The versatile gas lies at the center of a complex, fragile global market.

Blue light from digital devices and the sun transforms vital molecules in the eye's retina into cell killers, according to optical chemistry research at The University of Toledo.

With the aid of a particle accelerator, scientists are bringing back ghosts from the past, revealing portraits hidden underneath the tarnished surface of two roughly 150-year-old silver photographic plates. Researchers used an accelerator called a synchrotron to produce strong, but nondamaging beams of X-rays to scan the damaged photographs, called daguerreotypes, and map their chemical composition.

Researchers have developed a lead-based invisible ink that, unlike its predecessors, is colorless under ultraviolet (UV) light until a salt is added to make it glow. What’s more, the ink can be switched off on demand using another chemical trigger: Add methanol, and it vanishes within 10 minutes.

Is the government really stockpiling materials in a Nevada building that scientists cannot identify? What to make of a Las Vegas building full of unidentified alloys? The New York Times published a stunning story Saturday (Dec. 16) revealing that the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) had, between 2007 and 2012, funded a $22 million program for investigating UFOs. The story included three revelations that were tailored to blow readers' minds:

Compressing wood and removing some of its polymers can increase its strength by more than a factor of ten.

Scientists have found a breakthrough technique to separate two liquids from each other using a laser. The research is something like taking the milk out of your tea after you've made it, say researchers – and just as difficult as that sounds. But scientists say the breakthrough will have far more advanced applications than making sure you get the tea round right. Eventually the breakthrough could help make a technique used in the production of computers, phones, drugs, paints, light bulbs and solar cells far easier, potentially making them much cheaper.

If the skin regenerates itself every couple of weeks, then why do tattoos last for years? Sure, we know that tattoo ink is inserted into the layer right beneath the outermost layer of skin, but even the cells there must regenerate eventually. The seeming paradox of tattoo permanence has hurt the brains of even the most science-savvy ink enthusiasts. Fortunately, on Tuesday, a team of researchers report they’ve found a solution.

A chemical reaction he suggested can now be done, and it makes a great membrane.

Thermochemical solar fuel manufacturing would be an energy industry with a life of centuries, rather than decades. The feedstock of sunlight, carbon dioxide and water is essentially unlimited. Scientists with the SOLAR-JET Project have demonstrated the first-ever entire process to make kerosene, the jet fuel used by commercial airlines, using a high-temperature thermal solar reactor...

...using cream of tartar in meringues is not only a fairly recent trend, but also likely of American origin. That being said, cream of tartar’s story truly begins, like all good stories, long ago and far away.

The longer we wait to take serious action on climate change, the more necessary it becomes to remove some of the CO2 we've already put in the air. In fact, the scenarios in the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report in which warming was limited to 2°C relied heavily on CO2 removal. Adoption of the necessary technology still seems too far off, given the current lack of market incentives and supporting policies. The technique seen as most likely to scale up involves growing...

Chemists have calculated that chains of double or triple-bonded carbon atoms, known as carbyne, should be stronger and stiffer than any known material..

The Acetone is not actually "dissolving" the Styrofoam. Here is what is happing. When styrofoam is placed in acetone, the long polymer strands are dissolved, releasing the trapped air and causing the structure to disintegrate.

Ocean warming will negatively impact plankton colonies, resulting in a rough climate change cycle.

Whiskey drinkers know that the moment they swirl a bit of the smoky spirit in their mouth, they’re bound to find a world of flavors: some oak, some smoke, a little vanilla, maybe a slight bite from tannin. Brown liquors — from scotch to bourbon and all the whiskeys in between — are complex spirits that lend themselves to purposeful tasting, creating connoisseurs willing to shell out top dollar for the most peaty scotch or their favorite spicy bourbon.

Having studied brain toxicity for 30 years, a professor of environmental medicine declares that enough is enough when it comes to dangerous compounds and our brains.

The framework for ridding the world of Syria's chemical weapons may be tactical, but the challenge it poses is technological. 

Cave exploration could help fight a major medical problem.

The Cassini probe has detected propene, or propylene, on Saturn's moon Titan. On Earth, this molecule, which comprises three carbon atoms and six hydrogen atoms, is a constituent of many plastics.

Hormone-disrupting chemicals may be far more prevalent in lakes and rivers than previously thought. Environmental scientists have discovered that although these compounds are often broken down by sunlight, they can regenerate at night, returning to life like zombies.

Three U.S. scientists won the Nobel chemistry prize on Wednesday for pioneering work on computer programs that simulate complex chemical processes and have revolutionized research in areas from drugs to solar energy.

Recently, there’s been a bunch of research indicating marijuana isn’t the worst drug in the world—long-term use of it might not harm IQ, and it can serve as an effective way to distract people from chronic pain

The short history of an ornery substance that never gets wet, but sure does get some heat.

How life came about from inanimate sets of chemicals is still a mystery. While we may never be certain which chemicals existed on prebiotic Earth, we can study the biomolecules we have today to give us clues about what happened three billion years ago.

Actress Brittany Murphy may have been murdered, a new toxicology report suggests. Murphy, 32, of Clueless fame, was found dead by her mother in her home in California on December 20, 2009. The Los Angeles Coroner originally attributed her death to pneumonia and anaemia.

There’s flame retardant in your Mountain Dew. That soda with the lime-green hue (and other citrus-flavored bubbly pops) won’t keep your insides fireproof, but it does contain brominated vegetable oil, a patented flame retardant for plastics that has been banned in foods throughout Europe and in Japan.

Chemistry is everywhere in the world around us - so why are we so scared of it, asks Dr Mark Lorch.

Scientists from Harvard and MIT have jointly demonstrated that, in specific conditions, photons can be made to interact with each other and form molecules. Such groupings of photons, dubbed “Photonic molecules”, constitute an entirely new form of matter, which until recently was purely theoretical. Combining the properties of light and those of solids, in terms of physics this new form of matter is not unlike a certain material that millions of Star Wars fans are already well familiar with..

Mercury is the quixotic bad boy of the periodic table - exquisitely beautiful, but deadly. The ancients believed it was the "first matter" from which all other metals were formed. Yet it is now in such disfavour that an international treaty exists to curb its use.

A few weeks ago, the FDA announced a bold new position on antibacterial soap: Manufacturers have to show that it’s both safe and more effective than simply washing with conventional soap and water, or they have to take it off the shelves in the next few years.

Glamorized in film and readily available with just a few well placed phone calls and often with devastating long-term effects – drugs have the potential permeate every part of popular culture. But aside from crack pipes, packets of white power and syringes full of fluid what does the chemical composition of drugs look like?

Got some dirty money to launder? Well, Rhode Island scientists say they've devised a method of washing human grease, microbes and motor oil from the world's banknotes using supercritical fluid.

Botulinum toxin type H- the deadliest known toxin- has been discovered in the feces of a child suffering from botulism. The toxin's DNA hasn't been released to the public as it has no antidote.

Scientists finally find the neurons that produce the sensation of itch.