Ludwigshafen (ots) - Ketchup can be a stubborn condiment. Just when you're ready to bite into a burger, it often refuses to flow. Only when you give the bottle a serious shake or two does it start to move. And there's a reason why. Ketchup ...To the press release of BASF SE

Ludwigshafen (ots) - In this podcast you will learn how chemistry improves the efficiency of lithium ion batteries. In comparison to other battery types, lithium-ion batteries have some major advantages. For one, they are the most efficient ...To the press release of BASF SE

Ludwigshafen (ots) - All over the world cows, goats, sheep and other mammals are industriously milked every day to provide us with a whole range of dairy products. Children love it, and lots of grown-ups also enjoy a glass of creamy milk every ...To the press release of BASF SE

Ludwigshafen (ots) - The lead of a pencil is made out of the mineral graphite, which is one of the forms - or 'allotropes' - of the element carbon. Diamond is another. It's also made up of pure elemental carbon. But even though both materials ...To the press release of BASF SE

Ludwigshafen (ots) - If you stretch a rubber band and then release it, it snaps back into its original shape. As you probably know, rubber has elastic properties, which is why its also called an elastomer. However, the natural state of ...To the press release of BASF SE

Ludwigshafen (ots) - In this podcast you will learn how chemistry improves the cost effectiveness of environmentally and climate friendly wind energy. It is generally less well known that modern wind turbines would hardly be conceivable ...To the press release of BASF SE

Ludwigshafen (ots) - The discovery of fire opened up whole new worlds of taste for stone-age humans. They could start turning those chunks of raw mammoth meat into beautifully browned roast leg of mammoth and were benefiting from an ...To the press release of BASF SE

Ludwigshafen (ots) - Over millions of years of evolution, spiders have developed the perfect material for constructing a net: spider silk. Material researchers can get pretty worked up just talking about its properties. It has five times the ...To the press release of BASF SE

Ludwigshafen (ots) - When a shirt gets dirty, you usually just have to chuck it in the washing machine, add a little laundry detergent, and let the combination of water and soap do the rest. But some pieces of clothing are too delicate to put ...To the press release of BASF SE

Ludwigshafen (ots) - Every winter it's the same old problem: Ice and snow wreak havoc with traffic. To battle the slick roads, the winter services people are out there day and night spreading salt on the streets. In entertaining episodes our ...To the press release of BASF SE

Ludwigshafen (ots) - In simple terms, behind the glass on the front of a plasma screen you'll find a whole lot of tiny cells that are filled with one of the 'noble' gases, generally neon or xenon. Each of these cells represents a single point ...To the press release of BASF SE

Ludwigshafen (ots) - If you want your leather shoes to continue to look clean and snazzy, then there's no way around it: you have to polish them occasionally. The polish that you apply contains both fats - lipids - and wax. The lipids make the ...To the press release of BASF SE

Ludwigshafen (ots) - Although the way glow sticks work at first seems almost magical, it's actually pretty simple. They provide a purely chemical source of light. A glow stick is a sealed, see-through plastic pipe containing a fluorescent dye ...To the press release of BASF SE

Ludwigshafen (ots) - After the advent of liquid crystal displays, or LCDs, everybody nowadays has at least heard the term 'liquid crystal'. The high-tech screens are everywhere: in computer monitors, cell phones, digital cameras, and ...To the press release of BASF SE

Ludwigshafen (ots) - In this podcast you will learn how food fortification can help prevent children going blind. According to UNICEF, 40 to 60 percent of children and young people in developing nations are affected by a lack of vitamin A. ...To the press release of BASF SE

Ludwigshafen (ots) - Cling film - also called plastic wrap - has to be pretty versatile. It should stretch a lot without tearing, it should keep out the germs, and it has to seal in moisture and aroma to keep those cold cuts from drying out ...To the press release of BASF SE

Ludwigshafen (ots) - If you put the oil and water together in a single glass, then they act like a couple of suspicious neighbors. Each quickly finds its own level - the oil on top and the water below - and has as little interaction with the ...To the press release of BASF SE

Ludwigshafen (ots) - While taking a walk along the beach, you might have noticed shells that have inner surfaces that shimmer in colorful patterns when they reflect the sunlight. The iridescent substance responsible for it is called nacre, or ...To the press release of BASF SE

Ludwigshafen (ots) - In this podcast you will learn how organic photovoltaics helps to produce solar cells with completely new qualities. In organic photovoltaics dyes are used that are able to convert light into electrical energy. Due to ...To the press release of BASF SE

Ludwigshafen (ots) - Hair isn't exactly lying still all the time. It's constantly in motion - we brush it, run our fingers through it, and style it in all kinds of tortuous ways. When we tax it and strain it, the shingles on the outside of a ...To the press release of BASF SE

Ludwigshafen (ots) - Bioplastics might look artificial, but they sure act like they're organic. When you toss them on a compost heap, for example, they simply disappear. There's no magic involved, though. Compostable bioplastics disintegrate ...To the press release of BASF SE

Ludwigshafen (ots) - In this podcast you will learn how the unique characteristics of liquid salts make ionic liquids so interesting for industry. Ionic liquids are molten salts that are also in a liquid form at room temperature. The unique ...To the press release of BASF SE

Ludwigshafen (ots) - A lot of stuff disappears down the drain that never comes out the other end. If you can't get to the blockage in the pipe to clean it mechanically, then your only choice to get the water flowing again is a drain cleaner. In ...To the press release of BASF SE

Ludwigshafen (ots) - In campfire stories, you often hear that someone's hair turns grey or white overnight because of a stressful or frightening experience. That's pretty obviously an exaggeration - but what ARE the factors involved when hair ...To the press release of BASF SE

Ludwigshafen (ots) - Sugar's ability to adhere to a surface pretty impressive. Back in the 1950s, women even used sugar water to hold extravagant hairdos in place - and it made them pretty indestructible. But how does the sugar do it? In ...To the press release of BASF SE

Ludwigshafen (ots) - Everyone knows that oil and water just don't mix. But how come? In entertaining weekly episodes our Chemical Reporter answers questions of our Podcast listeners on Chemistry in our everyday life. Direct subscription ...To the press release of BASF SE

Ludwigshafen (ots) - In this Podcast of "Chemistry of Innovations" you will learn how "colors without dyes" can have effects that are almost magical. Normal color, like we know from everyday life, doesn't change its color impression ...To the press release of BASF SE

Ludwigshafen (ots) - A little fabric softener is a big comfort in a tough world. But what chemical trick is behind the feel of clothes freshly-rinsed with fabric softener?In entertaining weekly episodes our Chemical Reporter answers ...To the press release of BASF SE

Ludwigshafen (ots) - Fat tomatoes, enormous pumpkins, sunflowers that stretch up into the sky - for some home gardeners, what starts out as a hobby turns into a quest for the colossal. There are even competitions. And to have a chance, an ...To the press release of BASF SE

Ludwigshafen (ots) - In this Podcast of "Chemistry of Innovations" you will learn how a fungi-protein called "Hydrophobin" can make surfaces water-repellent. The raincoat on a fungus is not a garment, it is a substance called ...To the press release of BASF SE