All articles by Philip Ball – Page 5
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OpinionChemical computers question the logic of life
Circuits of chemicals could carry out calculations
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ResearchAre synthetic chemists out of a job as AI meets automation?
Platform can weigh up a synthetic route, plan it and then carry out it
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OpinionMachine-learning Mendeleevs have rediscovered the periodic table
Exposing new dimensions in the relationships between elements
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ResearchAFM captures changing structures of charged molecules
Technique that adds electrons one by one could enable new molecules to be synthesised by atomic manipulation
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FeaturePrimo Levi and the other periodic table
Author and chemist Primo Levi was born 100 years ago this July. Philip Ball looks at his chemical and literary legacy – including his books The Periodic Table and If This Is a Man
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OpinionWhat happens when life has a limited vocabulary?
The longest synthetic genome shows us life is more complicated than just learning your AGCs
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ReviewSuperheavy: Making and Breaking the Periodic Table
Kit Chapman has been on a journey around the world to discover how new elements are made
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OpinionStorytelling matters in science
Communicating ideas needs a narrative to get the point across
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OpinionHow old is the Turin Shroud?
New evidence has reopened the debate on radiocarbon dating of the relic
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ResearchHopes raised of a ‘super-table’ to end periodic table disputes
Mathematical analysis could help answer where hydrogen or lanthanum should sit on the table
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ResearchLeap forward for molecular computing as DNA executes six-bit algorithms
Computer made from DNA strands can recognise palindromes, copy and sort data, and perform random walks
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OpinionDoes science need democracy to flourish?
Evidence shows good work can survive even the harshest regimes
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OpinionWhose periodic table is it anyway?
Dmitri Mendeleev’s table was not the first – but it’s the one that matters
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ArticlePhilip Ball: The Elements Song
Philip Ball updates The Elements Song for the International Year of the Periodic Table
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FeatureWhat is an element?
Our understanding of what an element is has evolved over the years, but it’s still a tricky concept to nail down. Philip Ball investigates
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ResearchBonding rethink called for as new metavalent bond proposed
Combination of elements in the metalloid region of periodic table produces a bond with both metallic and covalent characteristics
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OpinionDoes Ada Lovelace belong on the £50 note?
Tales from the amazing life of the self-proclaimed ‘bride of science’