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Search Results for: label/chemical

  • Biology Explainer: The big 4 building blocks of life–carbohydrates, fats, proteins, and nucleic acids

    …e X Extra: A triglyceride can have up to three different fatty acids attached to it. Canola oil, for example, consists primarily of oleic acid, linoleic acid, and linolenic acid, all of which are unsaturated fatty acids with 18 carbons in their chains. Why do we take in fat anyway? Fat is a necessary nutrient for everything from our nervous systems to our circulatory health. It also, under appropriate conditions, is an excellent way to store up…

    Authored by on June 8, 2012

  • From alchemist to chemist: What kind of chemistry is that?

    Figure 1: The Alchemist Discovering Phosphorus What does the word chemistry  mean to you? For many, it was a class in high school or college to get through. In these introductory courses, called general chemistry, one gets a mix of all the flavors of chemistry – but the flavors are very different. To those who hear the calling of chemistry, it isn’t just any chemistry that will do. Some courses are more interesting to them than othe…

    Authored by on December 15, 2011

  • Explosions, Just a Bit More Than Fireworks

    …lecture. If we focus on the loss of electrons version of oxidation, we get specific colors. This is what the flame video by The Fabulab focused on in their entry for Alan Alda’s Flame Challenge. I direct your attention to 1:08 and the discussion of electrons. The Fabulab’s Flame Challenge from The Fabulab on Vimeo. Metals are the simplest example (and most used) example of oxidation as the loss of electrons and the color change as…

    Authored by on July 4, 2012

  • Drill, baby, drill — microbial-style

    …ry pieces to make gasoline. But they weren’t producing them at the same levels. In other words, the factory had more workers at one part of the assembly line than at others. As a result, productivity was relatively low (about 10 mg isobutanol per liter of culture). To boost that output, the researchers dialed up expression levels of several proteins to get them all in sync. They also shut down a handful of other chemical assembly lines, too, “car…

    Authored by on September 10, 2012

  • How chili powder can kill

    …nd mucus were seen. A tracheostomy was performed. The trachea was found to be obstructed with masses of admixed pepper and mucus. Upon arrival to an emergency room he was pulseless and apneic, and he was pronounced dead about 1 h after the inhalation of the pepper.  [Homicidal asphyxia by pepper aspiration by S.D. Cohle] Like black pepper, hot peppers and their products have been used as punishments. Three children, aged 3, 5, and 7, were re…

    Authored by on January 21, 2013

  • Modern Chemists

    Our next installment of notable women in science brings us to chemists. Many of these women were born in the early part of the 20thcentury and forged their paths in tough times. All are still inspiring others today. Presented in no particular order: Catherine Clarke Fenselau is a pioneer in mass spectrometry.  Born in 1939, her interested in science was apparent before her 10th grade. She was encouraged to attend a women’s college, whi…

    Authored by on April 23, 2012

  • Historical Chemists Part II

    I f you have been watching tweets from @DoubleXSci since early December, you’ll have noticed tweets about Notable Historical and Modern Women in Science. Nearly 100 women were presented over twitter. Those women will be presented in a series here on the blog with the original tweeted links and information as well as with some additional information not able to be presented in 140 characters. We hope you look up more on these women.  Leonora Neu…

    Authored by on September 7, 2012

  • What does ‘safe’ mean when we’re talking about chemicals?

    …f asking whether something is safe, I’ve begun to try (try!) to look at things on a spectrum of lower risk to higher risk and think about decisions as risk evaluations.  At the lower risk end, I would include things that have 1) solid, evidence-based records of few or no harmful effects, 2) relatively few/unusual circumstances in which it produces harmful effects, and 3) statistics favoring my likelihood of emerging unscathed. Here are some thin…

    Authored by on June 4, 2012

  • After Newtown missteps, journalists get guidelines

    Protip: Don’t diagnose based on speculation. by Jessica Wright                Attention journalists: If you’ve been calling people “nuts” or “deranged” in your stories, the Associated Press is recommending that it’s time you stopped. This guideline — along with the common-sense assertion that writers shouldn’t diagnose individuals with a mental illness based entirely on speculation — is part of a new recommendation added to the AP styleboo…

    Authored by on March 27, 2013

  • Yvonne Brill: she made the satellite revolution possible

    …acecraft propulsion system,” a complicated name for an extremely important invention. Basically, Brill found a way to use a single type of rocket fuel to boost and control spacecraft while in the vacuum of space. In the early 1970s, she solved a problem inherent to spaceflight by combining several different systems into one, allowing spacecraft to be lighter by carrying less fuel. Rocket science for all Fuel weight is a significant problem for a…

    Authored by on April 9, 2013

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