-
Recent Posts
Recent Comments
Archives
Categories
- Amateur Research
- Bacteria
- Biology
- Brain Stuff
- Brazilian Blowout
- Chemicals Among Us
- Chemistry
- Chemistry Basics
- Communication
- Current Events
- Education
- Environment
- Fun Stuff
- Genetics
- Happiness
- Materials
- Medicine
- Old Chemistry
- People
- Physiology
- Psychology Stuff
- Running Etc.
- Uncategorized
- Viruses
- Women in Science
Blogroll
- Beatrice the Biologist
- Carbon Based Curiosities
- CENtral Science
- Chembark
- Chemists Corner
- Chemjobber
- Cute Overload
- Ever on and on (biochembelle)
- In The Pipeline
- Neurotic Physiology
- Not a Blog : )
- Not Exactly Rocket Science
- Org Prep Daily
- Radiolab
- ScienceGeist
- The Bunsen Boerner
- The Great Beyond
- The Sceptical Chymist
- True Confessions of a Medical Scholar
Category Archives: Chemistry Basics
Favorite Reaction – SN2
My all-time favorite chemical reaction has to be the SN2. This may sound like a cop-out answer to Rachel Pepling’s question, since the SN2 is arguably the second* simplest organic reaction ever, almost more a mechanistic step than a reaction … Continue reading
Posted in Chemistry, Chemistry Basics
1 Comment
A Deuterated Mouse: Isotopes and Phys. Org.
What would happen, hypothetically, if a baby mouse could grow up eating only deuterated food and water? Could you make an unusually heavy mouse?
Posted in Chemistry, Chemistry Basics, Fun Stuff
19 Comments
Sour Patch Kids are Full of Protons
Take a look at the ingredient list on the back of a Sour Patch Kids bag the next time you go to the movie theater, and you probably won’t be surprised to discover that this gummy candy contains a lot … Continue reading
Posted in Chemistry, Chemistry Basics, Fun Stuff
5 Comments
A Lexicon of Chemistry Terms to Review Before Attending Your Kid’s Thesis Defense
Hypothetically, let’s say that (1) I graduate someday and (2) my parents come out for my thesis defense. Since I am, in fact, not curing cancer, I fear that my defense will be a snoozer for any non-chemists such as … Continue reading
Posted in Chemistry, Chemistry Basics
2 Comments
A Proposed Modification to the English Language
A Question I begin this post with a serious question, particularly for non-chemists. If I say the following to you, does it make sense? I would love to be done with my taxes by now, but there’s such a high … Continue reading
Posted in Chemistry, Chemistry Basics, Fun Stuff
12 Comments
Animals and Aminals (and two kinds of metathesis)
Unless Even if you’ve been living under a rock, you know what an animal is. But do you know what an aminal is? Well, it’s two things: (1) A metathesis of the word “animal” (2) A chemistry term for a … Continue reading
Posted in Chemistry, Chemistry Basics, Fun Stuff
2 Comments
Reliable Information is Written Respectfully
This is part 3 of a 3ish part series on navigating the language of chemicals. Read an introduction, part 1, part 2, and part 2.5 if you wish. When researching the chemicals in a product, the curious consumer will most … Continue reading
Posted in Chemistry, Chemistry Basics, Communication
3 Comments
In Defense of Aldehydes
Consider this an unscheduled footnote to part 2 of the ongoing 3 part series on navigating the language of chemicals. Read an introduction, Part 1, and Part 2 if you wish; Part 3 should appear on Monday. While reading about … Continue reading
Posted in Chemistry, Chemistry Basics, Communication
6 Comments
Myths, Hyperboles, and Buzzwords about Chemicals
This is part 2 of a 3 ± 1 part series on navigating the language of chemicals. Read an introduction and part 1 if you wish. Efforts to make sense of the health and safety information for any given product … Continue reading
Posted in Chemistry, Chemistry Basics, Communication
20 Comments
What Is – And What Isn’t – A Chemical
This is Part 1 of a 3 ± 2 part series on navigating the language of chemicals. Please see this earlier post for an introduction. If you try to look up the ingredients in Suave shampoo – Google search Suave … Continue reading
Posted in Chemistry, Chemistry Basics
17 Comments
Navigating the Language of Chemicals (Introduction)
A simple Google search for a product or service usually unleashes a flood of sources both denouncing and celebrating it. The chatter accompanying food, health, or beauty products/procedures is often intimately tied to the science of chemistry. Unfortunately, most consumers … Continue reading
Posted in Brazilian Blowout, Chemistry Basics
13 Comments
Through the Looking Glass
Someday in the distant future, I hope to be able to explain my own research project to my parents without making up lies about how I’m curing cancer. Perhaps if they understand my chemistry a bit, they won’t feel the … Continue reading
Posted in Chemistry, Chemistry Basics
18 Comments
Organic Chemistry Lessons, Courtesy of Hippo et al.
Animal secretions (gross) often contain molecules that perform clever functions. Here are a few examples, accompanied by morsels of chemistry facts.
Posted in Biology, Chemistry, Chemistry Basics
Comments Off on Organic Chemistry Lessons, Courtesy of Hippo et al.
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
Comments Off on Alien Life and the Periodic Table
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
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
Comments Off on The Machinery of Retroviruses Part 2: Using X-Rays to Solve Scientific Problems
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
Just Enough to be Dangerous
As part of my endeavor to figure out how to explain what I do to non-chemists without resorting to lies and vague generalities, I sat down and thought about atoms and molecules. Though it was a big conceptual jump when … Continue reading
Posted in Chemistry, Chemistry Basics
2 Comments
