Is chemistry really so difficult?
Chemistry has progressed in a way few outsiders appreciate. It underpins many other sciences; from genomics and molecular biology, food and sports science, through to cosmology and planetary science. Why hasn't the public impression of chemistry evol....
More details | Watch nowIncendiary science: fireworks at the Royal Society
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, fireworks offered some intriguing possibilities for scientific research among the experimental philosophers of the Royal Society. What was the nature of fire? How did combustion work? Why did gunpowder exp....
More details | Watch nowMaking the tiniest machines
Over the past few years some of the first examples of synthetic molecular level machines and motors Ñ all be they primitive by biological standards Ñhave been developed. These molecules respond to light, chemical and electrical stimuli, inducing mo....
More details | Watch nowThe wonders of chemistry
Chemistry is central to everything you do in your life. So much so, that we take it for granted and often forget about it. This talk, through a series of short demonstrations aims to convey the major themes that underpin the wonder of chemistry.
More details | Watch now‘How should a chemist understand brewing?’ Beer and theory around 1800
Eighteenth-century chemists could gain useful income and patronage as advisors to industry – and some of the wealthiest and most influential industrialists were brewers. Making chemical knowledge credible to this audience, however, was not always e....
More details | Watch nowNanoscience: what is likely in the next 5 years?
Five years ago this summer (in 1999), the Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering issued a report on Nanoscience and nanotechnologies: opportunities and uncertainties. The report had been commissioned by the Government, and has been widely....
More details | Watch nowThe Lilliput laboratory: chemistry & biology on the small scale
In 1959, Richard Feynman proposed a variety of new nano-tools including the concept of atom by atom' fabrication. In the intervening decades, many of these predictions have become reality. Andrew de Mello assesses the current impact of lab-on-a-chip ....
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