Philip Ball, "The Beauty of Chemistry: Art, Wonder, and Science" (MIT Press, 2021)
New Books in Science
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Snowflakes - What Do You Think They Are?
In the 17th century, people started seeing these complicated forms that could be made from inorganic materials. They looked like molds or something or mushrooms but they're actually made from water glass. Some of them are related to the kinds of patterns that we might see in animal markings or insect markings and butterfly wings. But it was rather lovely to find this surprising thing that it seemed no one had noticed before this new kind of patterning process.
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