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Author Archives: Sharon Neufeldt
Finding an Alzheimer’s Drug From Scratch
Pharmaceutical companies sometimes get a bad rap, but most people don’t realize just how labor/money-intensive the process of drug discovery is. A recent paper offers a little glimpse at the process
Posted in Brain Stuff, Chemistry
2 Comments
The Chemistry of Sweet
As a new year begins, so do new diet plans. Many diets encourage replacing sugar with artificial sweeteners as a way to cut calories. So what’s really in those pink, blue, and yellow sugar-substitute packets?
Posted in Chemicals Among Us, Chemistry
5 Comments
New Year’s Resolutions for Graduate Students
The most popular New Year’s resolutions aren’t always practical for graduate students. Often we need to set the bar a little lower
Posted in Fun Stuff
2 Comments
Class Action Lawsuit Against Brazilian Blowout
I’m still on Christmas break, with minimal internet availability, but here’s a tidbit of news about Brazilian Blowout. Courthouse News Service reports today that a class action lawsuit was filed against Brazilian Blowout
Posted in Brazilian Blowout, Chemistry
2 Comments
Christmas Chemistry!
Here’s a random assortment of holiday cheer, with just a hint a big dollop of chemistry nerdiness.
Trespassing Viruses Will Be Killed on Contact
It’s the holiday season, which means it’s time to start thinking about the flu!
Posted in Chemistry, Medicine, Viruses
3 Comments
Updates on the Brazilian Blowout Front
(To catch up, see this, this, this, and this earlier post.) Update 1. Yesterday, it was announced that the company behind Brazilian Blowout (GIB) is suing Oregon OSHA
Posted in Brazilian Blowout
4 Comments
Sleepy Bees Waggle Sloppy
For humans, sleep deprivation has a negative impact on performance in many areas, such as motor and communication skills.
Posted in Biology, Brain Stuff, Communication
8 Comments
Highest Impact Factor… Wikipedia?
In college, I remember being told to never cite Wikipedia as a reference when writing up an essay or report. Literally anyone (and their mom) can contribute to Wikipedia, so believing its content is an exercise of faith in collective … Continue reading
Posted in Communication
4 Comments
Update: ACC’s Position on Formaldehyde
The American Chemistry Council (ACC) has issued a statement about the formaldehyde/methylene glycol “controversy”. You can read a summary of the statement here, and the full statement here. Here’s a couple of key quotes:
Posted in Brazilian Blowout, Chemistry, Current Events
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I Can Has Science Hair Straightener?
My apologies, I really do not want to turn this into a Brazilian Blowout Blog. However, I am super swamped this week and am writing on borrowed time, and Brazilian Blowout keeps falling into my lap. The last week and … Continue reading
Posted in Brazilian Blowout, Chemistry, Current Events
2 Comments
Really, We’re Doing This Again?
More drama on the Brazilian Blowout front. (For a recap from last time, see here.) For whatever reason, a BB spokesperson emailed me again this weekend with another press release,
Posted in Brazilian Blowout, Chemistry, Chemistry Basics, Current Events
7 Comments
Alien Life and the Periodic Table
A “new” life form was documented in a Science article released yesterday. OK, so it’s not exactly alien life: it was found in California (Earth) and, technically, its unusual characteristics are kind of due to human interference. Regardless, these little … Continue reading
Posted in Bacteria, Chemistry, Chemistry Basics
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Brazilian Blowout and Formaldehyde
Having no reason to do my hair since I’m in lab all day Having naturally straight hair, I don’t usually pay attention to trendy methods of hair-straightening. Until yesterday, that is, when a colleague pointed out a Fashionista article to … Continue reading
Posted in Brazilian Blowout, Chemistry, Chemistry Basics, Current Events
23 Comments
Bisphenol A Ban in Europe
While those of us in the US were busy stuffing ourselves with turkey on Thursday, the European Commission was hard at work making a decision about a proposed ban on the chemical bisphenol A (BPA).
Posted in Chemicals Among Us, Current Events
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Women. Science. 1880.
Whew! A gem of an article was published in Science magazine… in October 1880 that is. I stand by my previous assertion – reading some of the least current scientific papers available provides an entertaining and enlightening break from the … Continue reading
Posted in Old Chemistry, Women in Science
3 Comments
The Machinery of Retroviruses Part 3: Caught in the Act
Retroviruses such as HIV work by integrating their genetic code into the DNA of a (see part 1).
The Machinery of Retroviruses Part 2: Using X-Rays to Solve Scientific Problems
(Part 1 here) X-ray crystallography is used by the authors of a recent Nature paper to visualize the structure of certain key molecules relevant to retroviruses. Though we usually think of X-rays as just a way of looking at our … Continue reading
Posted in Chemistry, Chemistry Basics, Materials, Viruses
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The Machinery of Retroviruses Part 1: What is a Retrovirus?
Retroviruses such as HIV are in some ways still a black box to scientists. The specific details of their mechanism of action are slowly being elucidated, but much is yet unclear. However, an article was published in Nature this past … Continue reading
Posted in Chemistry Basics, Viruses
1 Comment
