Distillations magazine

The man who wanted to make the United States a healthier place and the sometimes fuzzy line between science and quackery.

How hard can it be to make a gemstone? Plenty hard. People have been trying for almost 2,000 years, but success finally beckoned in 19th-century France.

For decades serious people have tried to turn the stuff of science fiction—space colonies, self-replicating machines, and solar sails—into scientific reality.

How a machine used to create atom bombs became a tool for healing.

A Confederate doctor had no problem breaking the Hippocratic oath.

Three atmospheric scientists describe carrying their work beyond the lab.

What most frightened the Nobel Prize–winning chemist and explorer of Earth’s deep past?

Whale oil has been used in soap, explosives, and even margarine. Has it also fueled space exploration?

What does a world short on phosphorous look like?

The early 20th century was an especially rich time for creating ways to process and preserve food.

Mix a 19th-century chemist with a South American roader builder. Add cows and boil.

Discover the history of the EpiPen.

During the Civil War necessity drove the North and South to develop different strategies for dealing with malaria.

The magnetic connection between sailors, adultery, and garlic.

Three Hungarian scientists who survived the Nazi occupation of their country and escaped Soviet oppression.

Follow the birth, life, and demise of the Hercules Powder Company, which once dominated the explosives industry in the United States.

In the 1950s hearing aids shrank from the size of a cigarette packet to the size of a lighter. The secret behind this shrinkage? The mighty transistor.

For more than 100 years scientists have been discovering and creating bizarre, exotic ices. Ices that can even burn a hole in you!