The BGS community were delighted to see Mrs Everest’s (Senior Science Technician) beautiful lizard indicator droplet art featured on the cover of the Chem 13 News magazine.

The visually stunning droplet mosaic amongst others including a starfish, chameleon and portrait image of Russian Chemist Dmitri Mendeleev have received hundreds of likes and retweets on Twitter from around the world.

Mrs Everest explained the indicator droplet art process: “I had just made a batch of red cabbage indicator for a practical class, so we decided to test it out using the microscale chemistry sheets. These are printed practical sheets (either laminated or placed inside a plastic pocket) then droplets of chemicals are pipetted on top and chemical reactions can be observed on a microscale. When you are finished, you simply wipe them clean. The red cabbage reacts with acids and alkalis and colour changes dependent on its pH level. The droplets of chemicals looked so bright and colourful on the plastic sheet.”

Read Mrs Everest’s article featured in Chem 13 News magazine here.