Oct 29, 2009
On the menu today, why red wine is a no-no when it comes to fishy cuisine, how chemists can help you improve your gravy, and a whole platter of food chemistry to tempt your taste buds:
“Red wine with red meat, white wine with fish.” But, have you ever wondered why? Japanese chemists have discovered that the iron in red wine simply makes fish taste too…well…fishy…giving your mouth an unpleasant, fishy aftertaste, according to a …
Oct 27, 2009
Don’t be such a scientist! It’s the kind of thing I’d expect my sister to say to my face if I’ve gone off on one of my lecture mode conversations about some great discovery, or something some of my artier friends might whisper about me behind my back. Sometimes it’s a personal wish…but then I think of everything those who choose to stifle their curiosity about the world around them miss out on:
A …
Oct 22, 2009
Right, the kettle is on for a morning brew and apparently our household is using 3.07 kilowatts. That will include the chest freezer in the garage, the refrigerator in the kitchen, the electric kettle, my laptop and wireless network, oh and a little device sitting on my desk right now that’s monitoring all those electrons as they speed through the mains supply cable.
The monitor …
Oct 20, 2009
My latest contributions to SpectroscopyNOW.com and my current Alchemist column on ChemWeb.com are now live:
Sweetening breast cancer risk – Experimental and epidemiological evidence previously suggested that circulating glucose and insulin may play a role in the emergence of breast cancer. Now a statistical analysis of baseline plasma levels of these compounds shows that elevated serum levels may indeed be a risk factor in postmenopausal women.
Mysterious marine microbe metabolism – US …
Oct 15, 2009
It’s Blog Action Day 2009 and the subject this year is Climate Change. So, here are a few resources for readers seeking out climate information:
IPCC – Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – The IPCC assesses the scientific, technical and socio-economic information relevant for the understanding of the risk of human-induced climate change.
EPA – The US EPA Climate Change site provides comprehensive information on …
Oct 13, 2009
Reduce, re-use, and recycle. Just one of the countless mantras of the twenty-first century that we are told will save the planet. Of course, my grandmother used to put it far more succinctly and in a much more accessible form: waste not, want not.
Now, we have carbon footprints, emissions targets, and landfill directives, that are meant to govern what we should be doing in order to mitigate environmental devastation. Of course, we …
Oct 9, 2009
The media was today almost drenched with the idea that water and other wonders would be been found on the Moon, but unfortunately LCROSS was the least moist of damp squibs ever and no 50 km plume was seen, not even a little splash. NASA scientists are trying to figure out why.
Meanwhile, in the October Spotlight Hot Topics on Intute, I discuss the speculation about water on our lunar neighbour and …
Oct 7, 2009
A quick analysis of online social networks, such as LinkedIn and Xing would suggest that a mere 1 in 7 research scientists use such tools as part of their work. This contrasts starkly with the business world where uptake is up to 88%. In other words almost 9 out of every ten employees in the commercial world are using online networking.
This is an odd finding, according to Richard Lackes of the Department …
Oct 5, 2009
The second batch of physical science and biomedical research news in the SpectroscopyNOW ezines are live:
Optical sniffer detects poison gas – US researchers have developed an optoelectronic nose that can sniff out toxic gases. The sensor is fast and inexpensive and could be used to detect high exposure risk to hazardous industrial chemicals.
E coli clues – New clues as to the virulence of the potentially lethal bacterium Escherichia coli O157:H7 has emerged from …
Oct 2, 2009
My latest physical sciences and biomedical news stories for SpectroscopyNOW.com are now live.
The eyes have it – US researchers have demonstrated proof of principle that a short and simple assessment of eye movements in suspected stroke patients can distinguish new strokes from other less serious disorders better than magnetic resonance imaging. The technique demonstrated only in a small-scale study could help screen patients complaining of dizziness, nausea, and spinning sensations.
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