June 2008 – David Bradley

Carbon Tet and Paradigm Shifts

Since tetrachloromethane is banned as an industrial solvent avoiding its formation as a byproduct of other chlorocarbons is important, this week, The Alchemist learns that a lanthanum chloride catalyst could help with the cleanup. A paradigm shift in drug discovery could be approaching as researchers working with proteins involved in Alzheimer’s disease have discovered an apparently novel approach to inhibiting disease. In organic chemistry, the Alchemist hears that molecules are not quite as diverse as we first thought, while an Olympic analysis could help sports officials spot dopey athletes. Princeton scientists are focusing on a new approach to making microchips and, finally, an astronomer with a chemical bent has had a cometary mineral named for him.

More on this and all the links in my Alchemist column on ChemWeb

Lighting Up Genetic Disease

Image analysis Genetic disease is a complicated affair. Scientists have spent years trying to find genetic markers for diseases as diverse as asthma, arthritis and cardiovascular disease. The trouble with such complex diseases is that they are none of them simply a manifestation of a genetic issue. They involve multiple genes, various other factors within the body and, of course, environmental factors outside the body.

There are some genetic diseases, however, that are apparently caused by nothing more than a single mutation in the human genome. A single DNA base out of the many thousands on a person’s genetic material, if swapped for another the wrong base means the production of the protein associated with that gene goes awry.

For example, sickle cell disease is caused by a point mutation in the gene for beta-haemoglobin. The mutation causes the amino acid valine to be used in place of glutamic acid at one position in the haemoglobin. This faulty protein cannot fold into its perfect active form, which in turn leads to a cascade of effects, that result ultimately in faulty red blood cells and their associated health problems for sufferers. There are many other diseases associated with single point mutations, including achondroplasia, characterised by dwarfism, in one sense, cystic fibrosis, although different single mutations may be involved, and hereditary hemochromatosis, an iron overload disease.

“To be able to study and diagnose such diseases with limited material from patients, there is a need for methods to detect point mutations in situ,” explains Carolina Wählby of the Department of Genetics and Pat Centre for Image Analysis, at Uppsala University, Sweden, and her colleagues Patrick Karlsson, Sara Henriksson, Chatarina Larsson, Mats Nilsson, and Ewert Bengtsson. Writing in the inaugural issue of the International Journal of Signal and Imaging Systems Engineering (2008, 1, 11-17), they pointed out that this is a problem that can be couched in terms of “finding cells, finding molecules, and finding patterns”.

The researchers explain that the molecular labelling techniques used by biologists in research into genetic diseases often just produce bright spots of light on an image of the sample. Usually, these bright spots, or signals, are formed by selective reactions that tag specific molecules of interest with fluorescent markers. Fluorescence microscopy is then used to take a closer look.

However, signals representing different types of molecules may be randomly distributed in the cells of a sample or may show systematic patterns. Such patterns may hint at specific, non-random localisations and functions of those molecules within the cell. The team suggests that the key to interpreting any patterns of bright spots relies on slicing up the image quickly, applying signal detection, and finally, analysing for patterns. This is not a trivial matter.

One solution to this non-trivial problem could lie in employing data mining tools, but rather than extracting useful information from large databases, those tools would be used to extract information from digital images of cells captured using fluorescence microscopy. The spatial distribution patterns so retrieved would allow labelled molecular targets to analysed that builds on the latest probing and staining techniques.

Biological processes could thus be studied at the level of single molecules, and with sufficient precision to distinguish even closely similar variants of molecules, the researchers say, revealing the intercellular and sub-cellular context of molecules that would otherwise go undetected among myriad other chemicals.

The team has demonstrated proof of principle by developing an image-based data mining system that can look for variants in the genetic information found in mitochondria (i.e. mitochondrial DNA, mtDNA). They point out that MtDNA is present in multiple copies in the mitochondria of the cell, is inherited together with cytoplasm during cell replication and provides an excellent system for testing the detection of point mutations. They add that the same approach might also be used to detect infectious organisms or to study tumours.

Wahlby, C., Karlsson, P., Henriksson, S., Larsson, C., Nilsson, M., Bengtsson, E. (2008). Finding cells, finding molecules, finding patterns. International Journal of Signal and Imaging Systems Engineering, 1(1), 11. DOI: 10.1504/IJSISE.2008.017768

Bird Flu Flap

Bird flu duck I’m not entirely convinced that bird flu (avian influenza) is going to be the next big emergent disease that will wipe out thousands, if not millions, of people across the globe. SARS, after all, had nothing to do with avians, nor does HIV, and certainly not malaria, tuberculosis, MRSA, Escherichia coli O157, or any of dozens of virulent strains of disease that have and are killing millions of people.

There are just so many different types of host within which novel microbial organisms and parasites might be lurking, just waiting for humans to impinge on their marginal domains, to chop down that last tree, to hunt their predators to extinction, and to wreak all-round environmental habitat on their ecosystems, that it is actually only a matter of time before something far worse than avian influenza crawls out from under the metaphorical rock.

In the meantime, there is plenty to worry about on the bird flu front, but perhaps nothing for us to get into too much of a flap over, just yet.

According to a report on Australia’s ABC news, researchers have found that the infamous H5N1 strain of bird flu (which is deadly to birds) can mix with the common-or-garden human influenza virus. The news report tells us worryingly that, “A mutated virus combining human flu and bird flu is the nightmare strain which scientists fear could create a worldwide pandemic.”

Of course, the scientists have not discovered this mutant strain in the wild, they have simply demonstrated that it can happen in the proverbial Petri dish.

Meanwhile, bootiful UK turkey company – Bernard Matthews Foods – has called for an early warning system for impending invasions of avian influenza. A feature in Farmers Weekly Interactive says the company is urging the government and poultry industry to work together to establish an early warning system for migratory birds that may carry H5N1 avian flu. “Armed with this knowledge, free range turkey producers would be able to take measures to avoid contact between wild birds and poultry.” That’s all well and good, but what if a mutant strain really does emerge that also happens to be carried by wild (and domesticated birds) or, more scarily by another species altogether? Then, no amount of H5N1 monitoring is going to protect those roaming turkeys.

While all this is going on, the Washington Post reports that the Hong Kong authorities announced Wednesday (June 10) that they are going to cull poultry in the territory’s retail markets because of fears of a dangerous bird flu outbreak. H5N1 virus was detected in chickens being sold from a stall in the Kowloon area and 2700 birds were slaughtered there to prevent its spread. In closely related news, the International Herald Tribune has reported that there has been an outbreak of bird flu in North Korea. “Bird flu has broken out near a North Korean military base in the first reported case of the disease in the country since 2005, a South Korean aid group said Wednesday.” But, note, “since 2005”, which means it happened before, and we didn’t then see the rapid emergence of the killer strain the media scaremongers are almost choking to see.

Finally, the ever-intriguing Arkansas Democrat Gazette reported, with the rather uninspiring headline: Test shows bird flu in hens. Apparently, a sample from a hen flock destroyed near West Fork, Arkansas, tested positive for avian influenza. A little lower down the page we learn that the strain involved is the far less worrisome H7N3. So, avian influenza is yet to crack the US big time. Thankfully.

Giving Obesity the CHOP

Obesity news I am once again drawn to research from a team at the University of Westminster, a renowned institution that doles out so-called science degrees in homeopathy. This time the paper in question, published in the inaugural issue of the International Journal of Food Safety, Nutrition and Public Health (2008, vol 1, issue 1, pp 16-32) is on that perennial favourite: what to do about the obesity epidemic.

Ihab Tewfik, a senior lecturer in the School of Biosciences, at Westminster, reports that “the prevalence and severity of people suffering from obesity has increased markedly worldwide,” and adds that “The WHO declared obesity a ‘crisis of epidemic proportion’.” Nothing of which I can be too critical in those statements, except for one small point.

While obesity and the diseases and disorders for which it is purportedly a risk factor – type II diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, atherosclerosis, cardiovascular disease, stroke, and heart attack – are almost certainly on the increase in North America, Western Europe, and pockets of the Pacific Rim, the use of the term “worldwide” is rather ironic. This is especially true given that the WHO and other international organizations consistently report massive cases of disease, malnourishment and poor water supply across great tracts of the earth’s surface from Africa and South America to Asia and the former Soviet Union.

Anyway, Tewfik and colleagues have proposed a conceptual framework for a three-year intervention programme that could be adapted to the prevention of childhood obesity, which is a growing problem in many parts of the world, if not quite worldwide.

Ironically, they have named the framework, with one of those shoehorned acronyms, as CHOP, for Childhood Obesity Prevention and explain their approach as follows:

The approach is based on a behaviour modification model without giving foods. Family, school and children are essential counterparts to achieve meaningful improvement. Advocated by policies makers and embraced with favourite environmental factors, CHOP programme could be the conceptual framework for nutrition intervention that can be effectively integrated within the national health framework to attain public health goals.

Apparently, what this boils down to is giving children healthy foods, increasing physical activity and workout limits, limited TV and other screen times, implementing a non-food reward system, and allowing self-monitoring. As part of this approach schools will intervene in teaching children that they should eat five portions of fruit and vegetables each day, that they should cut the amount of fat they eat, limit their screen time and be active every day.

It all sounds like good, solid advice. Indeed, it’s the kind of advice the medical profession, nannyish governments, and even grandparents, have been offering for decades. Unfortunately, growing children are notoriously reluctant to take advice, especially when it comes to avoiding sweets and crisps, eating their greens, and switching off the Playstation (other gaming consoles are available).

The Westminster researchers, however, suggest their CHOP system would be convenient once the appropriate team, policies and resources have been successfully assembled. One has to wonder at a cost to whom these resources might be assembled. They do concede that, “In some circumstances this conceptual framework may be regarded to be too ambitious to attempt de novo within three years especially in some developing countries, where lack of access to health care, to drinkable water, to food, to education and housing is prevalent.”

It’s probably not necessary to implement it in places where food is in limited supply, surely. But, even in apparently developed nations, I’d suggest that costs will be severely prohibitive while children will be reluctant to partake (what positive rewards will replace treats and screen time?). Moreover, by their own admission, obesity is on a rapid climb among adults too and one has to wonder how these resources will be applied to persuade parents and carers of increasingly obese children will themselves be persuaded to take part if they do not appreciate the potential benefits.

Tewfik, I. (2008). Childhood Obesity Prevention (CHOP) programme: a conceptual framework for nutrition intervention. International Journal of Food Safety, Nutrition and Public Health, 1(1), 16. DOI: 10.1504/IJFSNPH.2008.018853

Evolution 2.0

Chimpanzee hand Evolutionary science needs debugging. Apparently, there are a few issues that cannot be resolved with any precision when one asks questions like: What makes a human different from a chimp? Apparently, at the level of genetic sequences, systematic errors creep into any analysis, distorting our ancestry.

Now, researchers from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory’s European Bioinformatics Institute have revealed the source of these systematic errors in comparative genetic sequencing and have devised a new computational tool that avoids these errors and provides accurate insights into the evolution of DNA and protein sequences. Their work suggests that sequence turnover is much more common than assumed.

“Evolution is happening so slowly that we cannot study it by simply watching it,” explains Nick Goldman, group leader at EMBL-EBI, “we learn about the relationships between species and the course and mechanism of evolution by comparing genetic sequences.”

At the core of the evolutionary process are random changes in the DNA of all living things, incorrect copying of a single DNA base, or substitution, the loss of a base by deletion, and the inadvertent insertion of a new base. Such changes can lead to functional and structural changes in genes and proteins. If those mutations confer a reproductive advantage on the individual concerned then they will be carried on to the next generation. The accumulation of enough mutations over the course of many generations leads to the formation of new species. Reconstructing the history of these mutation events reveals the course of evolution.

To compare two DNA sequences, researchers first align them by matching different sequences that share common ancestry. Insertions and deletions are then marked as gaps. This computationally draining process, originally designed for analysing proteins hence its limitations, is usually carried out progressively from several pairwise alignments. However, scientists cannot judge whether a particular length difference between two sequences is a deletion in one or an insertion in the other sequence. For correct alignment of multiple sequences, distinguishing between these two events is crucial, which is where those systematic errors creep in.

“Our new method gets around these errors by taking into account what we already know about evolutionary relationships,” explains Ari Löytynoja, who developed the new computational tool in Goldman’s lab. “Say we are comparing the DNA of human and chimp and cannot tell if a deletion or an insertion happened. To solve this our tool automatically invokes information about the corresponding sequences in closely related species, such as gorilla or macaque. If they show the same gap as the chimp, this suggests an insertion in humans.”

The team’s work (published in the June 20 issue of Science) suggests that insertions are much more common than previously assumed, while deletion numbers have been overestimated. Now, that tools are being developed to reveal such issues our understanding of evolution can only become clearer.

Alcohol Causes Cancer

It’s quite illuminating that the following study has not yet reached the wider media. Without wishing to be too cynical, I do wonder whether that’s because the journal in which the work is published does not use a highly aggressive press office and marketing machine like so many other medical journals, which never seem to be out of the news. The results in this paper are just as important and the implications perhaps even more far reaching than many other results that attract instantaneous (under embargo) media attention. Anyway, take a look and judge for yourself, oh and let me know afterwards if you think the headline for this post is way off mark.

Alcohol blamed for oral cancer risk – A large-scale statistical analysis of mouth and throat cancer incidence over a long period of time has looked at possible correlations between exposure to industrial chemicals, dust and alcoholic beverages in a wide variety of individuals in different occupations across Finland. The perhaps surprising conclusion drawn is that alcohol consumption rather than industrial chemicals or dusts is the critical factor associated with this form of cancer. Get the full story in this week’s edition of my SpectroscopyNOW column here.

I suppose it’s a little ironic that in the same edition of Spec Now, I’m also writing about how to make beer taste fresher and last longer on the shelf. NMR spectroscopy, and a chromatography sniff test have yielded results that could help brewers improve the flavour and shelf-life of beer thanks to work by scientists in Venezuela. The team has identified alpha-dicarbonyls as important compounds that reduce beer’s flavour and point to a new approach to brewing beer that stays fresher, longer. Take a sip here…

Meanwhile, another subject of mixed messages regarding health benefits is that perennial favourite chocolate. To maintain the seductive and lustrous brown gloss of chocolate, so enticing to chocoholics the world over, food technologists must find a way to prevent fat bloom from forming on the surface and turning the surface an unappealing grey. Now, scientists from Canada and Sweden have found new clues to understanding the microstructure of chocolate and what happens when it turns grey with age. More…

Finally, some straight chemistry with absolutely no hint of biomedicine, health, or pharmaceutical implications (yet). A novel structure studied using X-ray crystallography hints at the possibility of a carbon atom that, at first site seems to be a little different from the conventional textbook view. Could the oldest rule of organic chemistry have been broken at last, or is low atomic separation being equated too keenly with the presence of a bond, or could there be something else afoot, as Steve Bachrach suggests? Read on…

Vital Signs

Homeopathy rVita emailed me today to enthuse about a purportedly “wonderful resource”, which is apparently the web’s first integrative medicine community (funny they should claim that as I had someone else emailing to tell me yesterday about their first such site too).

Anyway, I checked out the site, and am very, very disappointed, the first article I read was wrong, wrong, wrong. Homeopathy is most certainly not a viable alternative to vaccination against lethal diseases like polio, tetanus, and measles. To claim otherwise is not only seriously misleading but incredibly dangerous.

We’ve discussed some of the supposed issues surrounding possible problems with conventional vaccines here before, but homeopathy cannot prevent anyone from contracting such serious illness. No matter how hard followers of Hahnemann’s idea that diluting a substance repeatedly until absolutely none of the original compound remains in one’s vial and all the while repeatedly bashing the vial against a Bible believe it to work, it does not.

There is no valid, reproducible evidence of the efficacy of homeopathy as prophylaxis for serious disease where a vaccine would usually be used to prevent infection. The rVita article claims:

“Based on principles of natural law, you can receive protection against the flu or any disease including polio, tetanus, and measles by natural immunity.”

Seriously, there is no scientific basis nor evidence for any of the claims of homeopaths, particular with regard to prophylaxis against lethal diseases. This is as true in National Homeopathy Week as at any other time of the year.

rVita originally suggested the site would be “wonderful resource for any upcoming articles you might be planning on alternative or integrative medicine, Health 2.0, health resources on the Internet, or any other health-related topics,” well it does provide fodder for my highlighting some of the sillier claims of alt med.

Apparently, for users of the rVita community, “whether researching alternative remedies for allergies, infertility, insomnia, chronic pain or even adjunctive care for cancer, users can turn to rVita for help in separating the science from the snake oil.”

Hmmm…as well as the unfounded case of homeopathy, they also discuss Reiki therapy, therapeutic touch, art therapy and the like. Beyond, the placebo effect (which is admittedly very powerful) none of these or many other alternative therapies have any basis in reality

The exceptions, of course, are some herbal remedies. After all, a large proportion of modern drugs from aspirin and AZT to ephedrine and taxol are based on natural products. And some of the manipulating methods such as osteopathy and chiropractic, while dubious in their origins and some of their wider claims, do have physical effects. I was discussing such matters as the claims of chi, energy fields and auras with a colleague in the telecommunications industry who asked, scathingly, “In what units is this universal energy measured?” It’s a rather insightful put down.

Meanwhile, Niteen Bhat Founder CEO of rVeda Inc, of Santa Clara, California, and parent company of the rVita website, contacted me in response to my email respone to their approach. This is what he had to say:

I just wanted to highlight a few things about our philosophy to present our side of the story: Our goal is to bring perspectives from both for “for” and “against” constituents for a particular therapy or modality to enable informed decision making and separate science from snake oil. We welcome experts such as yourself to either comment on any article or even write your own articles that highlight issues with any remedy. That’s the power of Web 2.0 that we are unleashing on CAM.

Having said that, consumers and integrative medicine folks are finding some of these therapy to be effective even though scientific trials are inconclusive or not done yet. One of the reason being that many CAM therapies take personalized medicine approach and essentially have slightly different variants of therapies for each individual. This is exactly the reason we currently do not promote product sales, or do-it-yourself therapies, but expect consumers to get healed via licensed CAM practitioners.

Our content is overseen by conventional medicine MDs (I have copied our Chief Medical Advisor on this email). We did discuss the issues raised and came to [the] conclusion that we need to highlight practitioner articles as such so that we keep sanctity of our select/carefully chosen experts and their opinions. We have decided to separate practitioner articles under separate categories.

So, my review of their site has had a rather positive effect, but efforts to dry up supplies of snake oil must continue.

Many commentators will not accede to using words such as “complementary” or “integrated” to refer to alternative medicine, the name change falls into the same camp as switching from “creationism” to “intelligent design”, as far as I am concerned. Show me the evidence in the form of large-scale, robust, placebo-controlled, double or even triple, blind, clinical trials, however, not spurious poorly controlled tests and selective meta studies, and I’m a believer.

If it produces a sound akin to that of the aquatic avian species falling under the taxonomic name Anas platyrhynchos platyrhynchos, then it really is best avoided, especially if you wish to stay free of lethal diseases.

For an excellent summary of alternative medicine the fact and the fiction, check out Singh and Ernst’s book Trick or Treatment

Crohn’s Disease Drug Approved

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Tysabri (Natalizumab), a monoclonal antibody for the treatment of moderate to severe Crohn’s disease in patients with evidence of inflammation who have had an inadequate response to, or are unable to tolerate, conventional Crohn’s disease therapies. So reports MediceNews.net.

Crohn’s disease is an inflammatory bowel disorder that can affect the whole of the gastrointestinal tract from mouth to anus. It leads to a wide variety of symptoms, primarily abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting, or weight loss. It can also cause serious complications outside the gastrointestinal tract such as skin rashes, arthritis and eye inflammation.

Crohn’s disease patients using the newly approved drug must be enrolled in a special restricted distribution program called the Crohn’s Disease—Tysabri Outreach Unified Commitment to Health (CD TOUCH) Prescribing Program.

Teen diagnoses her own disease in science class (cnn.com)
Ouch, my stomach hurts (blisstree.com)

Midsummer Alchemist

Midsummer alchemist First online in The Alchemist, this week, is an award for pioneering work in mass spectrometry and the study of molecules colliding with surfaces.

A way to create the thinnest polyethylene plastic bag ever has been devised by a team in Germany, while Australian researchers are hoping to defeat HIV by thickening the protective keratin layer of the penis using the female hormone estrogen. The Alchemist also learns that the Brits are turning to waste oil from that wondrous delicacy Fish & Chips to power up their cars.

Also in this week’s issue, Japanese chemists have synthesized what at first site looks to be a hexavalent carbon compound. Finally, with the long summer months stretching ahead of those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, The Alchemist cracks open a tinny and discovers that researchers in Venezuela have uncovered the secret to making beer last longer – add a little poison.

Grab all leads in my Alchemist column on Chemweb.com

Also live this week, the latest Intute Spotlight, covering rule-breaking quantum mechanics, exploiting pathological proteins in polymer science, and size does matter (on a planetary scale). Switch on the Spotlight. You may also like to check out the recent scientific discoveries archive on Sciencebase.

Save Gas

Old cars are best Apologies if, like me, you’re a Brit and prefer to refer to petrol and diesel, then apologies for today’s post title. But, I’ve noticed a flurry of complaints from Americans about the price of vehicle fuel, recently, and just had to comment. Complaints about the price of gas? I hear the good folks of England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland exclaim! Yes, indeed, apparently, filling your tank Stateside now costs a staggering $4 per gallon (about 8 pounds sterling!) Pah! You say, us Brits are paying the equivalent of over $10 per gallon these days.

So what’s a driver to do? Save fuel that’s what! But, how? Money-saving expert and pragmatic tide-wad Martin Lewis has a few pointers on his MoneySavingExpert site. In fact, he reckons following his advice could cut your fuel spend by a third and it doesn’t involve overthrowing a government with a penchant for heavy stealth taxes.

There are four key steps to saving money on fuel, Lewis explains:

Boost vehicle efficiency
Drive more efficiently
Find cheaper fuel
Get cashback on your fuel

The first of these involves removing any dead weight from your vehicle, detachable seats that never see a derriere could be stored offline, as it were. Roofracks and cycle racks should be taken down unless in use, and any trash, garbage, waste, rubbish lying in footwells, in the boot and trunk and elsewhere should be disposed of or recycled. Lewis reckons decluttering can save a couple of a percent, while ditching the roofrack and do the same.

Other fuel savers include keeping tires at the correct pressure for your vehicle (up to 3% saving), keeping air-con use to a minimum (A/C uses between 4 and 8% of your fuel in hot weather). Lewis’ final efficiency tip is slightly less obvious and possibly doubtful – don’t fill your tank, he says. A car will run just as well on a half-full (half-empty) tank as a full one, apparently. He claims that the weight saving of not filling up every time you drive on to a garage forecourt (filling station), will boost efficiency by about 1%.

I’m not so sure that this stacks up overall, however, because you will end up making twice as many journeys to the filling station, which itself will use fuel not only with the drive, but the stops and starts, and if you get stuck in traffic it could soon counteract that 1% saving. Especially given that being parked with the engine idling for 5 minutes is the equivalent of driving 5 miles, or thereabouts.

Anyway, back to his list. Lewis next suggests that being a gentler driver, rather than a kid-racer can save you up to 60% fuel without cutting your top speed. It’s not about the theoretically optimal approach of accelerating gently up to 56 mph and then releasing the accelerator pedal and cruising back down to close to zero and then slowly accelerating up to 56 again. Rather, Lewis explains, you should ensure you’re driving in the appropriate gear (for stick shift drivers only) and that you should speed up smoothly.

“When you press harder on the pedal more fuel flows, but you could get to the same speed using much less power,” he says, “a good rule is to stay under 3,000 revs [revolutions per minute, rpm].” Conversely, when you want to slow down, use the engine and ease down through the gears, reduce the need to stamp on the breaks. All that hard stopping and starting many drivers do simply wastes fuel. As my driving instructor told me at the start of my first lesson in decades past, “We’re all trying to get from A to B, but there’s no need to rush, be polite to other road users, and enjoy the ride.” (A good life philosophy in general, I thought).

Lewis’ Point 3 means either doing some legwork and hunting down the best buys for fuel or using one of the many price comparison tools on the web. In the UK, we have the aptly and simply named petrolprices.com. Lifehacker recently highlighted GasBuddy and Gaspricewatch in the US. However, if you find a filling station 30 miles off your regular route that offers a fractional per gallon saving, then give it a miss, the extra 60 miles will most likely counteract the saving. In tip #4, Lewis suggests cashing in on loyalty cards, cashback credit cards, and company savings schemes, which could save a few quid (bucks) too.

There are several other tips we might add to Lewis’ list. If you’re in the UK, agricultural vehicles avoid a certain amount of tax on their fuel, so becoming a farmer could save you money (and, of course, lose you it in other ways). You might be tempted to throw some magic potion, magnets or shiny beads into your tank in the hope of saving a few pennies. Don’t be. From a chemist’s perspective, I’d like to emphasise that drivers should avoid all such scams including so-called catalysts, magnetic gizmos, and shiny beads. Crystals, Reiki, and homeopathic remedies don’t work to fix human bodies, equally they are not going to let you squeeze extra juice from your car.

Some observers suggest switching to compressed gas vehicles, hybrids, electric, and fuel cells etc. These are all well and good, although on the whole simply displace pollution elsewhere in terms of the fuels they use. However, the enormous overall energy and financial cost of replacing even an old car is far, far greater even than maintaining an old banger (lemon).

Finally, here is the killer tip on how to save money on gas – walk or use a bicycle. Aside from the costs of extra carbs you’ll need to sustain you for the journey and the marginal increase in laundry costs for your Lycra cycling shorts, the broader outlook is for an almost 100% fuel saving. Of course, if you commute fifty miles a day, you’re going to have to set the early morning alarm just a little bit earlier to arrive at work on time, but just think of all those poor suckers paying $10 a gallon and listen to the dawn chorus and you’ll feel a whole lot better.

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