Crystals And Catalysts

It is everyone’s desire to have beautiful, clear skin but sometimes that’s not always possible. Especially in our teenage years spots start to appear and if you’re really unlucky it turns into acne.  Although acne can take a long time to go away, there are lot of treatments for it available today; and here’s the newest, method of acne treatment & prevention. Pimples form when follicles get blocked by sebum, an oily, waxy substance secreted by sebaceous glands located adjacent to the follicle. Excretion of sebum is a natural process and functions to lubricate and waterproof the skin. Occasionally, however, the openings of the follicles (pores) get blocked, typically by bits of hair, skin, dirt or other debris mixed in with the sebum. Overproduction of sebum is also a problem, which can be caused by hormones or medications. Changes in the skin, such as its thickening during puberty, can also contribute to follicle blockage. Whatever the cause, the accumulating sebum holds ...

Ultraviolet radiation (UVR) is an electromagnetic wave. It comes from the sun and travels to the surface of the Earth. While UVR is vital to human (it provides us with the essential vitamin, vitamin D), but it can also cause harm especially to the eye and skin such as burn, hyperpigmentation, photoaging skin, keratoconjunctivitis, stimulation of photodermatoses and cutaneous cancer. This is why we need different methods of protection from the harmful and potentially damaging sun rays. The types of protection can be split into the two categories: Chemical protection (sunscreen) and Physical protection such as using hats, garments, sunglasses. Umbrellas are also a great method of protection from the sun and one of the ways to protect yourself from UVR due to its convenience, availability as well as its ability to protect one from rain. However, there are only few studies on UVR protection efficacy of different types of umbrellas and no clear conclusions can be drawn...

Biography: Francis Crick born on the 8 th June 1916 in Northampton, United Kingdom, graduated from UCL in 1937. During World War 2 he worked as a scientist for the Admiralty Research Laboratory, working on the design of magnetic and acoustic mines. In 1940 Crick married Ruth Doreen Dodd. Their son, Michael F.C Crick is a scientist. They were divorced in 1947. In 1949 Crick married Odile Speed. They have two daughters, Gabrielle A. Crick and Jacqueline M.T. Crick.  The family lived in a house called the “The Golden Helix” appropriately named by Crick, and it made a good conversation topic with his friends. In 1947 Crick made the transition from physics into biology, which he described as "almost as if one had to be born again." His early studies at Cambridge were supported by a studentship from the Medical Research Council (MRC). In 1949 he joined the MRC Unit headed by Max Perutz, which subsequently became the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology. During th...

Click info-graphic to enlarge Winter is coming to an end and last Friday was officially the first day of spring  (but if you're in England you probably didn't notice a difference; maybe the odd daffodil here and there but the weather is pretty much the same). So with the changes in weather comes cold & flu season, where it seems as if everyone's got a cold, and taking sick-days off school/work.  Two scientists at the University of Helsinki:  Harri Hemilä from Helsinki, Finland and Elizabeth Chalker from Sydney, Australia decided to study whether there are differences in the effect of zinc lozenges on different common-cold symptoms. Harri Hemilä from Helsinki, Finland and Elizabeth Chalker from Sydney, Australia decided to investigate whether there are differences in the effect of zinc lozenges on different common-cold symptoms.  What are Zinc Lozenges? Zinc lozenges contain zinc acetate, when you suck on a zinc lozenge, zinc acetate br...

For this week’s Scientist of the Week segment, I have chosen: Maud Leonora Menten of the Michaelis-Menten equation famous for her core work in biochemistry, taught in college, used daily in biochemistry research and applications. She was amazing and relentlessly pursued her work despite many obstacles. Biography: Maud Menten was born March 20, 1879 in Port Lambton, Ontario, Canada and studied medicine at the University of Toronto (B.A. 1904, M.B. Physiology 1907, M.D. 1911). She was among the first women in Canada to earn a medical doctorate. She completed her thesis work at University of Chicago. Miss Menten was woman who wore “Paris hats, blue dresses with stained-glass hues, and Buster Brown shoes.” She drove a Model T Ford through the University of Pittsburgh area for some 32 years and enjoyed many adventurous and artistic hobbies. She was an extremely motivated and a hard-worker; she continued to work all her life until she was too sick to no longer work...

A new molecule making machine could imitate 3-D printing, making it fast, flexible and accessible to everyone. This machine can assemble small, complex molecules at the click of a mouse. This automated process has the potential to greatly speed up and enable new drug development and other technologies that rely on small molecules. A team of chemists led by Martin D. Burke, at University of Illinois a team led by Martin D. Burke built the machine to imitate 3-D printer at a molecular level. They described the technology in a paper featured on the cover of the March 13 issue of Science. "Small molecules" are a specific class of complex, compact chemical structures found throughout nature. They are very important in medicine -- most medications available now are small molecules -- as well as in biology as probes to uncover the inner workings of cells and tissues. But small molecules are also very difficult to produce in a laboratory, and it takes a highly experienced che...

Artificial leaf technology is constantly expanding. Coming from a silk lab in Tufts University, Julian Melchiorri is a scientist and artist who has introduced an artificial leaf that can undergo photosynthesis. This design was produced with the plan that it could light up the house and produce oxygen simultaneously.   He has made this invention by suspending chloroplasts (the organelles required for photosynthesis) in a body produced from silk protein. The leaf then is able to absorb carbon dioxide from the air and produce oxygen as the product, as long as there is enough water and light to feed it. Julian believes that his artificial leaf is not only light weight, but also extremely energy and light efficient.   The Photosynthesis Equation: 6CO 2  + 6H 2 O + (SUNLIGHT ENERGY) --> C 6 H 12 O 6  + 6O 2 This seems like a great idea but there is something missing from Julian’s design: Sugar. Plants produce oxygen and glu...

This weeks Scientist of the Week #SOTW is Ahmed Zewail, the famous, Egyptian scientist & Nobel laureate, for his amazing research in femtochemistry:  studying chemical reactions across femtoseconds (1 fs= 10 -15  seconds).   Biography: Born on February 26, 1946 in a city not so far from Alexandria, Egypt; Zewail “lived an enjoyable childhood”.  His family’s dream was to see Zewail achieve a high degree abroad and return to Egypt to become a university professor.  Zewail completed his degree in Alexandria University with First Class Honours and it is the same place where he realised his strong passion for science especially the physical sciences.   Zewail then went onto complete his Masters and PhD in Alexandria University where he was employed as a demonstrator (“Moeid”) where he gave lectures to undergraduates.  He then travelled o the United States where he completed his PhD in the University of Pennsylvania with advisor Robin M. Hochs...

How many times have you found yourself recollecting a bad memory? It doesn't even have to be a very bad memory,  it could be a sad moment, a moment which angered you or even an embarrassing moment. B ut it is definitely prominent in your mind. All of these things could have happened years ago and you don't want to remember them but they still come back and haunt you from time to time. But the question is why do we remember these bad memories more than good ones?  Time to think out of the box By Frits Ahlefeldt Bad outweighs the good It turns out that negative memories are more likely to be remembered over positive ones in the brain because negative events pose a chance of "danger".  This makes the body more alert to negative thoughts because they are treated as a lesson to the person to help them prevent harm. Therefore we become extremely focused on the negative thoughts and it becomes much more difficult to recall the positive thoughts/memorie...

Choosing a scientist to begin the first week of Scientist of the Week was difficult but after a lot of thinking and contemplating, I have chosen…………… Marie Curie! The first woman to win a Nobel peace prize. Biography Key Research X-ray work during WW1 Nobel Peace Prizes ___________________________________________________________ Marie Curie, born in Warsaw on 7 November 1867, is a Polish-born physicist and chemist. Curie was the youngest of five children. She studied at Warsaw’s clandestine Floating University and began her scientific training in Warsaw. Later in 1891, Curie’s sister offered her temporary accommodation in Paris and she immediately took up the offer and moved to Paris, France where she started her studies in Sorbonne University where she read physics and mathematics and earned higher degrees and conducted her subsequent scientific work. In 1894 Marie met Pierre Curie in Paris (a scientist working in the city) and they married a year later. Pierre an...