I can say with confidence that anyone who has been in a kitchen chopping an onion has probably found themselves fighting back tears. That feeling of your nose tingling and your eyes tearing up sometimes feels like a personal attack from the onion, but the real explanation lies in the series of chemical reactions that occur when you slice into it.

Your left hand and your right hand are mirror images of each other, where no matter how you rotate or flip one hand, it will never perfectly overlap the other. This property is called chirality, from the Greek word for hand, and it is one of the most consequential phenomena in all of pharmaceutical chemistry. Many molecules are chiral and getting chirality wrong can be the difference between a cure and a catastrophe.

Hailey Bieber's Rhode has become one of the most talked-about skincare launches in recent beauty industry history. The marketing language is impeccably curated - skin is "glazed", barriers are "restored", and everything is "nourishing". But what does any of it actually mean at a molecular level? This article strips back the branding and analyses the chemistry of three Rhode products - the Glazing Milk, the Barrier Restore Cream, and the new Bronzer ingredient by ingredient ahead of the summer drop on Tuesday.

Every year, millions of people watch fireworks explode and brighten the sky. From dazzling reds to brilliant blues, fireworks hook audiences with their vibrant colours, intricate patterns and loud bangs. These displays are actually the result of fascinating chemical reactions. A combination of elements and compounds transforms a simple explosion into a fabulous display of science and art. 

As a Singaporean-Chinese teenager growing up in London, the following situation is all too common. You're at a party. Two sips into a drink and your eyelids turn bright red, followed by your cheeks, and then your heart starts racing, and eventually nausea, while everyone around you looks completely fine. For roughly 540 million people worldwide, predominantly of East Asian descent, this is a familiar experience. Most people assume it is a sensitivity to alcohol, or perhaps an allergy. However, asian flush is the visible symptom of a genetic variant that disrupts one of the most critical detoxification pathways in the human body, with consequences that extend well beyond an embarrassing blush.

Bee stings are far more common than people realise. Despite having never been stung myself, around 75% of Americans report being stung at least once in their lifetime, and there are an average 72 deaths annually in the US from hornet, wasp, and bee stings combined. Globally, around 3% of the world's population experience anaphylaxis in response to insect stings, with one of those people being Edmund Bridgerton from the beloved period drama. However, for the other 97%, bee stings mean nothing more than a few hours of swelling and localised pain.