At this very moment, your body is a living periodic table of elements. Chlorine atoms combine with hydrogen and churn through your stomach, breaking chemical bonds in the food you ate for lunch. Potassium pulses along your nerves, giving your fingers a sense of touch. Calcium makes up your bones and teeth; carbon is the backbone of your DNA; and oxygen seeps into your bloodstream with every breath you take.

If you are a chemist, you see the world in terms of these atoms. Not just humans, but plants, animals, bacteria, soil, computer chips, telephones, and light bulbs. Each is made of unique mixtures of the 118 elements posted on the wall of any high school chemistry classroom.

“Anything you see or touch or taste, it all comes down to these elements in different combinations,” says HHMI investigator Chris Chang.

Illustration: Mario Hugo