By day, Roger Highfield is a mild-mannered science journalist, author and broadcaster. But under that crisp white lab coat beats the heart of his alter ego, Boffin...

Chemical

There are some deluded souls out there who are worried about chemicals in the environment and, most of all, the chemicals in their food. I....could...be...eating... CHEMICALS! Eeek. They fret that they are breathing in chemicals too. The point is that everything is made out of chemicals. A protein molecule is a big complex chemical. So is DNA. So are all those "natural" substances and essences that so many people hanker after. Mother nature herself dreams up all kinds of nasty, toxic and poisonous chemicals without needing any help from us at all.

mugshot

mad boffin

what makes my blood boil...

What is Science all about?

I am quietly optimistic that the public will become more sceptical about the practical benefits of discoveries made in the lab and more appreciative of what science is really about — basic curiosity, rationality and the never-ending dialogue between ideas and experiments. With luck, the public will spend more time gazing up at the blue skies of science and not down at the brown torrent of parochial and humdrum expectations about what science can do for them. Science does not ...

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Thanks to

Simon Singh
Jad Marrouche
Raj Persaud
David Johnson
Brian Millar