Medieval alchemists, despite their lust for gold, considered mercury the most potent and poetic substance in the universe. As a child, I would have agreed with them. Sam Kean agreealchemistchild Change image and share on social
Before the Human Genome Project, most scientists assumed, based on our complex brains and behaviors, that humans must have around 100,000 genes; some estimates went as high as 150,000. Sam Kean 000assumebase Change image and share on social
Boron is carbon's neighbor on the periodic table, which means it can do a passable carbon impression and wriggle its way into the matrix of a diamond. But it has one fewer electron, so it can't quite form the same four perfect bonds. Sam Kean bondboroncarbon share on social
Entrepreneurs in the United States and Europe finally figured out how to separate aluminum from minerals cheaply and also how to produce it on an industrial scale. Sam Kean aluminumcheaplyentrepreneur Change image and share on social
As a child in the early 1980s, I tended to talk with things in my mouth - food, dentist's tubes, balloons that would fly away, whatever - and if no one else was around, I'd talk anyway. Sam Kean 1980sballoonchild Change image and share on social
Things look especially bleak for common killers such as diabetes and heart disease. Those ailments clearly have a genetic component. But when scientists survey genes looking for which mutations patients have in common, they come up empty. Sam Kean ailmentbleakcommon share on social
If studying the periodic table taught me nothing else, it's that the credulity of human beings for periodic table panaceas is pretty much boundless. Sam Kean beingboundlesscredulity Change image and share on social
Carbon's eastern neighbor on the table, nitrogen, dresses up diamonds in pinks, yellows, oranges, and brownish tints known romantically as 'champagne.' Sam Kean brownishcarbonchampagne Change image and share on social
I was reading this story about these people who suffered from brain injuries, and then their behavior changed kind of drastically afterward, and I just said to myself, 'There's no way that that can possibly be true.' Sam Kean afterwardbehaviorbrain share on social
Without a functioning hippocampus, names, dates, and other information falls straight through the mind like a sieve. Sam Kean datefallfunction Change image and share on social