Chemistry

Since the discovery of submarine hydrothermal vents around 40 years ago, these natural chemical reactors have been a focus for evolutionary researchers searching for the origin of life.

Until now, in the scientific community there has been the prevailing view that thermal processes associated exclusively with the combustion and high-temperature processing of organic raw materials such as oil, coal, wood, garbage, food, tobacco underpin the formation of PAHs.

The British Geological Survey has just released a new interactive web tool that maps out the geographical variation in the isotope signatures of Britain.

 Olive oil is a staple of Italian cuisine. It's been that way for thousands of years. And new chemical analysis conducted on ancient pottery proves the liquid gold has existed in Italy hundreds of years longer than what anthropologists have previously recorded.

New research from Northumbria University has revealed that metal-related pollution began in the Balkans more than 500 years before it appeared in western Europe, and persisted throughout the Dark Ages and Medieval Period, meaning the region played a far bigger role in mineral exploitation than previously believed.

The Carambolo Treasure is an assemblage of gold items of the first millennium BCE, whose origin has for about 50 years been the epicentre of a heated debate.