Chemistry In Its Element

Lactose intolerance leads to unpleasant and antisocial symptoms. Lars Öhrström finds out why

Simon Cotton investigates tetrahydrogestrinone (THG), a designer steroid that sparked a sporting scandal

Brian Clegg meets a simple organic compound with a reputation for being something of a bruiser

Simon Cotton looks back at the history of one of our favourite painkillers, paracetamol

Helen Scales finds out how unique toxins found in deadly cone snail stings could herald the next generation of painkillers

Brian Clegg explains how the versatile compound boron nitride may be 'the best kept secret in all of chemistry'

A popular way to weed out unwanted pest plants, Jen Newton introduces Glyphosate

This week, Ben Valsler investigates the smoky compound that links whisky, kippers, bacon, hot dogs, coffee, creosote and cough syrup

For many, it's the smell of spring and summer. But hexenal - responsible for the aroma of freshly cut grass - makes Simon Cotton think of cricket.

Did chemistry help control tension in the trenches? Brian Clegg investigates potassium bromide

A devastating weapon indelibly associated with Apocalypse Now and the Vietnam war, Simon Cotton introduces Napalm

Tamoxifen can treat and prevent one type of breast cancer, without the side effects of chemotherapy. Andrew Holding explains more

By tasting fantastically bitter, but only to some, phenylthiocarbamide (or PTC) exposed the genetics of taste

Sitting on your glasses is no longer a death sentence for spectacles, thanks to shape memory alloys like nitinol

It's a massive molecular record breaker. Andrew Holding introduces Titin, the largest protein in the human body

Helen Scales looks at cantharidin, the active ingredient in this famous aphrodisiac

Serotonin, the 'happy molecule', may be at the root of depression, but Hayley Birch finds we still have a lot to learn

Wrongly blamed for murders and hallucinations, Simon Cotton raises a glass of absinthe to this week's compound: Thujone

How can whale waste make you a fortune? This week, Helen Scales searches for Ambergris

Simon Cotton introduces the dynamic Sir Geoffrey Wilkinson, and the catalyst that carries his name