Which is your favourite chemical element? To mark the International Year of the Periodic Table, our science journalists will be arguing for their pick from the 118 known elements. In this instalment, ...

Where would carbon-based life be without carbon? There are 118 known chemical elements, but carbon is the fourth most abundant and perhaps the most important to human life. Everywhere you look, ...

What is the longest word ever to appear in print in English? There's a lot of confusion and misinformation on the subject. But when I set out to write about the periodic table, I was hopeful I would ...