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The Performance Enhancing Drug They Can't Ban
Season 11
Episode 6
In February 2025, a number of running world records were absolutely demolished by athletes who claimed they gained an edge through a common kitchen ingredient: baking soda. It sounds like pseudoscience, but incredibly, this trick might actually work… or make you violently ill. So of course, Alex had to try it.
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4:23
Air conditioning is the science of heat transfer and the chemistry of refrigerants.
3:12
Do you really need all those kitchen gadgets? It all depends on the chemistry of cooking.
4:57
It’s the chemistry of washed-rind cheeses that makes these foods so awfully stinky.
4:10
We tried to use chemistry to change hydrangea flowers from red to blue. Let's try again.
7:54
Surstromming, Swedish for sour herring, has a powerful stink thanks to food preservation.
5:05
What does the pH of soil have to do with the color of hydrangeas?
5:24
Are you breathing air molecules that were once exhaled by Caesar?
3:43
Chalk and seashells are made of the same stuff. So why is one crumbly and the other tough?
4:32
How does chemistry makes a cake donut and a yeast donut taste so different?
3:48
What do chameleons have to do with nanotechnology?
6:44
We visit St. James Cheese Company in New Orleans to learn about the chemistry of cheese.
4:22
Melatonin is a supplement that’s supposed to help you sleep. But does it work?