Whale oil has been used as an ingredient in soap, explosives, and even margarine. Has it also been a vital ingredient in space exploration?

Bizarre chemical structures are helping us better understand how our planet formed and, perhaps, where to find life elsewhere in the universe.

How biohackers are using artificial perceptions to enhance reality.

This episode of The Disappearing Spoon follows blood thinner Warfarin’s unlikely journey from moldy clover and cow killer, to rat poison-turned-lifesaving drug.

Soviet geneticist Nikolai Vavilov led an ideologically perilous campaign to rid the world of famine.

The Disappearing Spoon has the story behind notorious surgeon Walter Freeman’s contempt for his father, failures with his sons, and obsession with lobotomies.