“Polar bears began evolving their impressive vitamin A–fighting capabilities around 150,000 years ago, when small groups of Alaskan brown bears split off and migrated north to the ice caps.” — Sam Kean Copy Share Image
“So while Pauling struggled with his model, Watson and Crick turned theirs inside out, so the negative phosphorus ions wouldn’t touch. This gave them… — Sam Kean Copy Share Image
So if big enough droplets fell far enough fast enough, someone floating right near the metallic hydrogen layer inside Jupiter maybe, just maybe, could… — Sam Kean Copy Share Image
Mendeleev, unlike the squeamish Meyer, had balls enough to predict that new elements would be dug up. Look harder, you chemists and geologists, he… — Sam Kean Copy Share Image
“Lithium regulates the proteins that control the body’s inner clock. This clock runs, oddly, on DNA, inside special neurons deep in the brain. Special… — Sam Kean Copy Share Image
“Despite the earnest belief of most of his fans, Einstein did not win his Nobel Prize for the theory of relativity, special or general.… — Sam Kean Copy Share Image
“The irony is too rich not to point out. When arranging the different human races in tiers, from just below the angels to just… — Sam Kean Copy Share Image
“Think of the most fussy science teacher you ever had. The one who docked your grade if the sixth decimal place in your answer… — Sam Kean Copy Share Image
“For his part, Mendeleev scanned Lecoq de Boisbaudran’s data on gallium and told the experimentalist, with no justification, that he must have measured something… — Sam Kean Copy Share Image
“Sir Isaac Newton famously said that he had achieved everything by standing on the shoulders of giants—the scientific men whose findings he built upon.… — Sam Kean Copy Share Image
“If certain bacteria, fungi, or algae inch across something made of copper, they absorb copper atoms, which disrupt their metabolism (human cells are unaffected).… — Sam Kean Copy Share Image
“Scarily, cadmium is not even the worst poison among the elements. It sits above mercury, a neurotoxin. And to the right of mercury sit… — Sam Kean Copy Share Image
“Somehow, though, life turned that danger around, and this former poison became essential. It may sound trite, but this reversal always reminds me of… — Sam Kean Copy Share Image
“Since before even the ancient Egyptians and Babylonians, human beings used the stars and seasons to track time and record their most important moments.… — Sam Kean Copy Share Image
“Today alpha equals 1/137.0359 or so. Regardless, its value makes the periodic table possible. It allows atoms to exist and also allows them to… — Sam Kean Copy Share Image
“Furthermore, because silicon packs on more protons than carbon, it's bulkier, like carbon with fifty extra pounds. Sometimes that's not a big deal. Silicon… — Sam Kean Copy Share Image
