Chemistry

Sulfur, Sodium- A Mysterious Salt Combination Preserved The Dead Sea Scrolls For Millennia

First discovered in 1947 by Bedouin shepherds looking for a lost sheep, the ancient Hebrew texts now known as the Dead Sea Scrolls are some of the most well-preserved ancient written materials ever found. And among the roughly 900 full or partial scrolls ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 7 2019 - 9:23am

Sticks And Stones May Break Your Bones But This Carbene/Carbocation Reaction Edits Molecular Skeletons

After Friedrich Wohler accidentally synthesized urea in 1828, chemical synthesis- and organic synthesis for that- has been a driving force in pharmaceutical innovation. We live longer and better than ever and we can thank the continuous advancement of synt ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 17 2019 - 4:00am

Decapod Exoskeleton: Calcium Nucleating In The Cuticle

Cuticular structure in a Late Maastrichtian crab, Costacopluma mexicana, from deposits near the town of from near Paredón, Ramos Arizpe in what is now southern Coahuila (formerly Coahuila de Zaragoza), north-eastern Mexico. We see this same species in the ...

Article - Heidi Henderson - Sep 17 2019 - 5:00pm

Teabags Release Nano Particles Into Tea. Should You Be Worried?

A new study worries that teabags containing plastic come with a dose of micro- and nano-sized plastics. ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 25 2019 - 9:36am

The Characteristics Of Award-Winning Wine: Lots Of Sugar And Alcohol

Award winning wines tend to have high ethanol and sugar levels. according to a recent paper in the Journal of Wine Research that sought to know what characteristics were prevalent in the wines that won the top awards at an international wine competition. ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 27 2019 - 12:36pm

The Chemicals In Placebos Matter Too

Placebo controls are a gold standard against which new treatments are often measured. If a new treatment consistently proves to be better than a placebo and safe, it can be marketed, sold and prescribed. Otherwise, it can’t – or at least shouldn’t. The pr ...

Article - The Conversation - Oct 1 2019 - 11:18am

Here Are The Chemicals The Organic Industry Exempts For Organic Food In 2019

The organic food industry, even large players like Whole Foods, created a disturbing trend; lying to customers about whether or not organic food uses pesticides or chemicals. In reality, organic food is covered in pesticides. If they were not, instead of o ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Oct 2 2019 - 11:18am

Thanksgiving Chemophobia- If Toxins Scare You, Stop Eating

While driving to my doctor's office to get some persistent Toxicodendron diversilobum (that's poison oak) looked at, I listened to NPR. Just as you would expect of me, my radio stations will all have buttons for NPR, country music, whatever stati ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Oct 5 2019 - 10:17am

DFDT: Nazi Cousin Of DDT Has Been 'Rediscovered' But Will People Want It?

Scientists have written a paper talking about how they "rediscovered" a pesticide that had never really been forgotten but had been ignored because it was created during the Nazi regime and really expensive; DFDT, a chemical relative of DDT. Germ ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Oct 17 2019 - 5:49pm

The Science Of Beer Foam

I'm not much of a drinker, never have been. I have always assumed it was because I did competitive athletics until I was about 25, which means I was outside the age where you 'learn' to like the taste of alcohol, so I never picked it up. Old ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Oct 22 2019 - 10:54pm