Ethylene oxide rarely makes headlines, yet it quietly sterilizes about half of all medical devices used in the United States.

Ethylene oxide is a basic chemical building block for a slew of modern products, including plastics and medicines. This seven-atom molecule is the simplest epoxide. But not much is simple in the ...

Making industrial chemicals like ethylene glycol — a key component in polymer production and familiar to many as antifreeze — consumes large amounts of energy and releases significant carbon dioxide ...