Chemistry

Why DNA might be the future of computing

A thousand different ways have been proposed for how humans and computers will someday become one: chips installed in our heads, people’s minds uploaded to the internet, you name it. But computers might be perfectly content with just our DNA. That’s the argument made by Professor Jian-Jian Shu and his team at Nanyang Technical University…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins May 22

You Are What You Eat Eats

There’s no such thing anymore as just eating a steak. Was it grass fed? Did it have a hobby? Now, thanks to a group of Irish chemists, you’ll never have to worry again about your Porterhouse’s diet. Just your own. Turns out that the proportion of stable isotopes of oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen and sulfur found…

Tech News Brian Barrett May 12

Cut ozone in half using your naked body!

Stop! Don’t throw out those old, discarded skin cells! They may be protecting you from the deadly gas – ozone. Yes, they’re only protecting you to a minute degree, but everyone should take every opportunity to put off dusting. Ozone is a molecule consisting of three oxygen atoms linked together. In the stratosphere, where ninety…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell May 12

The world’s newest mineral is also one of the solar system’s oldest

The most recently discovered mineral is krotite, which was recently discovered in a meteorite fragment. Krotite has never been seen in nature before now, and yet its origins reach right back to the birth of the solar system. The mineral has been artificially created before now as a part of certain forms of high-temperature concrete,…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins May 8

The monster compound that could help purify water

As more bacteria and algae are getting harder to kill, researchers are looking for new ways to eliminate them in water supplies. One idea is to unleash an electron-starved compound that will rip them apart. Bacteria swim around in water like they own the place, subdividing and spreading. When that water is heading somewhere important…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell May 8

Why does pool water turn your hair green? The Statue of Liberty holds the answer.

People believe that it’s the chlorine in a pool that turns hair green. That’s not true. Fair hair turns green in a pool for the same reason the Statue of Liberty turns green: copper. Long summer months in the pool often have an unpleasant side effect on fair-haired people. After a certain number of long…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell May 5

Ancient chemical weapons that were ahead of their time

Even in the early days of humanity, people were lazy. They wanted a way to kill each other without having to go to all the trouble of bashing each other’s heads in with rocks. So they turned to better living (briefly) through chemistry. Find out how wolf crap and chilis won wars. No one knows…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell May 4

Bubble-Wrapped Kids Can Now Play With No-Chemicals Chemistry Sets

What’s a chemistry set without the chemicals? Seemingly, $21.88 worth of plastic tools and test tubes. The set has “60 fun activities with no chemicals,” based on stuff you can grab from kitchen cabinets, though if they’re suggesting kids should try mixing water with milk and a teabag, there are going to be a lot…

Tech News Kat Hannaford Apr 26

Poisonous formaldehyde may have saved all life on Earth billions of years ago

About 4.4 billion years ago, a Mars-sized planet crashed into Earth. This cataclysmic event actually made Earth melt, and the fallout from the collision became the Moon. So how did Earth’s earliest organic molecules hang on during these apocalyptic times? Although this collision happened long before life emerged on our planet, the basic building blocks…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Apr 25

Let Us Count the Ways We Can Explode a Cadbury Creme Egg

To celebrate the Easter holiday, a gaggle of UK chemistry boffins subjected the legendary Cadbury Creme Egg to a handful of experiments in the name of science. SPOILER: many creme eggs were harmed while making this video. [The Atlantic]

Tech News Adrian Covert Apr 22

Fruit flies on meth

Scientists put fruit flies on meth, and observed the chemical results. What they found was a link between meth, sugar, and cancer cells. There are a surprising number of tests in which scientists expose bugs to drugs. Many of those test are, I suspect, the scientists just being jerks – such as when they exposed…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Apr 21

New Self-Healing Polymer Gets the Job Done in 60 Seconds or Less

They may not exist outside laboratories, but self-healing polymers are fantastic. When they rip, they’re normally held under a UV ray for 30 minutes, and they repair themselves. But new research breakthroughs have cut that time down to a minute. https://gizmodo.com/self-healing-polymer-uses-light-to-rebuild-itself-5711255 According to Ars Technica, typical self-healing polymers rely on organic compounds and chemical bonds…

Physics & Chemistry Adrian Covert Apr 20

Giant Babies of the Future (1937)

Many people in the 20th century assumed that the average citizen of the 21st century would be taller. However, a smaller (and for our purposes admittedly more entertaining) contingent assumed that advances in chemistry would breed hilariously super-sized babies. Having tipped the scales at ten pounds and ten ounces when I was born, it may…

Tech News Matt Novak Apr 17

How menthol helps scientists understand chronic pain

You can taste the cool, fresh flavor of mint for the same reason you feel pain. Flavors like mint have long been associated with coolness, no matter what temperature they were served at. This is because mint is a natural source of the compound known as menthol. Synthesized and natural menthol has been added to…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Apr 14

Is the periodic table the law or just a good suggestion?

This week on “Ask a Physicist” we have a doomsday twist. Is it possible to make strange new elements that could ultimately destroy the world or are you destined to be Mendeleev’s bitch? In this week’s column, we find out. Today’s question comes to us from our own Annalee Newitz and Charlie Jane Anders who…

io9 Dr. Dave Goldberg Apr 13

World War II resistance fighters used government-developed stench as a weapon

It was the early 1940s. A war stretched across the globe. Times were desperate, and there was no method people were too proud to use – including a stink bomb. There are plenty of books, shows, and movies about the French resistance movement during World War II. Other countries are quick to point out that…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Apr 13

How scientists can safely put antifreeze in your frozen yogurt

You want your food to be really cold, but not frozen – unfortunately, chemical antifreeze kills people. Find out how biological antifreeze is formed, and how companies are going to use it. Traditional antifreeze can’t go in food products. It’s not that it’s unpalatable. In fact, it’s so sweet that there are products used in…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Apr 12

How the ancient Romans made MSG

Monosodium glutamate is a food additive that enhances flavor. Although it’s frowned upon today, the ancient Romans loved it and ate it with almost every meal. There’s been some debate over what exactly monosodium glutamate does to people. Some people say it gives them severe headaches, numbness, weakness, and even heart palpitations. Scientists could confirm…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Apr 9

The first mind to split the atom could have changed world history

How would World War II have gone if the idea for the atom bomb had come five years earlier? It sounds like alternate history, but almost happened, thanks to Ida Noddack – the German chemist who first described nuclear fission. Otto Hahn was the man who won 1944 Nobel Prize for his discovery of the…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Apr 6

How copper kills flesh-eating bacteria

Recently scientists staged a demonstration in which flesh-eating bacteria died off in droves when placed on a copper surface. Find out why copper engages in bactericide. Hospitals are necessary and efficient institutions meant to gather and train a variety of experts in order to serve any sick person who comes in. They’re also festering pits…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Apr 5

Why DNA might be the future of computing

You Are What You Eat Eats

Cut ozone in half using your naked body!

The world’s newest mineral is also one of the solar system’s oldest

The monster compound that could help purify water

Why does pool water turn your hair green? The Statue of Liberty holds the answer.

Ancient chemical weapons that were ahead of their time

Bubble-Wrapped Kids Can Now Play With No-Chemicals Chemistry Sets

Poisonous formaldehyde may have saved all life on Earth billions of years ago

Let Us Count the Ways We Can Explode a Cadbury Creme Egg

Fruit flies on meth

New Self-Healing Polymer Gets the Job Done in 60 Seconds or Less

Giant Babies of the Future (1937)

How menthol helps scientists understand chronic pain

Is the periodic table the law or just a good suggestion?

World War II resistance fighters used government-developed stench as a weapon

How scientists can safely put antifreeze in your frozen yogurt

How the ancient Romans made MSG

The first mind to split the atom could have changed world history

How copper kills flesh-eating bacteria

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