We created this show to highlight a temporary exhibit at CHF’s museum all about the crazy and sometimes creepy achievements of alchemists and chemists through the ages. Segments on Viagra, an alchemical drawing come to life, and a 19th-century political cartoon. (It’s actually way more interesting than it sounds!)

Image of Rudolph Pariser in front of a blackboard with quantum calculations, contemplating molecular model, 1950s, courtesy of The Hagley Museum and Library.

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If you actually like Jell-O, you probably don’t want to listen to this show. We talk about this and other industrial waste products that have somehow become useful to us – including Vaseline and ancient carbon black.

Image of Quick and Easy Jell-O Wonders, a cook book published circa 1930. CHF Collections/Gregory Tobias.

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