Chemistry

This interactive resource connects Retro Report short docs to elements in the periodic table, complete with illustrations and explanations of the relevant elements. Students can learn more about particular elements and chemical compounds and watch Retro Report short docs that explore how science, history and society intersect. This map was made in consultation with Retro […]

A worldwide effort to heal damage to the ozone layer is showing early progress. 

Author Rachel Carson’s strike against the pesticide DDT turned her into both an environmental hero and a foil for those who believe regulation has gone too far. That fight is more relevant than ever. 

Catastrophic accidents at power plants like Three Mile Island and Fukushima Daiichi have heightened fears about the safety of nuclear energy, but environmentalists and others are giving it renewed attention as a way to fight global warming. 

Like cigarette manufacturers decades ago, e-cigarette makers have pitched their products as fun and safe. But nobody knows what the risks are. 

About half a million children have dangerously high lead levels in their blood, mostly from exposure to peeling paint and contaminated dust. The fight over who should clean it up has lasted for decades. 

LSD has long been associated with 1960s counterculture. Today, psychedelic drugs are back in the lab, providing hope for people who suffer from anxiety, depression and addiction. 

How a pill that led to drug safety guidelines became a case study for rising drug prices. 

One of biology’s most spectacular achievements – the race to sequence the human genome – was billed as a way to end disease. Here’s where it led. 

There are over 80,000 chemicals in use today. The story of Tris, a fire retardant that was once used to treat children’s pajamas, but was banned as a carcinogen in the 1970s, illustrates the challenge of regulating chemicals. 

The use of the defoliant Agent Orange during the Vietnam War continues to cast a dark shadow over both American veterans and Vietnamese citizens. 

In 1978, toxic chemicals leaking from an old landfill thrust an upstate New York community called “Love Canal” into the national headlines, and made it synonymous with “environmental disaster.”