Distillations magazine
Distillations articles reveal science’s powerful influence on our lives, past and present.
What Does Danger Smell Like?
Natural gas and the science of stink.
The Soapy Origins of a Sandalwood Smuggler
A war between police and a notorious outlaw riveted South India for more than a decade. At the conflict’s roots was a centuries-old saga of scarcity and control.
The Misogynist Dinner
In 1880, the 4-year-old American Chemical Society threw a tantrum disguised as a party. Here’s why it still matters.
Fitter for a Stable Than a Table
A potted history of porridge.
When Electricity Met Democratic Revolution
The science that animated a political idea.
A Game of Cat and Mouse
A predator stalks Marion Island, and it weighs less than an ounce. Scientists are racing to stop it.
Parcelas de ajonjolí
Una diáspora en veintiún movimientos.
This Bag Is Not a Toy
The plastics industry’s early scare.
Venom in His Veins
Red the World Over
How a tiny cactus parasite called cochineal became one of the Spanish Empire’s most lucrative commodities.
Good Living
Does nature have rights? In 2008, Ecuador said yes. Doing so forced a reckoning with the country’s mining past.
Madame Microwave
Meet Jehane Benoît, Canada’s grande dame of culinary nationalism.
Politically Charged
How shady car battery additive AD‑X2 sparked a showdown between the U.S. political and scientific establishments.
Mule Power
Unpacking empires and diaspora in Mexico and the United States.
Mulas de fuerza
Desempacando imperios y diáspora en México y Estados Unidos.
Ed Pendray and the Science of Tomorrow
A PR man’s pitch for science.
Something Old, Something New
Humans owe a huge medical debt to horseshoe crabs. Now there’s an opportunity to pay it back.
Holy Smoke
The monks, nuns, and friars at the forefront of alchemy in early modern Europe.