Distillations magazine
People & Politics
Science in a world of rules, regulations, and war
A Seat at the Table
A recent collection showcases the famous and not-so-famous women who have left their mark on the periodic table.
The Dual Legacies of Henry Moseley
After transforming the periodic table should the promising young scientist have been allowed to fight in World War I?
Spying in Plain Sight: Scientific Diplomacy during the Cold War
The covert politics behind American efforts to establish scientific freedom around the world.
Choosing a Better High-Tech Future
Rare earth elements make modern devices faster, brighter, and lighter, but it will take the creaky gears of government to make their production cleaner and more equitable.
The Transfermium Wars: Scientific Brawling and Name-Calling during the Cold War
The transfermium elements—the fleeting, lab-made substances that populate the end of the periodic table—have a history built on pride and acrimony.
How the First American Science Writer Found (Then Lost) God in the Cosmic Ray
In the 1930s a pride- and faith-fueled dispute between two Nobel Prize–winning physicists spilled onto the front page of the New York Times.
Hunting the Nazi Nuclear Hoard
In the last years of World War II a group of American scientists and soldiers raced to capture enemy physicists, sabotage Hitler’s nuclear ambitions, and do it all before their Soviet allies were any the wiser.
San Francisco’s Plague Years
As officials spread disinformation, a deadly epidemic edged its way into the United States.
Harvey Wiley’s Fierce Pursuit of Food Safety
Science writer Deborah Blum chronicles one chemist’s fight to bring order to a lawless food industry.
Ronald Fisher, a Bad Cup of Tea, and the Birth of Modern Statistics
A lesson in humility begets a scientific revolution.
Harry Gold: Spy in the Lab
How did a Philadelphia chemist wind up a Soviet spy?
Making Space for Women in Astronomy
For centuries women have been looking at the stars despite earthly obstacles.
Whose Knowledge Counts? Scientists with Cognitive Differences
Why emphasizing intellectual achievement and scientific “genius” harms scientists with intellectual disabilities—and the rest of us.
Baking Up a Storm
When crime and politics influenced American baking habits.
Through the Lens of Disability
What possibilities might we be ignoring when we unquestioningly privilege sight as the primary pathway to knowledge about the natural world?
The Rise and Fall of Vannevar Bush
One war made him the most powerful man in science; the war that followed took that power away.
It’s Nothing New: Sexism in the Lab
Why the recent findings of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine are enlightening, even if they aren’t surprising.
The Mystery of Yellow Rain
After the Vietnam War a mysterious yellow substance rained down from the skies of Southeast Asia. Was it a chemical weapon or something stranger?