One doctor's battle with alcoholism and self-experimentation with baclofen led to a rush of people desperate to try the drug to curb their addictions. But are we simply replacing one problem with another, asks Enna Guadalupe

Microplastics, including polypropylene, are present in our oceans, on our beaches and even in bottled water. Ian Robertson from PerkinElmer investigates the scale and some solutions

Lay back in the chair and say 'Ahh', as Mike Freemantle introduces zinc polycarboxylate dental cement

The versatile gemstones that give scientists insights into the chemistry of the early Earth, introduced by Brian Clegg

Chemistry's tastiest bonds for an explosive anaesthetic that was as useful as it was dangerous

Ben Valsler introduces a class of hallucinogenic phenethylamines, explored by the 'godfather of psychedelics' Alexander Shulgin and sadly implicated in a tragedy at a 2017 music festival

The first drug approved in the US to treat Aids required a completely new approach to clinical trials – Frances Addison explores the history of azidothymidine

How the compound that ushered in a photographic revolution has taken to the skies to try to control the weather

Katrina Krämer investigates how one of the smallest small-molecule drugs around saved Jeanna Giese's life

Kat Arney investigates a potent chemical that might explain the brain-bending powers of bacteria