Distillations magazine
Inventions & Discoveries
The tools and technology that help us understand and change the world
Let There Be Light
The story of electricity, danger, nationalism, advertising, and pollution in the lighting of the United States.
A Cloudy Past
Before today’s cell-phone, laptop, and TV screens, there was a whiskey advertisement.
Hard-Headed Man
When William Aspdin stumbled on the secret to modern concrete, it was the first and one of the few fortuitous steps in an unsteady life.
Life and Death
A tour through the history of radioisotopes, used to study and treat disease and to unlock the secrets of DNA and photosynthesis.
The Strange, Gruesome Search for Substance X
John Hughes worked his way through uncounted pig brains to find the human body’s natural painkiller.
Ancient DNA
Studying ancient DNA (aDNA) is a lot like playing Whac-A-Mole: stamp out one problem and another will pop up and take its place.
In the Pink
Winter’s coming, so wrap up and discover the history of home insulation.
The Electrical Wizard
Nikola Tesla’s career epitomizes the scientist as showman.
The DDT Collector
In the 1980s Phil Allegretti found an unusual hobby. His collection of old DDT cans, sprayers, and diffusers tells the story of our contradictory approach to pesticides.
Mammoth Undertaking
Can scientists bring the woolly mammoth back from extinction? And should they?
Tiny Productions
Sometimes scientific discovery requires an unusual tool.
A Future without Limits
For decades serious people have tried to turn the stuff of science fiction—space colonies, self-replicating machines, and solar sails—into scientific reality.
Accelerating Oncology
How a machine used to create atom bombs became a tool for healing.
Harold C. Urey: Science, Religion, and Cold War Chemistry
What most frightened the Nobel Prize–winning chemist and explorer of Earth’s deep past?
Whales in Space
Whale oil has been used in soap, explosives, and even margarine. Has it also fueled space exploration?
Peak Phosphorus?
What does a world short on phosphorous look like?
Processed: Food Science and the Modern Meal
The early 20th century was an especially rich time for creating ways to process and preserve food.
Where’s the Beef?
Mix a 19th-century chemist with a South American roader builder. Add cows and boil.