Artemisinin could selectively kill cancer cells while leaving normal cells unharmed. Many moons ago I wrote about pioneering medicinal chemistry into this ancient Chinese fever remedy that was showing promise in fighting malaria. Now, in the spirit of modern drug-multitasking it turns out the twisted little tricyclic can also kill cancer cells!
Month: February 2005
Half Baked
Half Baked. Interesting comment from Sebastian at Onfolio about scientists not being up to speed with syndicated news content. It occurred to me that one area in which it might be incredibly powerful for active scientists is in the preprint arena. They could release their up-coming papers and posters using a newsfeed and by providing comments space on the paper’s web page get instantaneous feedback to help them fine-tune their paper before submission to their favourite scientific journal.
Cobbles
Another interesting hit on the Sciencebase site today: “why silicon is a good alternative to carbon to base a life form on”. Outside Star Trek and Doctor Who, I didn’t think it was. Silicon doesn’t concatenate (form chains of atoms) to quite the same extent as carbon or in the same way and so isn’t able to form anything like the wide array of molecules on which carbon is based (millions of them from simple hyddrocarbons to proteins and DNA).
Saying that, if a computer could evolve from a grain of sand, then perhaps that might be considered a silicon-based life form Meanwhile, support your local “cobbles” clinic.
Systematic name for bleach
It’s quite fascinating to see what visitors to the Sciencebase site are searching for. As you might expect, many of them are after science news articles and related resources. But, occasionally there are some oddities like information on whether Viagra is soluble in water or not.
Yesterday, a visitor hit the site looking for the “systematic name for bleach”. Well, it obviously depends on what you mean by bleach. Sodium hypochlorite is the active ingredient in the common household bleaches that “get right up under the rim” and “kill all known germs”, but there are now several non-chlorine bleaches that contain hydrogen peroxide (more commonly associated with those people who allegedly have more fun).
Environmental Joke
Aren’t we supposed to be cutting emissions and conserving fossil fuels? It’s less than heartening to see a British company that wants to produce even more of the former and use up even more of the latter, by bringing us that much-needed accessory, the personal air-taxi: Flying cars. Maybe I’m being dumb and this is just a sick joke or an ironic statement on our love of personal transport extrapolate to the obvious extreme…
Science Writer Resume
Science Writer Journalist Resume – Here you can find the online resume, curriculum vitae, CV, for journalist, science writer, public relations consultant, web designer, photographer, guitarist, singer-songwriter, chorister, karate red orange belt, dog walker and family guy and Geordie David Bradley.
World Year of Physics
What could be more exciting than to follow physicists from around the world as they live the World Year of Physics through the Quantum Diaries? Yeah, right! I hear you yell. But, as a matter of fact, this is a rather intriguing site and it is seriously compelling to read up on what these guys are doing day by day. It’s certainly more of an intellectual challenge to read than the usual baloney blogged around the globe on a daily basis and at least there’s a central theme and purpose to it!
Waste not, want not
We’re rapidly heading to mass panic stations over global warming climate environmental change aren’t we? Are the models valid? Who knows? There are lots of sensible scientists out there who think not and others who think that even if they are, there’s actually nothing our tinkering can do to affect the ultimate fate of the world.
Nevertheless, we could run out of fossil fuels one day, simply because we are using up resources at an exceptional rate, and growth regions around the world are doing just that, growing. My grandmother used to say, “Waste not, want not”. It’s about time we started taking heed of some sensible advice from previous generations regardless of the modern-day climatic received wisdom.