinese alchemist was one of the first...
First, a little history is in order. Soap making is one of the oldest of all chemical processes. There is even a reference to soap in the Bible in Jeremiah 2:22. "For though thou wash thee with...
The Scots did not invent Scotch tape. But their reputation for thriftiness did inspire the name of this amazing product. Two-tone cars were the in thing way back in the 1920s and car manufacturers...
One day a craftsman showed up in the court of Tiberius, Emperor of Rome (14AD to 37AD), to present the ruler with a beautiful transparent glass vase. Just as he was about to hand the vessel to...
When back in 1811 Bernard Courtois noticed the violet fumes produced when his seaweed extraction tank was being cleaned, he could have never dreamed that he had set the stage for one of the most...
Dr. Lorne Trottier was in attendance of the recent landing of the Mars Rover,聽Curiosity. Here, he describes his account of the experience as well as the complexities and nuances of what went into...
Richard Feynman, Nobel prize winning physicist and science popularizer par excellence liked practical jokes, but I doubt he would have enjoyed watching people in the buff parade on Chicago鈥檚...