Crystals And Catalysts

Crystals and Catalysts was launched in August 2014 which makes it almost 1 years old!  I think everyone who starts a blog thinks that they'll be lucky if they even get 10 readers in a day. And that's what I thought when I first started writing and creating this blog.  My future goals for my blog: I hope to make more infographics for my posts    Find a more effective blog theme which is  more user friendly Complete the 30 day challenge   without missing a day Aim to reach 1 million page views by the end of this year Aim to post more in a week

When someone asks me where do you see yourself in 10 years, I have to take a minute to actually think about the future.  I prefer to focus on the present and planning the present and leaving the future to fall into place. However with that being said, I aspire to pursue a career in science writing.    Science writing is away of communicating science in ways to everyone no matter what their educational background is. Even though I love lab research and conducting my own research project , I love science communication & journalism even more and I hope that one day I'll be writing for a large and respectable science magazine such as Chemistry World / Nature / New Scientist.  What are your plans for the future? Comment below...

This post is different because I wont be discussing someone else's research, I am discussing my own research. My final year project at university.  What was my project about? The Synthesis of a derivative of Montiporyne E. The aim of the project was to find a simple, fast and effective method of reactions to produce a derivative of Montiporyne E potential anti-cancer drug. Cancer is caused when cells  replicate abnormally  and rapidly to form tumours.  This is because the cell does not undergo apoptosis (the normal programmed cell death) and therefore these affected cells continue to multiply uncontrollably.  Montiporyne E is d erived from a hard coral , named Montipora Sp .  Hard corals have been found to produ ce cytotoxic, acetylenic compounds.  — It is used in the treatments of solid tumour cells.  The extraction from hard coral is expensive, laborious and also hard coral is on the verge of extinction, therefore a more effective method of production was requ

At university I studied Medicinal Chemistry. Medicinal chemistry  is the  discipline at the intersection of  chemistry , especially synthetic organic chemistry, and  pharmacology  and various other biological specialities, where they are involved with  design ,  chemical synthesis  and development for market of  pharmaceutical  agents, or bio-active molecules ( drugs ). So what does the course involve? Medicinal chemistry gives you the opportunity  to study a mix between biology and chemistry related courses. So the year is split between eight courses about two-thirds chemistry related and one-third pharma related.  Why did you choose this course? When I was completing my A levels. I had never ever heard of Medicinal Chemistry. My main goal was to complete my A levels and get onto a  pharmacy course at university. During my A levels I did work experience at Boots Pharmacy , where I realised that I simply didn't like working in a pharmacy as much as I had imagined it

Every blog name/title has a story behind it; some maybe more interesting than others.  After I decided that I wanted to start a science website, I had to choose a name. At the time, I had hopes that my blog would be more chemistry driven but I also chose a title that is mixed - just like Medicinal Chemistry (what I did my Bsc in).   A couple of ideas I had for my blog name were: protons & pyrimidines neutrons & nucleotides electrons & enzymes as sweet as glucose sweeter than glucose chemistry crystals crystals of chemistry and finally: crystals & catalysts The name  Crystals and Catalysts  was derived from two things:  Crystals , from the most common product chemists make in the laboratory and also the most intriguing, and  Catalysts  are the substances that encourage reactions to happen. 

There are so many challenges similar to this for other niches of blogs, but not for science blogs. So I have decided to make one for science bloggers. The aim of the 30-day challenge is to post every day for the next 30 days with the topics given in the infographic below. They are light, fun topics where you'll be able to get to know me more and more about my blog and other thoughts too. So I am starting the 30-day science blogging challenge as of 1st June 2015 till 30th June 2015! I will be posting 30 days & on each day there will be a different topic.   If you're a science blogger or thinking of becoming one then join the challenge! Click to enlarge!

Everyone starts their day with a caffeinated drink, mainly coffee or tea. And everyone believes that coffee is the sole reason why they wake up in the morning.  But did you know that you might be drinking coffee the wrong way? And you might not get all of coffee's benefits ? ASAPScience gives all the details in the video below. 

Fact: The radioactive potassium-40 emits about 15 articles of antimatter a day. So what, exactly, is antimatter? Antimatter is matter consisting of elementary particles which are the antiparticles of those making up normal matter. The person who discovered antimatter was the English Physicist Paul Dirac (1902-1984). Dirac derived an equation that explains how really small and really fast things behave, such as electrons travelling near the speed of light. Later, Dirac realised that not only did his equation & theory discover the behaviour of very tiny things, he also discovered something new to the growing world of science; anti-particles. Paul Dirac continued to assert that every particle has a mirror-image particle with nearly identical properties, except for an opposite electrical charge.  Similar to the way protons, neutrons and electrons combine to form atoms and matter, antiprotons, antineutrons and anti-electrons (called positrons) combine to form anti-atoms and an

Vitamin D refers to a group of fat-soluble secosteroids (a subclass of steroids that consist of “broken” ring structures) that are responsible for the intestinal absorption of calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphate and zinc. The major natural source of the vitamin is in the skin. For vitamin D to be activated from cholesterol (via the skin) it requires sunlight to initiate the activation (especially UVB radiation); you can also obtain vitamin D from food, such as oily fish (salmon, sardines, cod liver oil etc...) and some fortified foods. Vitamin D has been shown to boost bone health and it may play a role in preventing diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease and other illnesses. Vitamin D deficiency can occur if: the body has an increased need for vitamin D, the body is unable to produce enough vitamin D, or not enough vitamin D is being taken into the diet. Vitamin D deficiency is more common than vitamin D toxicity. High doses of vitamin D... A study conducted from 2002-201

***********UPDATED*********** 29/05/2015 The 30 Day Science Blog Challenge will commence on the 1st of June 2015. 30 Days. 30 Topics. A challenge in a month. ______________________________________________________________________________ As many of you have seen, I was starting the 30 Day Science Blogging Challenge and I had hoped I would be able to post for 30 consecutive days during May 2015. However due to unforeseen circumstances and technical difficulties I am not able to keep up with the daily posting so I have postponed the challenge till June 2015. Sorry if this disappoints anyone. I am also thinking of trying to find a better theme/template for my blog with a better user interface. Your thoughts about the current theme would be appreciated!