All articles by Philip Ball – Page 12
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Feature
What does DNA do?
The more we learn about DNA, the less we seem to know, as Philip Ball discovers
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Research
Water structure controversy laid to rest?
A solution to puzzling claims that water arranges itself in rings and chains, rather than the anticipated tetrahedral arrangement, may have been found
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Opinion
A (chemical) potential theory of life's origin
Philip Ball says we should look beyond the molecules that make us to find the spark of life
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Research
Why don't nanobubbles go pop?
New study claims that nanobubbles' stability is down to supersaturation of the liquid surrounding the bubble with gas
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Research
Controversial theory of smell given a boost
Molecular vibrations may be responsible for our ability to distinguish between different odours, new experiments show
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Opinion
The founding myths of chemistry
Chemists should learn from the past, says Philip Ball, but they may need a history lesson first
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Opinion
Make or break: the laws of motion
Molecular machinery involves a delicate interplay of forces, but biology has found the balance, says Philip Ball
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Feature
Up in the air
Lithium–air batteries hold the promise of great enough power density to fuel cars – but has their progress stalled in recent years? Philip Ball finds out
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Research
Bright idea to probe bond order
An IBM team has used atomic force microscopy to reveal the lengths and orders of C–C bonds in buckyballs and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
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Opinion
The automatic chemist
Philip Ball considers the creation of a collective chemical brain, and what it might dream up
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Research
Getting under water's skin
Researchers think they might have an answer to why water's surface tension isn't as great as it ought to be
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Feature
Big troubles over tiny bubbles
Conventional wisdom suggests that nanosized bubbles should barely exist at all, so their stability for hours or days has surprised many. Philip Ball takes a close look at these minute miracles
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Research
Polymer replacement for the hydration shell
New work on liquid proteins casts doubt on the on the essentiality of the hydration sphere for protein function
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Opinion
Nullius in verba
Philip Ball asks how much of the published literature you should believe. Not much, by some accounts