Article Archive for September 2008
For the past few years, intense debate has raged over a relatively new food safety technique-irradiation. An article in C&EN takes a look at new developments in the policy surrounding this controversial practice. …
The bite of the tsetse fly can cause African Sleeping Sickness through transmission of the parasite called trypanosome. It is currently estimated that there are about 50,000 to 70,000 cases of this disease in Africa. …
So you’re working on your Molecule of the Week assignment and you’re looking at your molecule in Mercury and thinking Wow this is hideous. How am I going to make this look presentable? If you’re …
Given the underwhelming response to the last ‘what in the world is it’ contest, why not try it again!
The answer we were looking for in the first contest was L. ehrenbergii (a diatom) clinging to …
The molecule of the week originates from research at the Indian Institute of Science dealing with the photoactivation of oxovanadium complexes for photodynamic therapy (Sasmal, P.K.; Patra, A.K.; Nethaji, M. Chakravarty, A.R. Inorg. Chem. …
It looks like these may be ready in the next 5 years or so. Now if I only had the $100 million to put one in my backyard. I may have to ask for a …
10 points extra credit if you can guess what this is. No fair peeking! This image won the photography category of the NSF Visualization Challenge for 2008. I also think the Squid Suckers are wickedly …
Google is committing $10 million for ideas that help the most people in a short amount of time. So what’s your idea to change the world?
Project 10100 (pronounced “Project 10 to the 100th”) is a …
In keeping with the current ‘writing’ theme, here are my favorite books on writing. I think of the first four as ‘must haves’ though I obviously have them all!
The Elements of Style, The (4th Edition) …
It’s probably just coincidence… yeah, that’s probably it.
7. Become a great writer.
No matter what field you hope to go into, and no matter what job you hope to have in that field, writing skills will …
This week’s molecule comes out of recent research at Iowa State University focused on the catalytic activity of zirconium (IV) complexes involving a new class of scorpionate ligands (Dunne, J.F.; Su, J.; Ellern, A.; Sadow, …
It should be obvious by now that writing for the sciences is much different than for the arts and humanities (though it doesn’t have to be), and learning the distinctions requires practice. In this list …
After working through the assignment with a few test subjects (I mean beta testers! – thanks Nicole, Meghan, and Jon!), I’ve put together a more complete description.
Find an interesting molecule – it must contain a …
This one is for the Tesla fan in the room… You know who you are!
The companies say the all-electric model will challenge the Tesla all-electric sportster in performance, with the equivalent of 644 hp and …
While it is likely that the studies used were funded by those with a vested interest in the outcome (shock and awe), I’m not sure exactly which study is in question. I’m assuming (a bad …
Unlike the Prius, Civic hybrid, and upcoming Honda Insight, the Chevy Volt uses its gasoline engine to charge the batteries and is never used to directly drive the wheels (serial hybrid vs. parallel hybrid). That, …
This website has been presented to me as a senior at Villanova Univeristy, someone who has taken a lot of undergraduate classes. I am a chemistry major, as are the other students in Dr. Kassel’s …
The molecule of the week comes from an article that focuses on alpha-Ketocarboxylates and structural models for certain types of halogenases (Friese, S. J.; Kucera, B. E.; Young, V. G., Jr.; Que, L., Jr.; Tolman, …
