Catalyst volume 26 issue 4: full magazine

This issue of Catalyst contains the following articles:

Dust to dust?

This Catalyst article looks at soil composition and the reasons behind protecting soil from turning into dust. The UN Year of Soils highlighted the many ways in which humans rely on soil for much more than growing crops.

Dimitri Mendeleev and the periodic pattern

Mendeleev's invention of the Periodic Table of the elements showed how to predict and create further elements, something which scientists are still doing today.

Fingerprints – beyond identity

Chemists analyse the tiny traces of substances which form a fingerprint. This allows them to determine drug abuse and as well as the age, gender and diet of an individual.

Wood decay fungi

This  Catalyst article looks at the work of scientists who use biochemical and DNA analysis to learn more about how fungi cause dead wood to dec

Make a non-Newtonian fluid

This Catalyst article includes a recipe on how to make a non-Newtonian fluid which flows in strange and unexpected ways.

Researching cuttlefish

This Catalyst article looks at cuttlefish which have a remarkable ability to change their appearance at high speed. But how do they do this?

Face facts

Human faces contain a wealth of information about the individual - so how do we go about interpreting faces?

Chemical reaction biscuits

Try this: making biscuits involves a chemical decomposition reaction.

Gravitational waves

Gravitational waves have been observed for the first time, a century after they were first predicted by Albert Einstein.