Microbots zoom around water, destroying bacteria

What Makes Rubber Rubbery?

Reactions is looking at sports science today. Sports balls owe their reliability to an unusual polymer. Learn about the chemistry of rubber the all-star’s best friend! more

Dragon's Blood Could Save Your Life

This week Reactions is looking at chemistry in bizarre places that could save your life. The science within the blood of the Komodo dragon or in a horseshoe crab can help with antibiotic resistance. But it doesn't end there, so we're taking a closer look at other wild places in nature that ... more

Why is Olive Oil Awesome?

Whether you sop it up with bread or use it to boost your cooking, olive oil is awesome. But a lot of chemistry goes on in that bottle that can make or break a product. Take the “extra virgin” standard: Chemistry tells us that a higher free-fatty-acid content leads to a lower grade, less tas ... more

How to tell if that plastic bottle or bag has recycled material in it

To encourage more recycling, the U.K. taxes single-use plastic products containing less than 30% recycled material. But aside from a manufacturer’s word, there isn’t an easy way to verify this composition. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering have developed ... more

Nanoplastics can disrupt human liver, lung cells’ processes in lab experiments

Although it’s unclear what impact this really has on humans, researchers have now taken a step toward answering that question. In ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology, a team reports laboratory results indicating that tiny plastic particles could enter liver and lung cells and disrupt th ... more

Shining light on why plastics turn yellow

If you own a retro gaming console or have an old roll of packing tape, you’ve seen how plastics turn yellow as they age. Though the cause of this color change has long been attributed to the formation of molecules that act as dyes — the actual chemical changes that take place remained unexp ... more