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#ChemMovieCarnival: Testing Breaking Bad

I can’t believe that no one else has grabbed Breaking Bad for the Chemmoviecarnival. In case you don’t know its a show about a high school chemistry teacher, called Walt Whiteman, who turns his [...]

“Get a job, Ken!”

It has been several months since my last post, but I have (what I think is) a reasonable excuse: I’ve been trying to get a job. The demanding mantra endlessly looping in my brain for [...]

Chemical Nostalgia: My grandfather’s (lethal) legacy

Chembark and Seearroh have been indulging themselves in a bit of chemical nostalgia and so I thought I’d pitch in. My story doesn’t revolve around a conference or lab experiences, but instead its a tale [...]

Why You Shouldn’t Cook Asparagus in Lemon Juice

At the ACS conference in New Orleans Shirley O. Corriher and Sally Mitchell talked about using food and cooking as ways to teach students about chemistry in a more engaging and compelling way. Some examples [...]

Polymerase chain reactions, so good they invented it twice.

I’ve recently been preparing some new courses which have given me the opportunity to browse through the literature from the dawn of molecular biology. And in the process I came across a 43 year old paper entitled [...]

Blood curdles if you don’t stir it

Trityl group on sulfur is unstable to LiAlH4 reduction. It falls off as triphenylmethyl anion – that’s where the gorgeous red color is coming from. (Unlike trityl cation, which is canary yellow). I did not know about this S-trityl instability – my Greene book (3rd edition) for example mentions only the electrochemical reduction at highly [...]

[Guest Post] Coal, Crude Oil, and Fine Wine

The following is a guest post from Matthew Goyette an associate with Timpview Analytical Labs. He is passionate about innovative approaches to clean energy production and an aspiring science geek. What most people know about coal is that [...]

Moore's Law for batteries: No dice

The REVAi/G-Wiz i electric car charging at an on-street station in London (Image: Wikipedia Commons) Ever since Gordon Moore came up with the ubiquitous law bearing his name, it has been applied to paradigms far beyond those which it was intended for. Show More Summary

Chocolate Sniffing White Blood Cells

At the ACS conference in New Orleans today Peter Schieberle gave a report of his research in odor and aroma chemistry. In one of his experiments he placed white blood cells (WBCs) in one part [...]

Is ‘Chemical-Free’ Nonsense?

Back in 2008 the UK’s Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) ruled that an advertisement for an organic fertilizer  claiming to be “100% chemical free” was not misleading because: “When there is a colloquial understanding of a word, [.....

It curdles if you don’t stir it

Friday levity: 'Nature' discusses ghosts.

One of the pleasures of thumbing through old issues of science journals is the opportunity to accidentally discover articles or letters that make you do double takes, often followed by face palms. As I was about to read a letter in Nature...Show More Summary

Highlighting sexy scientists and their sexy research: Damaging or justified?

Adam Ruben has a very entertaining as well as thought-provoking post on Science Careers in which he explores the "sexiness" of scientists and their research. Ruben's motivation is an article published by Business Insider showcasing a list of the "50 Sexiest Scientists". Show More Summary

Chemical compounds from mouthwash may target cancer cells

Apoptosis or programmed cell death is one of the great truths of cellular life, an essential process that’s not only required to make way for new cells but to prevent old cells from going haywire. When cells circumvent this great truth they start dividing uncontrollably and contribute to cancer. Show More Summary

Say it with Molecules

Anyone fancy some quality, tasteful geeky  jewellery? I don’t think you could do much better than this. Its accurate, sterling silver and subtly nerdy, which means I might just about be able to get away with buying some [...]

Shades of Gray, The Curious History of LCDs

Today is the 40th anniversary of an innovation in chemistry that has had, arguably, a greater impact on our society than any of the Chemistry Nobel Prize winning achievements in the past 40 year. But the [...]

WWWTP – Chemistry Teacher Recruiters

This advert just popped up whilst I was reading something on the Guardian science pages. I clicked on it and it took me to the UK’s Department of Education who, in conjunction with the Royal Society of [...]

When is a thank you just not enough?

I bet there is an interesting back story to this little episode. In January a neat communication appeared in JACS  describing “Small-Molecule Inducer of Beta Cell Proliferation Identified by High-Throughput Screening“. Basically the authors have induced the growth [...]

Solomon Snyder on academic publishing: ask for adequate, not exhaustive, documentation

Image: Corpus Callosum Renowned neuropharmacologist Solomon Snyder has a thought-provoking take on what seems to be one of the two evils that has plagued modern academia: publication (the other one is the job market). I have previously...Show More Summary

First they came for the bloggers and I didn't speak up because...

Here's a breath of fresh air. I keep on thinking about Boltzmann's quote about scientific revolutions not occurring until old generations die and new ones take their place and here's something of that sort happening, even if in a minor way. Prof. Show More Summary