Profiles

Ultra-high-speed footage of nucleation sites, cellar decisions, glass shape, serving ritual — quantifying the physics of celebration.

The world's first perfume archive—storing and reconstructing thousands of fragrances from original formulas as regulations change molecules.

Pioneering headspace techniques—field science that captures volatile molecules around living flowers. Conservation or possession?

The vibration theory of olfaction—arguing receptors detect intramolecular vibrations. Chemistry meets physics meets cultural battle.

A chemist-artist recreating scents from fashion for museums—making smell legible through engineered systems.

An artist treating fungi as collaborators—then decades later seeing that obsession become the Sylvania material for Hermès.

EPFL's 18-karat gold composite—gold alloy combined with boron carbide, reaching Vickers hardness around 1000.

Surrey NanoSystems' vertically aligned carbon nanotubes—then the artist exclusivity controversy and luxury watch dials.

Blind tests comparing Strads to modern violins—world-class soloists unable to see, choosing against the myth.

Pioneering non-destructive scanning—Raman, XRF, imaging—for art authentication. Science as guardian or new priesthood?

Brain responses to luxury versus pragmatic brands—valuation machinery lighting up differently. Where does agency live?

Building dishes from pure compounds rather than traditional ingredients—molecular gastronomy's philosophical provocateur.

Ardbeg samples spending years in orbit — chromatography, mass spectrometry, and what microgravity does to maturation.