Posts Tagged: ‘chemistry’

The periodic table is an invaluable tool for scientists across the planet — but how does it work? In this episode, Allison and Robert explore the creation of the periodic table. Tune in to learn more about the history and structure of the periodic table.

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In the following video, you see how to make the world’s largest glow stick – a 2-liter model: That video is a little sparse on the chemicals used, so they have this video detailing the chemicals: From the description to that video: The exact proportions are: 15mL of ethyl acetate or diethyl phthalate 3mg of [...]

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I love the smell of old books. It’s just one of the reasons they’ll have to drag me kicking and screaming into the world of Kindles, Nooks and BeBooks. So it’s rather amusing that while the forces of technology and science seem intent on carrying out a kind of print holocaust, some scientists are hard at work creating new ways to smell books.

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Granted, I’m not actually the kind of guy to ever wind up in a bar fight. But if I WERE to find myself fighting for my life in an East Texas roadhouse, which bottle should I choose to smash over the head of my attacker? An empty or an unopened brew? Leave it to science to nail down an answer for us.

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As my fellow science blogger and periodic table enthusiast Allison Loudermilk is out on maternity leave, I’ll have to be the one to blog about the latest development in the bagging and tagging of elements. We have a new one, folks — a super heavy, man-made metal with the temporary title of 112 or “ununbium,” which is Latin for 1-1-2.

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OK, so maybe not — but when I read that scientists at Tokyo’s Waseda University have created a mindless automation out of a polymer-based “color-changing, motile gel,” forgive me if I grab an H.P. Lovecraft anthology and start flipping through some of my favorite tales for talk of blasphemous, amorphous horrors.

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There’s nothing better than waking up to the unmistakable aroma of frying bacon. Even some vegetarians I know admit that the smell is pretty darn tempting — the same ones that are revolted by a whiff of a steak on the grill. In the United States you can choose from all kinds of bacon — center cut, low-sodium, extra thick, maple flavored, etc. You can go for turkey bacon if that’s your bag (which doesn’t really count) or even buy it pre-cooked. We also have Canadian bacon, a.k.a. ham. I’ve mentioned this on the Stuff You Should Know podcast and gotten feedback from our friends from the Great White North explaining that they call “American” bacon “back bacon,” “peameal bacon” or just plain old bacon.

It’s great for breakfast or for lunchtime on a BLT (bacon, lettuce, tomato) sandwich. In California you’ll want to add avocado if you want to fit in.

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It’s easy to look back on the follies of the past and turn up our noses. We would have known that bloodletting was a bad idea. We would have known that phrenology was a crock. One only need glance over the numerous instances of medical quackery throughout history to get that feeling of superiority that inevitably comes with hindsight. And more than anything else, alchemy stands as the ultimate example of wrongheaded scientific theories that we now consider laughable.

But, some experts have stopped laughing. According to Stephen Heuser’s piece from Boston.com yesterday, the academic world is starting to reconsider alchemy in a more respectful light. No, these experts don’t think, as the alchemists did, that we can turn base metals into precious metals. They merely want to give credit where it’s due. They want to restore alchemy as having an important role in the history of science.

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If you have a hairy belly, then you’re familiar with the fun of belly button fluff. Most people probably think that this lint is just tiny bits of cotton collected in the navel from the clothes they wear. Well, that’s partially true. But an article last week in the London Telegraph reveals that belly button fluff is a little more complicated than that.

A chemist spent three years studying his own navel fluff as well as talking to other people about their own. He found that while it’s largely cotton lint, it also contains fat, sweat, dust and dead skin. The small hairs around the navel curve inward and act like tiny hooks, pulling in the funky concoction to lay at rest in the belly of your belly. How’s that for some Monday water cooler talk?

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