Natural products - Topics

Truffles: why they cost more than gold What the label natural is allowed to mean on a product How are standardised herbal extracts tested for active content? Why can the same mould make both a lifesaver and a poison? Why does a real vanilla bean cost more than a bottle of vanillin? How is frankincense resin graded and why does grade matter? What changes when an extract is cold-pressed instead of steam-distilled? Are marine organisms a realistic source of new antibiotics? What happens when citrus peel oil meets sunlight on skin? Which plant compounds still prop up the painkillers on pharmacy shelves? Bioprospecting deals: who owns the DNA of a plant found inside a national park Which herbal extracts quietly clash with prescription drugs? Why does cinchona bark give quinine in one region and almost none in another? How is artemisinin pulled out of sweet wormwood to make a malaria drug? Why does lavender oil from one harvest smell nothing like the next? How do you spot a diluted essential oil before you buy it?