All articles by Philip Ball – Page 14

  • Low-battery-warning-on-dashboard_630
    Feature

    Up in the air

    2012-11-23T00:00:00Z

    Lithium–air batteries hold the promise of great enough power density to fuel cars – but has their progress stalled in recent years? Philip Ball finds out

  • 1112CW-OPINION_Crucible_300
    Opinion

    h is for horoscope?

    2012-10-25T00:00:00Z

    Can scientists’ success be reduced to a formula, asks Philip Ball

  • 1012CW-CRUCIBLE_630m
    Opinion

    Blues standard

    2012-09-27T00:00:00Z

    Chemists may have finally got the blues, says Philip Ball

  • nanographene
    Research

    Bright idea to probe bond order

    2012-09-13T00:00:00Z

    An IBM team has used atomic force microscopy to reveal the lengths and orders of C–C bonds in buckyballs and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

  • 0912CW_CRUCIBLE_630
    Opinion

    The automatic chemist

    2012-08-22T00:00:00Z

    Philip Ball considers the creation of a collective chemical brain, and what it might dream up

  • Research

    Getting under water's skin

    2012-08-17T00:00:00Z

    Researchers think they might have an answer to why water's surface tension isn't as great as it ought to be

  • 0912CW_FEATURES_Nanobubbles_Fig1_630
    Feature

    Big troubles over tiny bubbles

    2012-08-09T00:00:00Z

    Conventional wisdom suggests that nanosized bubbles should barely exist at all, so their stability for hours or days has surprised many. Philip Ball takes a close look at these minute miracles

  • Research

    Polymer replacement for the hydration shell

    2012-08-02T00:00:00Z

    New work on liquid proteins casts doubt on the on the essentiality of the hydration sphere for protein function

  • Opinion

    Nullius in verba

    2012-07-18T00:00:00Z

    Philip Ball asks how much of the published literature you should believe. Not much, by some accounts

  • Chemistry-in-Theatre_300m
    Review

    Chemistry in theatre: insufficiency, phallacy or both

    2012-07-16T00:00:00Z

    Dramatic science

  • 0712CW-The-Crucible_300
    Opinion

    Imaging icons

    2012-07-02T00:00:00Z

    Philip Ball celebrates olympicene’s place in the pantheon of chemical imagery

  • x0612CW_CRUCIBLE_pg035-300
    Opinion

    A dose by any other name

    2012-06-01T00:00:00Z

    Philip Ball has sympathy for those nonplussed by nomenclature

  • x0612CW_FEATURE-Turing_pg046-300
    Feature

    Turing patterns

    2012-05-31T00:00:00Z

    Code-cracker Alan Turing’s impact on chemistry is still being realised today, a century after his birth. Philip Ball investigates

  • Opinion

    Breaking the surface?

    2012-05-01T00:00:00Z

    Philip Ball is perplexed by the EPSRC’s decision to cut surface science funding

  • Opinion

    Sensory thinking

    2012-04-01T00:00:00Z

    Chemistry could benefit from getting more touchy-feely

  • Opinion

    Skin deep science

    2012-02-23T13:01:00Z

    Philip Ball takes a critical look at the science behind an anti-ageing cream and discovers there's some truth in its sugar-coated claims

  • Opinion

    A packed dancefloor

    2012-01-27T10:21:00Z

    To understand the chemical choreography of the cell, we must acknowledge the bustling biomolecular ballroom in which it takes place, says Philip Ball

  • Opinion

    Food for thought

    2011-12-22T10:14:00Z

    Philip Ball considers some research that's making a meal of science

  • Opinion

    Sightly scientific environments

    2011-11-28T15:10:00Z

    Philip Ball admires the artistry of contemporary science buildings and a few old masters too

  • Opinion

    Good news for graphene

    2011-10-26T15:15:00Z

    Political party conferences are not noted for taking much interest in science, says Philip Ball