Chemistry For Your Life

What’s actually flowing through the “natural gas” pipes connected to your home—and did we get something wrong in our air-conditioning series? Which careers can an organic chemistry student pursue, how do topical pain-relief gels work, and what could make a successful HIV medication suddenly stop working? Melissa and Jam answer listener questions, revisit past episodes, correct the record, and stumble into a ...

Can shining a red light on your face really improve acne, wrinkles, inflammation, or wound healing, or is red light therapy just an expensive skincare scam involving a slightly alarming mask? How could ordinary visible light affect cells beneath your skin, and should you trust the products filling your social media feed? Melissa and Jam investigate photobiomodulation, mitochondria, collagen, blue light, FDA clearance, and the resea...

#007 Rebroadcast

Melissa finally explains to Jam how microwaves work after making him wait for an entire week. What the heck is going on inside microwaves? How does it do it's thing and make our food tasty? Is it magic?

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What happens when a chemist and a non-chemist make a podcast together for seven years? Which chemistry lessons stuck, which episode ideas spectacularly refused to cooperate, and does Jam still count as a layperson after all this time? Joined by returning guest Claire, Melissa and Jam celebrate the seventh anniversary of Chemistry For Your Life with listener questions, behind-the-scenes stories, friendship reflections, favorite scie...

What exactly is a swamp cooler, and why can it beat the heat in Arizona but leave you sweaty and betrayed in Houston? How can an air conditioner run on water, what does humidity have to do with its effectiveness, and could an icy new invention help prevent overloaded power grids? In the final installment of our air-conditioning series, Melissa and Jam explore evaporative cooling, ancient climate-control tricks, and some promising i...

Could a cheaper, more environmentally friendly refrigerant already exist, and could corporate lobbying be helping keep it out of American air conditioners? Why did the chemicals once hailed as safe alternatives become environmental villains, and are their replacements actually much better? Melissa and Jam follow the twisty history of Freon, ozone depletion, greenhouse gases, propane, and air-conditioning regulations to find out why...

What happens when a chemist ventures onto Reddit to answer the internet’s most pressing science questions? Why does carbon get its own entire branch of chemistry, what makes fireworks burn different colors, and can an invention work even when its inventor has no idea why? Melissa and Jam tackle those mysteries, plus laboratory disasters, stress recovery, wireless charging, and one surprisingly complicated “Am I the Jerk...

Is your air conditioner secretly doing chemistry while you’re inside pretending summer doesn’t exist? How does it turn hot air into cool air, and why does part of the AC blow out even more heat? In this episode, Melissa and Jam crack open the mysterious black box of air conditioning to explore refrigerants, phase changes, energy transfer, and the surprisingly clever science keeping your house livable. Plus: frozen AC co...

#044 Rebroadcast

You know what we're talking about. That spectacular fizzy geyser. This week, Melissa and Jam explore what makes diet coke and mentos go crazy together. Is it love? Is it hate? Is it chemistry? Why diet coke specifically? Or more importantly, why mentos? Let's get into it.

Support this podcast on Patreon
Buy Podcast Merch and Apparel

Check out our website at chemforyourlife.com

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#135 Rebroadcast

Well guess what, Melissa is a PhD Doctor now! And you know what that means? She gets to tell us more details about the research she did to get her PhD. Listen to hear what Melissa found as she dove deep into the question "Why do people hate organic chemistry?" for the past few years.

References from this episode

1. National Research Council, (2012), Discipline-based education research: Understanding and improvi...

What if the biggest challenge in chemistry education isn’t helping students survive—but helping them thrive? In this final bonus episode of our BCCE Community Conversation series, Melissa talks with Dr. Leyte Winfield about creating learning environments where students feel like they belong. They discuss moving beyond “weed-out” culture, designing courses that maintain high standards while expanding opportun...

#028

This week, Melissa and Jam travel even further down the rabbit hole of hair chemistry. How does our hair get damaged? How do we curl, straighten, and perm our hair? What's going on there at the molecular level? Let's find out!

References from this episode

1. Biochemistry, Edition 4 - Garret and Grisham
2. Making waves: The chemistry of hair perms - Christine Herman, Chemistry & Engineering News
3. How Did the 80s Get Hai...

How do we build chemistry classrooms where more students can thrive? In this bonus BCCE Community Conversation preview, Melissa talks with Matt Mio about neurodiversity in chemistry education. They discuss why every student experiences learning differently, how understanding those differences can make us better teachers and colleagues, and why creating more accessible learning environments benefits far more people than we might exp...

Hairspray seems simple… until you actually stop and think about it. How does it come out as a fine mist? Why doesn’t it dry up inside the can? How can it hold your hair in place without acting like glue? This week we’re unpacking the surprisingly clever chemistry behind one of the most common products in our homes—and discovering it’s far more complicated than either of us expected.

Great teaching doesn’t happen in isolation—it happens in community. In this bonus BCCE Community Conversation preview, Melissa talks with chemistry educator Dr. Joanne Stewart about communities of practice: groups of educators who come together to share ideas, solve problems, and help one another grow. They explore why teaching is hard to improve on your own, how these communities support both faculty and s...

What happens when some listeners challenge one of our past episodes? This week we’re revisiting our silicone episodes after several listeners pointed us toward new research. Along the way we answer questions about mosquito wristbands, waterproof mascara, stubborn adhesives, and whether amino acids may have formed on the early Earth after all. It’s an Ask a Chemist episode full of updates, follow-ups, and a reminder that...

What if chemistry classes were organized around real-world problems instead of chapters in a textbook?In this bonus BCCE Community Conversation preview, Melissa talks with Vicente Talanquer about helping students think like chemists rather than simply memorize chemistry. They explore why authentic, real-world problems can transform learning, how instructors can make meaningful changes without rewriting an entire course, and why tea...

There are a lot more ways to reveal a fingerprint than the black powder you see on TV.In this second part of our forensic chemistry series with Nicki Stewart, we explore the surprising chemistry behind fingerprints. From powders and iodine vapor to super glue fumes and chemical reactions, we break down how forensic scientists reveal invisible fingerprints—and why choosing the right method depends entirely on the surface, the ...

What does it mean to teach chemistry like a scientist? In this BCCE Community Conversation preview, Melissa talks with chemistry education researcher Ellen Yezierski about scholarly teaching: making evidence-guided decisions about how we teach and how students learn. They discuss why content knowledge alone isn’t enough, how educators can improve their teaching without becoming full-time researchers, and why some of the best ...