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Chemicals

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St. Louis, Michigan

Toxic Town Marker

This marker tells the story of a town’s toxic past.
perfume

Podcast: Sniffing out What’s Special with Saskia Wilson Brown

What did Napoleon smell like?
The Podcast Team December 21, 2023
Bucharest, Romania

Chimopar

A chemical factory damaged by two earthquakes and an explosion that became abandoned after bankruptcy.
A Nicholls' toadlet, barely an inch long.
industrial

Biologists Relocated 30,000 Animals to Make Room for a Natural Gas Plant

It took seven years to evacuate all the goannas, echidnas, and venomous snakes.
Sabrina Imbler August 15, 2019
A serval, captured by a camera trap, stalks Secunda.
animals

Why a South African Petrochemical Plant Is Like Catnip to Servals

The wildcats are an example of resilience and adaptation.
Sabrina Imbler August 2, 2019
View from the hilltop.
Brooks, Kentucky

Valley of the Drums

This calm grassy field was once a Superfund site full of thousands of nasty chemicals.
Aerial view of the IG Farben building, now the University of Frankfurt's Westend campus.
Frankfurt, Germany

IG Farben Haus

From Nazi chemicals to the CIA, this architectural marvel has played a fascinating role in German history.
An air tanker drops retardant to help contain the Ferguson fire in Stanislaus National Forest.
fires

Why Fire Retardant Is Colored Bright Red

A California fire has closed down Yosemite National Park.
Sarah Laskow July 26, 2018
One-Million-Liter Test Sphere in 2001.
Frederick, Maryland

One-Million-Liter Test Sphere

This four-story steel sphere in Maryland was used to test biological weapons.
science

Beautiful Chemistry, Viewed at High Speed

Watch as chemical reactions become works of art.
Ashawnta Jackson December 1, 2017
Bookkeepers prepare for a gas attack in Odessa, Russia, 1935.
photography

When Gas Masks Were an Inescapable Part of Everyday Life

“It may be a little irksome at first, but you’ll soon get used to it.”
Anika Burgess November 15, 2017
The lake.
San Bernardino County, California

Searles Lake

This sun-scorched lakebed contains samples of half the natural elements known to humankind.
Slices of wagyu rib meat.
science

Scientists Have Figured Out What Makes Wagyu Beef Smell So Delicious

One of the key molecules smells like egg whites.
Kelsey Kennedy October 12, 2017
poison

The Mysterious Coastal Cloud That Made Dozens Sick

Toxic haze on the British coast may have come from a passing ship.
Natasha Frost August 29, 2017
Cutting onions triggers tears thanks to the bulb's lachrymatory factor.
science

Scientists Now Know Exactly Why Onions Make You Cry

They've unlocked the chemical secrets of an irritating molecule.
Kelsey Kennedy August 2, 2017
fires

Just a Beautiful and Dangerous Sulfur Fire

It's pretty, but looks like hell.
Erik Shilling July 11, 2017
20-mule team from viewing platform
Boron, California

Borax Visitor Center

Everything you always wanted to know about borates is here.
Buildings of the SVR, Russia's external intelligence agency. What happens in these buildings are Russian state secrets.
Leninskiy rayon, Russia

The Kamera (The Chamber)

The laboratory where the Soviet secret police invented exotic poisons used to kill dissidents in hideous and (mostly) untraceable ways.