chemistry

 

Nobel Prize in Quackpottery: Chemistry

Posted 13 October 2012 by GrrlScientist

SUMMARY: The Nobel Prize in Quackpottery honours the surprisingly unscientific ideas of Nobel prizewinning scientists Nobel Prize: chemistry, literature, physics, and physiology or medicine, obverse side. On Wednesday, the last of this year's Nobel Prizes in science were awarded, so this the last of my Nobel Prizes in Quackpottery, too. Like Wednesday's Nobel, this Quackpottery award is for chemistry. If you have just popped in for the first time to read this little series, let me review the prize rules.... Read more

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Book Review: Evolution in a toxic world

Posted 2 October 2012 by GrrlScientist

SUMMARY: The author investigates how from its very beginning, life evolved to deal with all sorts of toxins, a process that continues today, and she predicts what the future may hold Earth is a hostile place -- and that's even before one starts attending school. Even when life first sparked into being, it had to evolve defenses to deal with a number of toxins, such as damaging ultraviolet light, then there were toxic elements ranging from iron to oxygen to... Read more

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Why do old books smell?

Posted 2 May 2012 by GrrlScientist

SUMMARY: That old book smell brings back so many memories, but what creates that smell? Old books.Image: William Hoiles from Basking Ridge, NJ, USA (Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.) Every time I catch a whiff of that special old books smell, I am transported through time and space to the cool welcoming basement of The Strand Bookstore in New York City, where I spent many hot humid summer afternoons, searching for some used book I’ve never seen nor even... Read more

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Even NASA screws up [video]

Posted 24 February 2012 by GrrlScientist

SUMMARY: University of British Columbia Zoology Professor Rosie Redfield talks about “arsenic life” The Mono Lake research area in central California, the source of the so-called “arsenic microbes”.Image: Science@NASA [embiggen]. On 2 December 2010, something remarkable happened. “Arsenic Life Found!” the headlines screamed. “‘Arsenic-bug’ Expands Definition of Life!” Say what? Was this a hoax? If so, then NASA was in on it, too. “The definition of life has just expanded,” said Ed Weiler, NASA’s associate administrator for the Science Mission... Read more

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Disposal of sodium [video]

Posted 16 February 2012 by GrrlScientist

SUMMARY: This is how the US War Assets Administration disposed of 20,000 pounds of metallic sodium in 1947 Here’s something vaguely amusing: a flash from the past captured in this newsreel film from 13 January 1947. This video shows the US War Assets Administration disposing of steel drums filled with 20,000 pounds of pure metallic sodium by dumping them into the alkaline lake, Lake Lenore, in eastern Washington state. The results, as would be expected by those familiar with sodium,... Read more

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The periodic table: a very short introduction [Book Review]

Posted 8 February 2012 by GrrlScientist

SUMMARY: A wonderful retelling of the history and evolution of the periodic table, including the close relationship between chemistry and physics The modern periodic table is basic to the sciences and is so familiar that popular songs have even been written about it. But perhaps surprisingly, even many professional chemists don’t know much about the history of how it was discovered beyond Mendeleev’s contributions. In his newest book, The Periodic Table: A Very Short Introduction [Oxford University Press; 2012: Amazon... Read more

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The 2011 Ron Nyholm Award Winner [video]

Posted 2 February 2012 by GrrlScientist

SUMMARY: Professor Martyn Poliakoff wins the prestigious Ron Nyholm Prize (with a little help from his YouTube viewers) and tells how he almost met the famous chemist for whom the award was named Ron Nyholm was an Australian inorganic chemist. His work mainly focused on preparing transition metal compounds, particularly those with arsenic ligands. He also was a passionate supporter for the improvement of science education. He is best-known in chemistry classrooms for his precise measurements of bond angles in... Read more

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Siphons really do suck

Posted 26 October 2011 by GrrlScientist

SUMMARY: Video proof that siphons do not require atmospheric pressure to suck Like all those wacky people out there who need to fill up all their available free time with extremely time-consuming hobbies, I keep tropical fish. One of the tasks that keep my fish happy and healthy is a regular water change. I do this by removing water from the aquariums using a siphon hose. I was always told that siphons drain liquids from the reservoir to another container... Read more

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Nature’s Building Blocks [Book Review]

Posted 14 September 2011 by GrrlScientist

SUMMARY: My review of a book that is an alphabetical examination of all the elements in the periodic table Because 2011 is the International Year of Chemistry, I have been searching for a book about chemistry that I could recommend to the general public. After learning about or browsing through several such books, I chose what I thought would be the best amongst them. Written by award-winning science writer and former chemistry lecturer, John Emsley, I thought I had found... Read more

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