All articles by Philip Ball – Page 11
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Opinion
Is junk DNA all garbage?
A brouhaha in biology shows that uncovering what we don’t know is more important than arguments about what we do, says Philip Ball
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Feature
A fat lot of good
Lipids have been the the poor relations of DNA and proteins for some time, but Philip Ball discovers that they are ready to take centre stage
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Research
Worms build waving towers to get out more
Waxy secretions let microscopic nematodes build structures from themselves to find new beetle hosts
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Opinion
Computational chemicals
Philip Ball explains how creative chemists are teaching molecules some new tricks
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Research
Ice core to antifreeze protein’s inner workings
Highly unusual structure has an interior filled with a pentagonal ice network that halts the formation of ice crystals
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Research
X-rays set to reveal electrons’ dance
New technique could let scientists watch how electrons move within atoms and molecules in real time
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Feature
What is a bond?
There’s more to bonding than covalent, ionic and the lines we draw between atoms on paper. Philip Ball takes on the expanding list of chemical connections
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Opinion
Sense and sense ability
Philip Ball is surprised to discover just how sensitive we are about our feelings
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Opinion
We choose to go to the muon
Subatomic sorties have uncovered strange new species, says Philip Ball. Should we give these alien atoms a place at the table?
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Opinion
Novelty hits top the charts
There’s no formula for citation success, says Philip Ball, but high-impact tracts mix the classical with the unconventional
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Opinion
Chemistry's climate of scepticism
Philip Ball asks why chemistry seems to have more than its share of global warming’s opponents
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Opinion
Crystallography 101
Philip Ball reflects on a century of progress in the science of structure
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Research
Metallic properties predicted for astatine
New calculations suggest that element 85 is a metal and even perhaps a superconductor
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Feature
A matter of solvation
The processes underpinning how solvent and solutes molecules interact are fundamental, but still mysterious. Philip Ball investigates