- Perfect Perfume – a video for Valentine’s Day – A bit of fun for Valentine's Day as the team combinesto make our very own "perfect perfume"!
- The lingering risk of thirdhand smoke – As Dubowski suggests, the notion of thirdhand smoke putatively being hazardous to health is controversial. Research in the late 2000s alluded to the potential problem of this form of pollution but ongoing public and academic scrutiny has not yet resolved the issue. Dubowski's work does provide a chemical basis for a possible risk but does not prove that the risk is substantial or otherwise. However, what is certain is that firsthand smoke is directly hazardous to the health of the smoker and recent evidence suggests that it could cause genetic damage almost the instant tobacco smoke is inhaled.
- How marijuana works – Marijuana is the buds and leaves of the Cannabis sativa plant. This plant contains more than 400 chemicals, including delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the plant's main psychoactive chemical. THC is known to affect our brain's short-term memory. Additionally, marijuana affects motor coordination, increases your heart rate and raises levels of anxiety. Studies also show that marijuana contains cancer-causing chemicals typically associated with cigarettes. In this article, you will learn about marijuana, why this drug is so popular and what effects it has on your mind and body.
- Tweeting the lab – The question of how to build an efficient and useable laboratory recording system is fundamentally one of how much information is necessary to record and how much of that can be recorded while bothering the researcher themselves as little as possible.
- Kepler discovers a mini solar system – Using NASA’s orbiting Kepler observatory, astronomers have found a complete solar system of six planets orbiting a sun-like star… and it’s really weird: five of the six planets huddle closer to their star than Mercury does to the Sun!
- Triclosan – should be used medically and banned in personal products – Triclosan is a really useful material with antibacterial and antiinflammatory properties but it should be banned from use in personal care ingredients.
- Sciencebase Presents… – Nerdy, geeky, dorky science videos. Classic stuff, will be loved by nerds, geeks and dorks everywhere!
- JournalTOCs – 15,204 journals (including 1,676 Open Access journals) collected from 706 publishers. Very easy to browse and to create custom feeds for specific subject areas e.g. http://www.journaltocs.hw.ac.uk/api/articles/chemistry Just swap out "chemistry" for your chosen subject.
From David Bradley Science Writer – Eight science picks