It's the strongest known biological material and one of the earliest pigments - Helen Scales discovers goethite

Brian Clegg discusses the vitamin found in both breakfast cereal and meteorites: Niacin

Start your engines! Simon Cotton looks into one of the few chemical names known well to the public: Octane

Sensible approach to dental rot or sinister communist plot? Brian Clegg examines the much-maligned fluorides

Simon Cotton introduces the first of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressants: Prozac

Once thought to extract the truth and now used to enact the ultimate punishment, this week's compound is sodium thiopental

It may have been largely superceded in the clinic but Phil Robinson discovers there is no rest yet for barbituric acid

RNA may be less famous than it's more stable cousin, but is central to cellular function

Breaking Bad may have exaggerated its body-dissolving effects, but Katrina Krämer finds the truth about hydrofluoric acid is just as gruesome

From lemon-fresh detergent to home made silly putty, Jenna Bilbrey expounds the virtues of borax