Cassia fistula belonging to Leguminosae family, is widely used for its medicinal properties, its main property being that of a mild laxative suitable for children and pregnant women. It is also a purgative due to the wax aloin and a tonic (Satyavati and Sharma, 1989) and has been reported to treat many other intestinal disorders like healing ulcers (Biswas et al., 1973; Kirtikar and Basu, 1975). The plant has a high therapeutic value and it exerts an antipyretic and analgesic effect (Patel et al., 1965). Besides, it has been found to exhibit antinflammatory and hypoglycaemic activity (Datta and Kumar, 1985).

Elasmosaurs loved their gastroliths – round, polished stomach stones – have been found amid their bones. These stones would have been swallowed to help grind down their catch and lower their natural buoyancy. Surprisingly elasmosaurs displayed a remarkable discernment in their selection of pebbles. The Puntledge elasmosaur from Courtenay, British Columbia, for example, had a yen extrusive volcanic rock. When the fossilized skeleton was excavated, every last one of the stones in its abdominal cavity were basalt.

As soon as you start studying fisheries science, you hear about the importance of getting fishermen and scientists to talk to each other. It's a truism once you think about it--fishermen know a lot about fishing, and scientists know a lot about science. Put them together and you get fisheries science. But it's useful to confirm that this principle works for, say, squid: 

What do you get if you mix a jellysifh (Peytoia), a sponge (Laggania), a crustacean tail, a crustacean abdomen (Tuzoia) and some Sidneyia tails?







The answer is Anomalocaris, a very unusual fossil from the famous Burgess shale.

There is always a degree of sadness in reading the obituary of a great scientist.  Today, following up Bombardier Beetles, I came across this one:

Thomas Eisner dies at 81; entomologist who studied insect chemistry
 

ABSTRACT
A simple and accurate RP-HPLC method has been developed for the simultaneous estimation of Hydrochlorothiazide, Amlodipine besylate and Valsartan by using C18 column 150 x 4.6 mm,
5μm with a simple gradient elution(0-4min, sol-A:80-55; 4-8min- sol-A:55-40; 8-11min- sol-A:40-30; 11-13min- sol-A:30-80 and 13-16min- sol-A:80-80). Mobile phase comprising of sol-
A (pH 3.00±0.05 of 0.01M Potassium dihydrogen phosphate) and sol-B (Acetonitrile). Flow rate was 1.00 ml per min and the detection was monitored out by UV detector at 237nm. The
retention times for Hydrochlorothiazide, Amlodipine besylate and Valsartan were found 4.5, 6.0 and 10.6 minutes. The proposed method has permitted the quantification of Hydrochlorothiazide,

ABSTRACT
High resolution RP-HPLC method has been developed for the simultaneous estimation of Psuedoephedrine, Fexofenadine and Loratadine in pharmaceutical products. Separation was achieved
by using C18, 150 x 4.6 mm, 5μm column at a temperature of 350C with a gradient mobile phase composed of sol-A: 0.01M pH 3.0 phosphate (KH2PO4) buffer, sol-B: Acetonitrile and gradient
program was 0-5min, sol-A: 80-60; 5-10min- sol-A: 60-20; 10-15min- sol-A: 20-20; 15-17min- sol-A: 20-80 and 17-20min- sol-A: 80-80. Flow rate was 0.60 ml per min and measured the
absorbance at 210nm. The retention time of Psuedoephedrine, Fexofenadine and Loratadine are 4.3min, 10.4min and 17.0min, respectively. The linearity of the proposed method was evaluated