This year's Science Week (12-21 March) celebrates the biodiversity of life on planet earth. Lots of the molecules in the Molecules Network kits are made or inspired by nature. For example the flavour of vanilla comes from the vanillin molecule, extracted from the vanilla pod. Colours like the indigo used to dye jeans were originally extracted from plants such as woad, before being made synthetically on commercial scales. Many medicines have origins from molecules extracted from plants - such as aspirin, which is made from salycylic acid, isolated from the bark of the willow tree.
