Sep 30, 2009
Superfast fluorescent sensor molecules that detect and destroy nerve agent, chemical weapons, caught The Alchemist’s eye this week, as did new insights into the ancient oxygen levels of the early earth.
A very alchemical notion emerges from Austria suggesting that life elsewhere in the universe may use sulfuric acid instead of water as its vital solvent.
Spin ice reveals the existence of magnetic monopoles, the norths without the souths, so to …
Sep 28, 2009
Until 2001, few people had heard the term micro ribonucleic acids, but these little chunks of nucleic acid, just 21 to 23 bases long, have been conserved throughout evolution. They don’t code for proteins, but they do seem to be involved in the regulation of immunity, the development and differentiation of immune cells, antibody production and the release of chemicals involved in the inflammatory response. So micro by name, but not by nature, you might …
Sep 25, 2009
Okay…so I was kind of joking about doing a regular weekly gardening column, but having spent rather longer weeding and feeding this week than I intended to, I need to get something written for Sciencebase today that wouldn’t be too demanding. So here’s a quick guide to composting your kitchen and garden waste.
These are the fast-rotting greens that should definitely be in your compost heap. These all provide …
Sep 23, 2009
Drugmaker Vivus saw its experimental weight-loss medication, Qnexa, pass two Phase III clinical trials C&EN reported on September 10, and the company’s share price skyrocket.
The rewards of developing a safe and effective anti-obesity medication will be in the tens of billions of dollars, according to Bloomberg. Of course, such apparent breakthroughs are going to hit the headlines, big time. After all, who wants to reduce calorie intake and increase exercise levels when popping …
Sep 21, 2009
This week’s ezines on SpectroscopyNOW are now live, featuring a breath test for lung cancer, magnetic monopoles, a way to boost fuel cells, and reducing toxic waste from dental surgeries.
Extracting the dental lead – Lead contamination in the black paper used to mask dental X-ray paper has been determined for the first time using AAS. The worrying results suggest that the used material represents an environmental waste problem requiring pre-treatment before disposal.
I asked the …
Sep 18, 2009
It may come as a shock to anyone thinking of taking up gardening as a hobby or as a way to beat back the credit crunch by doing a little grow-your-own that gardening is based entirely on chemistry. There is no escaping this simple truth. Chemicals grow in the garden. There is no such thing as chemical-free gardening.
Now I’m not talking about the manufactured pesticides, herbicides, and fertilisers that your …
Sep 15, 2009
In the olden days, scientists used to send out paper reprints of their research papers to colleagues…maybe they still do. I get the occasional request for such an archaic entity for the items I have had published in Science, PNAS, and other journals.
These days, you’re more likely to simply ask for an eprint of a scientific paper, probably a PDF, possibly a doc …
Sep 14, 2009
Challenging natural products succumb to radical synthetic prowess, the Alchemist hears this week, while US researchers find a way to construct macroscopic crystals from tiny DNA triangles.
The growing problem of obesity drug abuse in the UK is highlighted in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology and Bayer Cropscience is going underground with storage for safety reasons.
Also this week, Korean chemists have developed a scrubber for cleaning up the greenhouse.
Finally, this week’s award …
Sep 11, 2009
It’s Friday, our kids have been back at school a week now, so with the ever-present prospect of a wet weekend ahead of us, how to distract them from Youtube and Facebook with some educational that might help them next week in school…
…so, how about a quick trawl for fun science games. It seems there are millions of sites on the web offering games and virtual toys with a scientific underpinning. …
Sep 9, 2009
Tears and smiles bond secure mothers to baby – The sight of her baby’s smile or even its tears cause the reward centres in a mother’s brain to light up, according to an international functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, but only if the mother herself had a secure attachment to her own parent.
Smokestack scrubber – Korean researchers have developed a new, highly porous material that can soak up carbon …
Sep 7, 2009
UPDATE: Sept 8 – Compound 50m in the CS Registry is a novel arylmethylidene heterocycle with analgesic properties called (5Z)-5-[(5-fluoro-2-hydroxyphenyl)methylene]-2-(4-methyl-1-piperazinyl)-4(5H)-thiazolone. (Registry number 1181081-51-5).
According to an email I received from a CAS spokesman, “The number itself represents an important milestone both for researchers and CAS, but even more significant is the pace of scientific discovery around the world.” Roger Schenck, Manager of the Content Planning Department at CAS, adds that, “More …
Sep 4, 2009
Pregnant pause for thought – The analytical cousin of magnetic resonance imaging, NMR spectroscopy, has revealed that a chemical compound found in unpasteurised food can be present at unusually high levels in the red blood cells of pregnant women. The compound, the antioxidant ergothioneine, could be used as a biomarker for the potentially fatal condition, pre-eclampsia, which can cause severely raised blood pressure during pregnancy, according to the researchers, although they …
Sep 2, 2009
Biofuels are not much better than fossil fuels in terms of the impact on atmospheric pollution levels and effects on climate change, according to Mark Jacobson professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University. This is especially true when making claims about the sustainability of biofuels in comparison with hydrogen fuel cells and battery-driven electric vehicles charged up using solar, wind, tidal or other truly renewable energy sources.
To quote from his web page, the …
Sep 1, 2009
The Alchemist this week learns how fluorine chemistry is blooming, how to melt proteins, and how cholesterol is all about the good, the bad, and the oxy. Also this week, a technique borrowed from organic LED fabrication could lead to a new way to manufacture tiny inorganic LEDs for next generation displays, while a conductive flip has been observed with clusters of atoms close …
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