You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Towards the end of Philip Ball’s marvellous book on the history of alchemy he tells the story of ...

Can alchemy be described as a protoscience? Do ancient texts with obscure formulas and procedures describe mystic rituals and allegoric visions? Or do they record instructions to carry out real ...

Imagine yourself in a chemistry lab. You are probably picturing a scene featuring a whole load of liquids – fluids bubbling in round-bottomed flasks, solutions swirling in test tubes, droplets running ...