Distillations magazine

Rare earth metals are the vitamins of modern technology. How did this group of chemically dull elements become so important and so troublesome?

During the 1860s and 1870s, was a booming New York City’s stench choking the health from its citizens? Chemist Charles Frederick Chandler aimed to find out.

When the EPA needed a way to identify and measure pollutants, Robert Finnigan, an ex–Cold War engineer, offered his computerized mass spectrometer for the job.

The ubiquity of arsenic in 19th-century Britain.

Susan Solomon led expeditions in Antarctica and proposed the now-accepted theory about the role of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in creating the ozone hole.

With dynamite and cannons, Robert St. George Dyrenforth hoped to end drought in the late 19th century. This vision of weather and climate control seized the imagination of scientists and businessmen.

Innovations have reduced industry’s impact on human health and the environment while also saving companies money.