Outlines compelling arguments about the health dangers of sugar, identifying the powerful lobbies behind its overuse while citing its role in a range of challenges from obesity to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

As the central science that bridges biology and physics, chemistry explains the diversity of all things tangible at a molecular level. Chemistry is the science of matter - its composition, structure, properties, and how it changes. Understand chemistry and you'll know why some things oxidize and others explode; why food is good to eat and coal is not. Understand chemistry and know what reasonable expectations you can have of a product, and how to separate fact from fiction. Chemistry is the heart of cooking, it can keep you safe, and it explains why things work. This book brings the subject out of the lab and boils it down to its essential elements - in just a minute.

Demonstrations and brief profiles explain how ancient alchemists stumbled on the science of chemistry, revealing the unrealized theoretical understandings of European alchemists who discovered the properties and reactions of elements.

At the time of his suicide, in 1890, the genius of Vincent van Gogh was acknowledged by only a small cadre of friends and followers. His jagged life was marked by early years of uncertainty, interludes of luckless love affairs, wrenching episodes of self-mutilation, crises of debilitating illness, and periods of painful striving for lofty goals. Today, his art is universally recognized. He is on everybody's list of outstanding artists and in every catalog of creative people. This scholarly yet very readable work addresses all of the features of van Gogh's life and underlying illness, the family history, the environment, and the artist's uniqueness. Dr. Arnold provides an accurate, balanced, and sometimes hard-hitting evaluation of all the hypotheses and suggestions from the past. He keeps people, places, and paintings in perspective. He explains the chemistry, medicine, and biology and offers new proposals that are always elegant, often provocative, and sometimes audaciously simple. A theme that distinguishes the present analyses is that van Gogh not only suffered from an identifiable disease but that his life-style directly influenced the expression and severity of symptoms, exacerbated his condition, and provoked medical crises. The consequences of such well-documented and seemingly disparate factors as overindulgence in alcohol (especially as the romantic but toxic absinthe), smoking too much, malnutrition, fasting (because the artist elected to buy paints and canvas, instead of his daily bread), environmental exposure, and infections, all come together here and support a unifying hypothesis. This book, beautifully complemented with many full color reproductions of paintings, is presented by a scientist who enjoys the art, evaluates the data, produces new models, and advances the field with thought-provoking ideas. The portrait of Vincent van Gogh is not as a mad artist, but rather as an exceptional man who suffered from an inherited metabolic disorder. He was wonderfully creative because of intelligence, talent, and hard work. He was a genius in spite of his illness - not because of it.

Everything you need to know about the fundamental materials that make up our world. This book unlocks the fascinating workings behind the building blocks of life, from the discovery of the very first elements to the formal naming in 2016 of the recently discovered elements 113, 115, 117 and 118 on the seventh row of the periodic table. They are now known as nihonium (Nh), moscovium (Mc), tennessine (Ts) and oganesson (Og), respectively. The Elements Bible makes the science and logic behind the daunting periodic table easier to comprehend and remember. Sections include: - Mendeleev and the creation of the periodic table - Atomic physics - Patterns and trends within the periodic table - Information about each individual element, from alkali metals and transition metals, through to noble gases, actinides and lanthanides - Energy, stability, chemical reactions and how elements interact - The uses of specific elements - The composition and characteristics of the elements: neutrons, protons, electrons, weight, particles, radiation - Stories of the scientists who often risked life and limb in their pursuit of new elements - Modern scientific discoveries, and the naming of new elements. The text is set out in clear brief segments to avoid complexity that can overwhelm readers. The generous use of illustrations provides additional clarity. The Elements Bible introduces a complex subject and also provides insight into the extraordinary underlying stories and facts that you don't normally hear about. Fully illustrated and packed with quirky illustrations, helpful diagrams and historical anecdotes, it is sure to satisfy those seeking to understand the most fundamental ingredients of the universe.

Which is the densest element? Which has the largest atoms? And why are some elements radioactive? From the little-known uses of gold in medicine to the development of the hydrogen bomb, this is a fresh new look at the Periodic Table. Combining cutting edge science with fascinating facts and stunning infographics, this book looks at the extraordinary stories of discovery, amazing properties and surprising uses of each elements, whether solid, liquid or gas - naturally occurring, synthesised or theoretical! From hydrogen to oganesson, this is a fact-filled visual guide to each element,each accompanied by technical date (category, atomic number, weight, boiling point) as well as fun facts and stories about their discovery and surprising uses.

The wondrous and illuminating story of humankind's quest to discover the fundamentals of chemistry, culminating in Mendeleyev's dream of the Periodic Table.

The Secret Life of the Periodic Table uncovers the fascinating stories behind the formulation of the table. It describes how and who discovered the 118 elements, and the competition and cooperation behind scientific advances. The character of the elements is brought to life in a bright and engaging way, making The Secret Life of the Periodic Table ideal for students and general readers. Spared the monotony of a school text, they can gain a basic understanding of the fundamentals of atomic science. The book covers all 118 elements in 14 chapters. They are: - A brief guide to atomic physics - Igor Mendeleev, arguably the most important formulator of the table, and significant others - Hydrogen - Alkali metals - Alkaline Earth metal - Transition metals - Post-transition metals - Metalloids - Other non-metals - Halogens - Noble gases - Lanthanoids - Actinoids - Transuranium elements. Each element description includes a fact box showing atomic number, atomic weight, radius, melting point, boiling point, density, and the year of its discovery and by whom. There are many sidebars, boxes and extended captions covering topics of interest, like Ernest Lawrence's 1931 cyclotron, early precursor to the 10-km radius Large Hydron Collider that he could not possibly have imagined. There is also fascinating trivia about the elements. For example, phosphorus was first isolated by an alchemist's search for gold in urine and in the 1920s, there was a fad for lethal radium cocktails. The Secret Life of the Periodic Table is accurate and entertaining, making it a helpful adjunct to student studies. General readers will find it an enjoyable trip into the world of chemistry and atomic science. It is an ideal purchase for science, middle school and general collections.

Sheds new light on the identity of the alchemist Fulcanelli • Provides new understanding of the relationships between the most important figures of the esoteric milieu of Paris in the first half of the 20th century • Includes a wealth of rarely seen documents, photos, and letters Fulcanelli, operative alchemist and author of The Mystery of the Cathedrals and The Dwellings of the Philosophers--two of the most important esoteric works of the twentieth century--remains himself a mystery. The true identity of the man who allegedly succeeded in creating the philosopher's stone has never been discovered, despite ardent searches by many--even the OSS (the wartime U.S. intelligence agency, later to become the CIA) claimed to have looked for him following the end of World War II. Geneviève Dubois looks at the esoteric milieu of Paris at the turn of the century, a time that witnessed a great revival of the alchemical tradition, and investigates some of its salient personalities. Could one of these have been this enigmatic man, reported to have last appeared in Seville, Spain, in 1952 when he would have been 113 years of age? The trail followed by the author encounters such figures as Papus, René Guénon, Schwaller de Lubicz, Pierre Dujols, Eugene Canseliet, and Jean-Julien Champagne. Working from rare documents, letters, and photos, Dubois suggests that one of these men could have been hiding his activity behind the pseudonym of Fulcanelli or that Fulcanelli may even have been a composite fabricated by several of these individuals working together. Beyond its attempt to reveal the actual identity of Fulcanelli, Fulcanelli and the Alchemical Revival also presents an explanation of the alchemical doctrine and reveals the unsuspected relationships among the important twentieth-century truth seekers it highlights.