Crystals And Catalysts

This week, I have another guest on my blog, my friend Abdul who also studied BSc Medicinal Chemistry with me. Abdul graduated from University College London in 2018 with a PhD in Chemistry, before deciding to pursue his artistic passions and turning towards photography and broadcasting. In this blog post, he will be telling us about his experience in presenting Virtually Reality - a showcase by DoDo Lemons.  Enjoy! ~~~~~~ When we try to communicate complex scientific material to the world, we often get fixated on trying to insert every key term or attempt to be fun and engaging, which can make us lose our vision or the scientific message. So today, I’d like to talk about science communication through a different medium. I was lucky enough to be part of an interesting, quirky show exploring concepts of perception and its relation to mental health, such as psychosis. As part of the DoDo Lemons group , an artistic collective, I was asked to host the “ Virtually Reali...

We all know how to make a cup of tea - right? Wrong! I’m talking about the ongoing debate on how to make a cup of tea — the right way. Do you pour tea into milk instead of pouring milk into your tea? Well according to science, there’s a right way to make a cup of tea which ensures it maintains its flavour and texture. It takes into account the various properties that go into making a cup of tea; whether you use tea bags or loose leaf tea, the chemicals that make up tea, milk and water, how much fat there is in your milk, and even the temperature of your water. With that being said, the scientifically preferred method of making a cup of tea is milk first then tea — if you've already brewed the tea in a teapot — which allows the milk to warm evenly and preserve the taste. Pouring milk into hot tea causes the milk to heat unevenly which causes the proteins in it to denature, meaning they lose their structure and “clump”. But if you're making a cup of tea in a mug: hot water/...

This is the Arabic translation of the blog post: Nootropics aka Smart Drugs - Do they really work هل سمعت عن منشطات الذهن قبل قراءة هذه المدونة؟ أو "العقاقير الذكية" أو "معززات الدماغ" كما يطلق عليها؟ هذه الأدوية التي تدعي أنها من المفترض أن تحولك إلى عبقري و "تحسن من قدراتك الإدراكية" وتستهدف كل شخص يشعر بأنه يريد تعزيز قدرات عقولهم خاصة عند الدراسة أو في العمل.

Previously titled: NOOTROPICS, AKA "SMART DRUGS" - DO THEY REALLY WORK? Have you heard of nootropics before reading this blog post?  Or "Smart Drugs" or "Brain Enhancers" as they're called? These are drugs that claim that they supposedly turn you into a genius and "improve your cognitive abilities" and have been targeted towards everyone who feels that they want to boost their brain's capabilities especially when studying or at work.  But do you actually know what’s in these "smart drugs"??

What is a scientist doing inside an art gallery? 🔻English translation below🔻 ماذا يفعل العالم داخل معرض فني؟

لقد كنت أفكر في ما يمكن أن يجعل نشر مقالتي ال 200 و تكون جيدًا خلال الأسبوعين الماضيين عندما واجهت تحليلات مدونتي والأشياء التي تبحثوا عنها في جوجل والتي تقودكم إلى ركني المتواضع من الإنترنت . لذا ، هيا بنا ، سأجيب على جميع أسئلتكم بالتفصيل. لنبدأ بسؤالكم الأكثر تفضيلاً: بلورات الليمون هي شكل متبلور من عصير الليمون ، والذي يستخدم في الطهي وإعداد الطعام لإعطاء طعم الحامضة لأي شيء تقوم بصنعه ويمكن استخدامه أيضًا لإنشاء عصير ليمون أو ليمونادا.

I've been thinking about what would make a really good 200th blog post for the past couple of weeks when I came across my blog analytics and the things that you search for in Google that lead you to my humble corner of the internet. So, let's go, I'm going to answer all of your questions in detail. Let’s start with your most favourite question: Lemon crystals are a crystallized form of lemon juice , which is used in cooking and food preparation to give a citrusy, tart and sour taste to whatever you're making and can also be used to create lemon juice or lemonade.

🔻English translation below🔻 في يوم الخميس الماضي ، التقيت مع العديد من أصدقائي في مجال العلوم خلال ورشة عمل حول سياسة العلوم لأول مرة. تم تنظيم ورشة العمل من قبل شبكة تبادل السياسات العلمية - SciPEN وكانت نظرة ثاقبة كبيرة لمهنة سياسة العلوم وما تنطوي عليه. أعتقد أن النقاط الثلاث الرئيسية للخريجين الذين يتطلعون إلى الدخول في مهنة في السياسة العلمية:

Following your interest on my latest Instagram post on Earth Day 2019, here’s the solar geoengineering post you've all been waiting for! This post will be providing most of the known types of solar geoengineering and also critically looking at where this research places us in the battle against climate change. I’m going to keep this as brief as possible so you don't get bored but also full of detailed explanations. N.B. When I mention “cooling the planet”, below,  I mean by only one or two degrees Celcius maximum.