The chemical breakdown & Chemistry in its element

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Latest Episodes:

Vinblastine and vincristine – Vinca alkaloids: Chemistry in its element Mar 15, 2019

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Kat Arney unearths the story of a truly international effort to develop new drugs for cancer, and the female researcher whose key role went overlooked

Polyethylene glycol or PEG: Chemistry in its element Mar 08, 2019

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Kit Chapman on the simple polymer that preserves and protects ancient artifacts, and saved a historical Swedish shipwreck from complete collapse

Ferrous sulfate, or iron(II) sulfate: Chemistry in its element Mar 01, 2019

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Mike Freemantle on the iron compound that has been turning oak gall extract into indelible ink for centuries, but is now eating though our ancient manuscripts and musical scores

Nitrogenase: Chemistry in its element Feb 22, 2019

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The mysterious enzyme that can beat the world's biggest chemical process when it comes to breaking the dinitrogen triple bond

Lazurite: Chemistry in its element Feb 15, 2019

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A brilliant rich blue rock, prized in antiquity as a gemstone and a prominent pigment, lazurite is the basis of lapis lazuli, the original ultramarine paint and – as Brian Clegg finds – it even adorns Tutankhamun's death mask.

Melarsoprol: Chemistry in its element Feb 08, 2019

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Cases of sleeping sickness – human African trypanosomiasis – are in decline, dropping 86% in Africa between 2000 and 2014. Gege Li explores the role that this toxic, arsenic-based medication has to play.

Omega-3 fatty acids: Chemistry in its element Feb 01, 2019

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Many consume cod liver oil due to 'a vague sense we should be taking them for something' – but what to the omega-3 fatty acids actually do?

Cacodyl: Chemistry in its element Jan 25, 2019

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It made Robert Bunsen seriously ill, Michael Faraday thought it 'barbaric' to use in battle and even Fritz Haber – the 'father of chemical warfare' – abandoned it after a fatal accident in his lab. This week, Mike Freemantle tells the story of tetramethyldiarsine, otherwise known as cacodyl.

Bronze: Chemistry in its element Jan 18, 2019

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Kit Chapman takes us back to the 1904 Olympics in St Louis, via the bronze age and ancient Greece

Ellagic acid: Chemistry in its element Jan 11, 2019

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Louise Crane introduces the antioxidant that led to exaggerated claims that 'whisky helps fight cancer'