Author Archives: sciencegeist

… The more things change, the more they stay the same. I’m currently reading The Secrets of Alchemy by Lawrence Principe. It’s a really enjoyable book, and I’ve learned so many things from it. I hope to share some of my favorites. But, I’ve just read a bit of Principe’s research in the book that seems poignant for my profession (chemistry) in these times. (In any book, there is always some bit: character, place, situation, or story that seems very relevant to some part of your life … and this book is no different). On communication issues: Let no man trouble to explore this art If he can’t understand the aims and jargon Of alchemists – and if he does, then He is a pretty foolish sort of man Because this art and science is, said he, Indeed a mystery in a mystery And so I conclude: since God in … Continue reading →

“If it bleeds, we can kill it” – Major Dutch Schaefer (This post is an entry in See Arr Oh‘s Chemistry at the Movies Blog Carnival) When Dutch and his band of military mercenaries went stalking the Predator in the jungles of South America, they had no idea what they were going up against. Bio-adaptive camouflage. Laser-based weaponry. Infrared vision. These guys were screwed. Not even Apollo Creed or Jesse “The Body” Ventura had any hope of surviving! So, yeah. This alien is pretty bad-ass. But probably my favorite anatomical feature (ahem) of this thing is its blood. The Predator has this really cool luminescent blood. Being that I’m a nerd (check), that I really enjoy sci-fi (check … really, people, I’m just a statistic), and that I’m a bioinorganic chemist (that means that I study metals in biology, and, specifically, that I study metals in proteins, and, more specifically, … Continue reading →

Someone asked about tryptophan and sleepiness earlier … So I am adding some of the slides from my Chemistry of Cooking Thanksgiving lecture. This is certainly not the final or complete word on the subject, but I thought people might enjoy it anyway. Here are the slides Cheers

Thanks to the CENtral Science blogging crew for putting this together! Rachel has been aggregating the incoming links. Go and have a read. Some great stuff here! Thanksgiving is meant to be a time of gratitude. It is a day set aside to remember all that we have been blessed with and all that we are grateful for. Thanksgiving is a time to celebrate the season’s harvests, a time to recall the first harvest of the original European settlers to America. Well, that’s what Thanksgiving is supposed to be. What Thanksgiving is, however, is something entirely different. It is a day when we pretend to care about the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys. It is a day when we remember just how much we dislike our relatives’ politics. It is a day when you drink one too many high balls and your grandfather starts making boilermakers with Canadian Club and … Continue reading →

See Arr Oh is hosting a ChemCoach blogging carnival over at his site. The hope is that someone, somewhere will find some useful helps and hints as they are pushing for their degrees in chemistry. So … Here goes … Your Current Job I am an assistant professor of chemistry at American University. No, really, I am. They actually gave me my own lab and let me teach this stuff. I have proof. Here and here. What do you do in a standard work day? I think, one of the recurring themes from this blogging carnival is that there is no standard work day. Recently I’ve been devoting 95% of my waking hours to two grants that I am writing. But, I also teach. (Normally, it’s two classes a semester. But, I have this semester off for a research release!) I have undergraduates who work with me in lab. I … Continue reading →

Today the Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded to Robert Lefkowitz and Brian Kobilka for their work on G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs). GPCRs, for those of you who are new to this topic, are proteins that straddle cell membranes. In some sense, they are one conduit for transferring information from outside of the cell to the inside of the cell. Functionally, when a GPCR interacts with other, very specific, molecules that are outside of the cell, the GPCR reconfigures itself, or at least the portion of the GPCR that is inside of the cell. This changing of shape sets off a cascade of other events within the cell. Thus, the GPCR is capable of reporting to a cell that there are certain molecules lurking outside of its doors. Obviously, this protein function has many implications for advancing technology as well as our basic understanding of how Life works. One of … Continue reading →

In the most current issue of C&E News, Linda Wang has a really important article on the divide between skills gained in graduate education and desired those desired by chemical industries. I suggest that you all read it. Modifying our educational process to better serve our students’ futures is a vital topic for all chemists to undertake. CJ has done a nice job of covering the article and moderating a truly terrific discussion of it on his site. As he continues to do, Chemjobber is THE place to go for discussions on how academia can better students for industry and how industry might better facilitate this process. (See posts here and here and here). I wanted to add my take as well. Below is the comment that I made on Ms. Wang’s post. I also expect to write a shorter version of this as a letter to the editor. Linda, … Continue reading →

Hi all, Just wanted to wrap up some loose ends from the weekend. We’ve had a couple of links trickle in over the past few days, and I wanted to make sure that they got shared (and bookmarked) here. Also, a special congratulations is in order to Dr. Rubidium. Her terrific post on succinylcholine was the featured post over at gizmodo for part of the weekend. I’m extremely proud of her and feel very fortunate that her post was a part of this carnival! I am planning on writing up my thoughts on the blog carnival tomorrow. Here are the links that have come in: 1) Neurodynamics Leigh shared a fantastic post that was written in 2010 describing toxic potency and therapeutic index. It is a very instructive piece that can help a lot of newcomers better understand how toxic effects are measured. 2) Evolving Health There has been a … Continue reading →

Have you had enough?! No … Well I haven’t either. We’ve got some more fantastic posts today. Enjoy! As usual, I’ll aggregate them here through the day. I’m also planning a little recap for earlier next week. Thanks again to all who have posted and shared and tweeted and read and commented. I think that we’ve all had a bunch of fun with this. 1) The Poison Garden John kicked off the day on his blog “The Poison Garden”, the perfect venue for a #ToxicCarnival if I have ever seen one! His post very nicely lists and describes the poisons that come from some of our most infamous poisonous plants: cocaine from Erythroxylum coca, coniine from Conium maculatum (poison hemlock), atropine from Atropa belladonna (deadly nightshade), and hyoscyamine from Hyoscyamus niger (black henbane). 2) Chemistry World Blog The crew at the Chemistry World Blog are back for more CO fun … Continue reading →

Sorry that I didn’t update this yesterday. I was busy at NIST doing sciencey stuff. It was very productive, actually. I certainly wouldn’t have been as productive sitting at my desk with all of the fabulous #ToxicCarival posts from yesterday. Here they are: 1) The Organic Solution Jess confirmed the idea that our favorite toxic molecules likely contain fluorine! She starts off with a description of the history and toxicity of F2 and then moves into the wonderful world of organo-fluorine molecules. 2) Chemistry Blog Azmanam takes us on a tour of the history of nitroglycerine. This is a much better way to get up close and personal with the molecule than driving a dump truck through a nitroglycerine plant. My favorite line from the post was: “Yeah, with enough soap, one could blow up just about anything, if one were so inclined”. Go and check it out! 3) Scientifics … Continue reading →