Episodes
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Asphalt - Chemie im Straßenbau
Roads are one of the defining features of modern civilizations, believe it or not. To me and I think most others, the state of the roads in a country gives an idea of the level of development. It does not surprise then that chemistry features quite heavily in how we make roads. A request from a...
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Last episode of Chemistry in Everyday Life: Cyanide Poisoning
It takes a little bit more than 100mg of cyanide to kill a 75 kg human being. A little more than 100mg and the unfortunate victim will show the telltale signs of “bluish tones of oxygen deprivation mottle the skin.“ Cyanide Poisoning is as old as the usage of chemical compounds containing cyanide...
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Why can we digest starch, but not cellulose?
Both starch and cellulose are made of glucose, one of the main sources of energy for the human body. Yet... we can digest starch that we find in things like potatoes or flour, but we cannot digest cellulose, a compound that is found in virtually every plant... Why?!? If you would like to share...
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Summer Re-runs: Prove It! How do we know what chemicals we have? - Part 2: Analysis
Dear Chemistry in Everyday Life Fans, I am off this month and as a consequence, we are looking back on past episodes over the summer. Today’s re-run is one of the first episodes that I ever recorded by the name of “Protection from the Sun Pt. 1 – The Ozone Layer”. I hope you all enjoy your…
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Summer Re-runs: Protection from the Sun Pt. 1 - The Ozone Layer
Dear Chemistry in Everyday Life Fans, I am off this month and as a consequence, we are looking back on past episodes over the summer. Today’s re-run is one of the first episodes that I ever recorded by the name of “Protection from the Sun Pt. 1 – The Ozone Layer”. The survey is still open and you...
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Summer Re-runs: Breathe in, Breathe Out - Oxygen Transfer in the Blood
Dear Chemistry in Everyday Life Fans, I am off this month and as a consequence, we are looking back on past episodes over the summer. I asked you what is your favourite episode and the result said it was the episode "Breathe in, Breathe Out - Oxygen Transfer in the Blood". The survey is still…
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You look radiant today - Radiotracers and Imaging
PLEASE NOTE: During the month of August, I will repeat some previous episodes. If you want to influence which episodes will be played, you can click on the following link to part in a 1-question survey. Thanks! https://forms.gle/LihJiny4jncB6h2A6 How can you trace a molecule inside the body? How…
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Prove It! How do we know what chemicals we have? - Part 2: Analysis
Have you ever wondered how all these scientists come up with their findings in forensics, environmental science, pharmaceuticals, … cooking, cosmetics, and in soooo many more? Chemical purification and analysis lies at the heart of this question and I give you hereby my attempt at answering it....
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Prove It! How do we know what chemicals we have? - Part 1: Purification Techniques
Have you ever wondered how all these scientists come up with their findings in forensics, environmental science, pharmaceuticals, … cooking, cosmetics, and in soooo many more? Chemical purification and analysis lies at the heart of this question and I give you hereby my attempt at answering it....
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Absorbing Fats - Bile in Action
After talking about red blood cells two episodes ago, this episode looks at a different bodily fluid. One that helps in the digestion of fats. We are talking about bile. A liquid associated with bad experiences, but is essential to our survival. If you would like to share feedback or have a...
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Life-saving explosions - Airbags
In this episode I confront the horrible memory of my one and only bad car crash. I only remember fragments, but the airbag was a big part of the memory. If you want to know how explosions save lives everyday on the road, then tune in. If you would like to share feedback or have a suggestion for a...
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Breathe in, Breathe Out - Oxygen Transfer in the Blood
Oxygen in, Carbon Dioxide out. We learn this basic paradigm about breathing from a very early age on. But how does it work? From a chemical viewpoint this is a lot of fun! So let’s look into it 😊 If you would like to share feedback or have a suggestion for a topic, I can now be reached on…
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Sing this corrosion to me
Why does iron rust? Why does this not happen for stainless steel? How else can we protect materials from corrosion? If you want to know, listen to this episode 😉 If you would like to share feedback or have a suggestion for a topic, I can now be reached on twitter under @ChemistryinEve1or you can...
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The concept of energy in the human body
I always found the concept of energy in the human body very intriguing… or in any organism for that matter. The term energy is very abstract to me. For example, there is a difference to “having the energy to go for a walk” or “the energy to power the oven”. One phrase clearly describes energy as...
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Space. The Final Frontier...
Space. The Final frontier… a friend of mine asked me if there is chemistry in space and how it is different from the chemistry, we observe here on Earth. This is an exciting topic. So exciting that I had to make a podcast episode about it. If you would like to share feedback or have a suggestion...
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Distilling the essence - Talking about Distillation
I always tried to avoid making an episode about making alcoholic beverages, because there is already so much great content about it and I did not see the extra value in talking about it. For this episode, I shall break this taboo, by talking about distillation. A technique that is used for making...
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Portable Power - Batteries and their Chemistry
Batteries are ubiquitous in daily life and I took them for granted for such a long time that I felt obliged to write an episode about them. Especially since they work thanks to a very basic concept called Redox Reactions. If you would like to share feedback or have a suggestion for a topic, I can...
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A World of Mirror Images
From winter gloves and people with inverted organs to the effects of molecular mirror images. Chirality can be found everywhere, so it is high time to talk about it. If you would like to share feedback or have a suggestion for a topic, I can now be reached on twitter under @ChemistryinEve1....
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Conjugated Systems... no, we are not talking about Latin ;-)
We talked about Glow Sticks, we talked about Fireworks. Now it feels like the right time to look at another big factor in color of compounds, the conjugated systems. If you would like to share feedback or have a suggestion for a topic, I can now be reached on twitter under @ChemistryinEve1....
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Glow Sticks - A new year's saving grace
Our 2020 new year’s celebration had to look quite different this year. The Belgian government had to restrict contact, so no extended family, and no fireworks this year. All for very good, Corona-related reasons. This meant for us that we had to find an alternative, so that we could still give…
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AdBlue - More than just purifed urine in our car's gas tank?
So it was time again to add a little Diesel Exhaust Fluid, also known as AdBlue, to the gas tank of my car. So I stood there in the cold winter temperatures, freezing my, you name it off, and just wished that it would add quicker! Inevitably, one thought popped into my headed: “Why, oh why on…
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Radical Dental Filling
This episode is inspired by my wife's recent experience at the dentist where she needed to get a filling done. It was her first and it reminded me of my first (and so far only) dental filling that I needed to get done a couple of years ago. Our discussion about what the dentist did to fill the...
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Sweet, sweet bread
After discussing for 3 episodes the cutting edge technology that led to a Nobel Prize, I would like to return back to more mundane things and there are not many things more mundane than eating bread :-D This episode will look at the reason why bland bread starts to taste sweet after chewing it…
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The Nobel Series Part III: The Gene Scissors, CRISPR/CAS9
Welcome back to the last episode of this Nobel Prize series during which I discuss the technology for which the two research groups around Prof. emmanuelle Charpentier and Prof. Doudna received the joint Nobel Prize for chemistry. This episode will put all the pieces that we encountered over the...
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The Nobel Series Part II: Gene Expression
The 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry went to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna for "for the development of a method for genome editing”. Their work has markedly added to the toolbox available to researchers in the life sciences and in my humble opinion, it is worth talking about. To...
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The Nobel Series Part I: DNA
The 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry went to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna for "for the development of a method for genome editing”. Their work has markedly added to the toolbox available to researchers in the life sciences and in my humble opinion, it is worth talking about. To...
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Hydrogel - interesting material, exciting uses
In this episode, I discuss a special group of materials called hydrogels. For something that is hardly ever mentioned publically, it has a surprising amount of uses in the world... I can now be reached on twitter under @ChemistryinEve1 , if you have feedback that you would like to share....
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Green Statues
We all know that statues in the cities are green, like for example the statue of liberty. But do you all know why they are green? This episode looks at this question. I can now be reached on twitter under @ChemistryinEve1 , if you have feedback that you would like to share. Alternatively, you can...
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Why do our eyes burn and tear when we cut onions?
Why do our eyes burn and tear when we cut onions? This listener question will be discussed in this episode. I can now be reached on twitter under @ChemistryinEve1 , if you have feedback that you would like to share. Alternatively, you can send an email to [email protected] . Sources...
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Water's special superpower - hydrogen bonds
Water is all around us and we kind of take it for granted. It is an accepted basis for life and makes our planet inhabitable. Have you guys ever wondered why that is? Well, water is also a very special liquid. This episode revolves around a specific feature that water has, namely hydrogen bonds,...
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Why better not to use heating fuel in your diesel engine?
This episode is based on a discussion I had with an acquaintance at a barbecue. He, being the smarty pants that he is, asked "Do you know the difference between diesel and heating fuel?"... I didn't... I, being the smarty pants that I am, was annoyed by that. With a wry smile he suggested…
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Let's talk about soap and detergents...
When talking about chemistry, one of the first topics to breach is the chemistry of soap. In the time of a global pandemic, washing our hands has become second nature and at some point at the beginning the stockpiling of soap even led to shortages in some areas. So let's talk about soap and how…
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Fireworks - Chemistry of Colour
I love fireworks, folks. I don't see the spectacle often, but when I do , it is an absolute beauty to behold, especially when it is an entire choreography. I sometimes cannot believe that there are people whose job it is to "make" fireworks. Especially, the development of new ones must be a...
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Carbonated Drinks - Fizzy Fun
Virtually every time before I record an episode of my podcast, I open a can of coke. That little 'fizz' sound heralds the beginning of my late evening, I take a brief sip and then I start recording. I do this with such regularity that I dedided to make the fizz the topic of today's conversation....
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Nature's Catalyst - Enzymes
After we discussed the concept of catalysis in our last episode, it is only fitting to look at a specific example. If you are interested in knowing how nature uses catalysis to run the show in our bodies, then tune in to learn about Enzymes, nature's catalysts. I can now be reached on twitter…
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Accelerated Chemistry - Catalysis
Catalysis is a word that is rarely used in daily life, yet it influences many facets of it. If you are interested to know how catalysis changed the way car engines run or how margerine is made, then listen in. References · https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annika_S%C3%B6renstam ·...
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The disappearing eggshell - Of acids and bases
When you immerse an egg in vinegar the shell will slowly disappear, leaving a flexible and bouncy egg. Bread dough leavens when you use baking soda. Find out in this episode the reasons for these phenomena. References Inorganic Chemistry by C. E. Housecroft, A. G. Sharpe 1st Ed. 2001 ISBN...
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Proteins - A Pillar of life
Proteins are one of the key elements that define life in a way that we know. They have such a vast array of functions it is staggering. Seemingly, every problem and obstacle that an organism encounters, a protein comes to the rescue. Humans have them, other mammals, birds, bacteria, even viruses...
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Protection from the Sun Pt. 2 - Sun lotion
The sun is the source of life on this world, yet at the same time it can be very dangerous for us and other lifeforms on earth. The life giving energy that is emitted from the sun to earth's surface needs to be made use of through processes like photosynthesis, but it also needs to be "disarmed"…
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Protection from the Sun Pt. 1 - The Ozone Layer
The sun is the source of life on this world, yet at the same time it can be very dangerous for us and other lifeforms on earth. The life giving energy that is emitted from the sun to earth's surface needs to be made use of through processes like photosynthesis, but it also needs to be "disarmed"…
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Diamond vs. Pencil
On the surface, a diamond and a pencil have nothing in common. One is one of the hardest and valuable materials known to man and the other is a pencil, an everyday object that many people use on a daily basis to write, draw or the medium between the two: scribble. But once we leave the surface...