If you're going to have a glass of orange juice and brush your teeth (a good idea), there's only one order in which to do them. It makes sense that your minty toothpaste-mouth would make OJ taste weird, but why so down-right heinous? Read More >>

These little things look exactly like flowers—and that's because they're meant to. But in real life you'd never be able to spot them, because they are in fact microscopic crystals grown on the surface of a razor blade. Read More >>

We all know that barns are usually red. But why? Well, the answer is a little more complicated than you might think, but basically it's because of nuclear fusion. Read More >>

Most of your exposure to silk probably comes in the form of uncomfortably sensual linens or cobwebs in a dusty old closet. In reality, though, silk is an incredible and overlooked material. While it may have roots in the ancient past, it could also form the building blocks of the future. Read More >>

Graphene is touted as being the supermaterial to beat all supermaterials—but not so fast! Researcher have discovered a weakness that occurs in many sheets of graphene that renders it half as strong as we thought. Read More >>

The world's hottest new supermaterial isn't as fancy as you might think; in fact, it's produced by feeding wood pulp to algae. The result, nanocellulose, is amazingly light, super-strong, and conducts electricity. Unsurprisingly, that versatility lends it to plenty of fantastic possible applications. Here are some of the most exciting. Read More >>

Those without a strong stomach should look away now. When Gabriel Morais set to wondering what different foods do to his body, he naturally wondered how different items affect the colour of his poop. Here are the results. Read More >>

Electrons are tiny little particles that whizz around atoms, right? Well, kinda, but they're actually far better understood as waves. Wait, what? If that makes you stop and scratch your head don't worry! Just watch this video, and you'll know everything you need to about the exciting world of electrons. Read More >>

The Periodic Table is one of the most iconic — and useful! — pieces of data organisation to ever exist. Here's everything you need to know about it, from its history to how to use it, in just 11 minutes. Read More >>

Lighter, less expensive and more energy dense than other secondary battery technologies, lithium-ion has become the dominant form of rechargeable battery today. It powers everything from mobile phones and laptops to cars and commercial jets. But there is one little problem — these batteries don't just short circuit, they explode into flames. Here's what goes on inside a lithium cell before it goes boom. Read More >>

You were glad to see the back of chemistry in school because it's so dull, right? Wrong! Chemistry is amazing, and it helps explain what all the stuff around us is and where it comes from. Read More >>

Scientists from the European Bioinformatics Institute are squeezing unparalleled amounts of data in to synthetic DNA, and now they've achieved something absolutely amazing: they can store 2.2 petabytes of information in a single gram of DNA, and recover it with 100 per cent accuracy. Read More >>

No matter what you're into, I think it's pretty safe to say controlled chemistry experiements that involve explosions are cool. As it turns out, they're not only cool to watch, but can be pretty cool to listen to as well. At least, when you line them up the right way. Read More >>

One thing's for sure, out of all the tech industry's ravenous advancements, battery tech has been the slowest to evolve. We're basically still using the same lithium-ion batteries we were 10 years ago, and we all know how battery life sucks. Now Toyota may have the answer, and it looks like it's going to double battery capacity. Read More >>

Matthew Hartings is a chemistry professor at American University, and will most likely go down in history for coming up with the absolute best way to teach chemistry concepts to non-college types: using his dogs. Read More >>