Today, hair dyes are widely used, either to cover up grey hairs, or simply by those wanting to change their natural hair colour. The chemistry behind how they change the colour of hair can actually get pretty complicated, but this graphic tries to boil it down to the key classes of chemicals ...

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Shark Week Special

The human fear of sharks is an age old one. Even though your odds of being killed by a shark are estimated to be approximately 1 in 3.7 million, versus a 1 in 218 chance of simply dying from a fall, the fear persists, and over the years many chemists have turned their attentions to trying to find ...

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Everyone’s familiar with glow sticks, but it’s likely that fewer are familiar with thechemistry behind their glow. You may have wondered what happens when you snap a glow stick to activate it; by doing this, you’re actually kicking off a chemical process that eventually leads to the production ...

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If you’re currently a student, then you’ll no doubt often make ample use of highlighters during revision. Even if your studying days are far behind, you probably still use them from time to time. But what are the chemicals behind their luminous colours? This graphic looks at some of the possible ...

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