The New Chemistry edited by Nina Hall, Cambridge, £30, ISBN
0521452244
CHEMISTRY has a forlorn reputation, almost beating economics for the title of
“the dismal science”. Despite great efforts by chemists in industry and
engineering, pollution and environmental damage still dog the popular
imagination as the original sin of the chemicals sector. But there are glimmers
of hope. Ten years ago, if you’d asked schoolchildren if chemicals were good or
bad, the answer would have been “bad”, probably almost unanimously. Nowadays,
I’d expect children’s answers to be much more subtle. But have adults’ views
changed? When it comes to chemistry,…
