Sadoway's lectures often included the history of science, especially with respect to the Nobel Prize. Sadoway gave out "library assignments" in which he asked students to research Nobel Prize–winning papers. He began his lectures by playing music, which has some connection with the lecture's material. For example, for the lecture on hydrogen bonding he plays Handel's "Water Music". For one of the lectures on polymers he plays Aretha Franklin's "Chain of Fools". He ended his lectures with five minutes on the topic of "Chemistry and the world around us". Examples include automotive exhaust catalytic converters (technology), forensic examination of paintings (chemistry in the fine arts), the mistreatment of Rosalind Franklin in the quest to discover the structure of DNA (intellectual dishonesty), the metallurgical failure that sank the Titanic (greed and incompetence), and the clarification of champagne (viticulture).