Anyone interested in the history of science, this is a fascinating article about a modern chemist who is reproducing old alchemists' methods and discovering that some of them actually work.

People sometimes forget that modern chemistry grew out of alchemy. We think we're so smart, yet in a hundred years -- or maybe 20 years -- people will laugh and dismiss our crude efforts at "science."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-...b90983065e