Chemistry
Los Desaparecidos: Tracing Argentina’s Missing and Their Children Using DNA Analysis
Operation Condor was a violent and widespread right-wing initiated campaign to suppress political oppression throughout South America, during which the “Dirty War” of Argentina occurred. Members of the Batallón de Inteligencia 601, a special intelligence division of the Argentine Army that existed between 1973-2000 infiltrated and gathered data on groups that were to be oppressed; [...]
The Musician’s Steroid: The Controversy Surrounding Beta Blockers
Imagine sitting in a concert hall listening to the melodious strains of a Brahms symphony. It only takes a single wrong note for the entire performance to quickly turn sour. The very fragility of performances places an incredible amount of pressure on musicians to constantly perform at their absolute best, and this pressure often causes [...]
The Journey Towards Creating an Environment-Friendly Textile Fiber
Recently, I wrote an article for The Triple Helix Online, titled, “From Milk to Qmilch: Creating an Environment Friendly Textile Fiber”. This article was about Qmilch, a fiber spun from the milk protein, casein, which can be used to create articles of clothing that have the consistency of silk. Qmilch is both untreated by chemicals [...]
Review: The Disappearing Spoon
In The Disappearing Spoon, Sam Kean writes, “there’s a funny, or odd, or chilling tale attached to every element on the periodic table”. As Kean presents story after story it becomes clear that this is an understatement. There are, in fact, several stories for each element and Kean seems determined to share them all. Vanadium, [...]
Carcinogens: Case Studies of FDA Foul-Ups
Most Americans consider the FDA an infallible guiding force for consumption-related information and decisions. Yet a closer examination of its “approved” lists may reveal the FDA’s dated and inaccurate notions of certain substances, especially known carcinogens, that are still found in everyday consumer goods like soft drinks, coffee, bread, and bottled water. Unfortunately, the FDA’s [...]
From Milk to QMilch: Creating an Environment Friendly Textile Fiber
Anke Domaske, the great granddaughter of a seamstress in East Germany, began to draw, sew, and design dresses as a child. At the age of 19, she opened her own fashion label, Mademoiselle Chichi, and a few years later, prominent celebrities like Mischa Barton and Ashlee Simpson were seen wearing her clothes.1 But that doesn’t [...]
Leaf it to Me: Biomimicry and the Artificial Leaf
The concept of environmentalism is almost inevitably coupled to sacrifice and responsibility. In order to reduce our disruption of nature, we are provided with lists upon lists of things we should not do. We should not take long showers. We should not forget to turn the lights off before we leave a room. It’s as [...]
Bacterial Hydrogen: What Does it Mean for Future Medicine?
By Jessica Kowalik, George Washington University From deep-sea hydrothermal vents to our own gastrointestinal biomes, bacteria that convert hydrogen to energy are a crucial and fascinating component of microbial ecosystems. Their hydrogen consumption may hold the key to explaining why certain animals are able to flourish several kilometers beneath the sea and how human pathogens [...]
Chemzymes, Challenging Nature: How Artificial Enzymes Are Becoming Nature’s Counterparts
Enzymes were discovered as early as the nineteenth century, [15] when Eduard Buchner extracted the enzyme responsible for the fermentation of sugars from yeast into alcohol. Besides earning him the Nobel Prize, Buchner’s work began the process of elucidating the diverse functions of enzymes, thousands of which have since been identified [12]. They allow us [...]
Lurking Dangers in Everyday Goods
The chemicals known as perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) belong to a class of chemicals known as perfluorinated chemicals. From recent studies it has been seen that the concentration of these chemicals has been increasing in both our water supplies and our blood serum. Studies in the University of Exeter, United Kingdom, indicate that [...]
NASA’s Life changing Arsenic Organism?
NASA held a press conference on December 2, 2010, about their discovery of a bacterium researchers claimed was able to use arsenic, instead of phosphorous, as part of its DNA backbone. This press conference was extremely well advertised and promised the existence of something extraterrestrial. But the organism in question, GFAJ-1, is far from extraterrestrial [...]
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