Merry Blogmas for December 1: Cinnabar

Merry Blogmas for December 1: Cinnabar

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Merry Blogmas! I have decided to join the blogmas insanity and post a short blog post everyday until Christmas. Other than the regular weekly blog posts, the blogmas post will all be off-the-top-of-my-head brain dumps without citations. CINNABAR It’s one of the coolest minerals going: It’s mercuric sulfide. Its mineral form is called cinnabar. It has a mineral formula of HgS. It’s the main ore mineral for mercury. The mercury mines of Almaden, Spain are the largest in the world…

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The Food Science of Hard-Boiled Eggs – Part I: Boiling Water

The Food Science of Hard-Boiled Eggs – Part I: Boiling Water

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There are three parts to the science of hard-boiled eggs: the physical chemistry of boiling water, the biochemistry of eggs, and the science of cooking eggs. We will look at them in that order over the next three Sundays. Today in part I, we will look at the science of boiling water. Have you been adding salt to the water you use to boil your eggs? I’ll show you why you probably may want to stop wasting your salt… THE…

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Glass mug of beer
Beer as a Risk-Factor for Malaria

Beer as a Risk-Factor for Malaria

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This would be funny if it wasn’t actually real. First, let’s talk about malaria followed by the connection between malaria and beer. MALARIA Malaria is one of the nastiest diseases known. It is caused by several different species of itty bitty protozoans from the genus Plasmodium. The Malaria Disease Vector A disease vector is medical-speak for the way a disease is transmitted between people. As you probably remember from high school biology, the vector for malaria protozoans are vampire bugs, otherwise known…

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The Phytochemical that Launched a Thousand Ships – Part II

The Phytochemical that Launched a Thousand Ships – Part II

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THE PHYTOCHEMICAL THAT LAUNCHED A THOUSAND SHIPS – PART II Our phytochemical of interest, piperine, is the active ingredient in Old World pepper and the plants of the Piper genus. Its history and background were discussed last week here. Compared to last week, this week’s post might not seem as spicy but I hope I can pepper it up a bit. Piperine is (2E,4E)-5-(2H-1,3-Benzodioxol-5-yl)-1-(piperidin-1-yl)penta-2,4-dien-1-one: a compound name only an organic chemist could love. It’s more succinctly known as C17H19NO3, a name that unfortunately…

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1572 print of Calicut (Kolkata, formerly Calcutta)
The Phytochemical that Launched a Thousand Ships – Part I

The Phytochemical that Launched a Thousand Ships – Part I

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THE PHYTOCHEMICAL C17H19NO3 As you may recall from high school biology, a phytochemical is any chemical compound that comes from plants. Our species of omnivore consumes huge quantities of phytochemicals everyday: caffeine, sugar, methyl salicylate, vanilla, just to name a few. Because much of our diet is plant-based, many of our daily nutrients are in the form of phytochemicals. Basically, phytochemical is just a fancy word but now that you know it, you can get a lot of mileage out of it…

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grains of green vitriol, better known as copperas or iron sulfate heptahydrate
Green Vitriol

Green Vitriol

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WHAT IS A VITRIOL? Simply put, a vitriol is a metallic sulfate compound, often but not always hydrated. The crystals of most vitriols are glassy and all are soluble in water, making solutions containing sulfuric acid. In fact, the very word vitriol has its origin in the Latin word for glass, vitrum. Out of the ten or so vitriol compounds, one is common and occurs along faults and oxidized zones in metallic mineral deposits: green vitriol, better known to geologists and miners as…

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A crust of lead acetate - sugar of lead - on a lead metal roll
Sugar of Lead

Sugar of Lead

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Today’s article may be the last of the “Science Lite” posts since by this time next week, we may be unpacked enough to resume normal life after the moving across the country.  |  Everyone knows there’s a problem with little kids eating paint chips because of the danger of lead poisoning. The real culprit is not even the main lead-based white pigment but rather a lead-based contaminant found in lower-quality paints. The antiquaited name for this contaminant was sugar of lead….

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Quantum Mechanics Training

Quantum Mechanics Training

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By the time you read this, we’re either on the road or unpacking after moving across the country.  Moving is almost over but for this week at least, the science lite blog posts will continue. This week’s offering is a short piece on education for careers in applied quantum physics from the podcast site called impromptucast.com.  Playtime is approximately 1 minute. WARNING: put all food and drink down now, and you may want to sit down…  Don’t listen to this at work….

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Seasonal Psychoactive Drugs

Seasonal Psychoactive Drugs

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We’re in the panic stage of packing and cleaning because we’re leaving…in theory…in a few days.  So the science lite blog posts continue. This week’s offering is a short piece on psychoactive drugs from the podcast site called impromptucast.com.  Playtime is approximately 1 minute. WARNING: put all food and drink down now, and you may want to sit down…  Don’t listen to this at work. CREDITS Pumpkin Spice Chloropromazine is by Sean Clark, who might be married to me, 2017, CC…

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methanethiol molecule model
The Composition of Human Fart Gas

The Composition of Human Fart Gas

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We’re still packing up to move so short “science lite” posts will continue until we get settled in on the other side of the country. Today’s post is about something you’ve all been wanting to know about: human fart gas! HUMAN FART GAS Have you ever been kept from sleeping at night pondering what farts were made of? Ponder no longer. You can now sleep well at night because the knowledge you seek is here at hand! Strangely enough, fart gas…

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