For our very first trial of the Molecular Smorgasbord activity, we brought our plasticine, toothpicks and molecular recipes to Melbourne’s Queen Victoria Markets as part of National Science Week 2010’s ‘Living Science’ event.

Over one day, members of the public, both young and old, built models of everything from nicotine to Teflon, learning a little more about these familiar molecules as they shaped and bonded their colourful atoms.

Here’s to better living through chemistry…