Crystals And Catalysts

This is also coincides with my 100th post!  Yay!



Today is finally day 30 of the 30 Day Science Blog Challenge. You can read the rest of the months posts here.
Just under two months ago I came up with the idea to prepare a 30 day blogging challenge for science bloggers. planning it wasn't easy, but I tried to make all the topics universal to science bloggers, so that anyone can join in at any time. The goal was to post consecutively for  30 days, responding to the topics given here.  So now that this is my 30th and final blog post in the challenge, how did I do and how did I find this challenge?
What made this blog so challenging?
Apart from a little technical glitch in May (read about it here) , which caused me to delay the challenge till June, the 30 day challenge was easy at times and difficult at other times. I think the hardest posts to prepare were the "controversial topics in science" posts since I had to decide on a topic that was controversial, and would please the r…

I can't believe that the 30 days I had planned are almost coming to an end. I had been planing this project since May and I couldn't wait to start it. Its now already 29th June and we're 29 days into the challenge. Time flies when your having fun. :)

Now that the 30 day challenge is over I now have to plan for the future months on this blog. Since the 30 Day challenge recieved a great response I think I will make it a yearly thing. It will be really interesting to see how my responses change to the topics next year.  But in regards to next month I will be...


...Returning to #SOTW Scientist of the Week...

SOTW  is posted every Friday, where I give a condensed profile of a scientist that may be famous or not.  You can check out the previous ones here.
Let me know, in the comments section below, if you want me to construct a profile of a scientist that may not be well known and you'd like to find out more about them.


...Posting frequently during the week...

I'm hoping to be…

This weeks science news: understanding speech and sleep, fatty diets that harm the brain, fake pills, restricting antibiotics and asthma caused by pollution.

For the second day, discussing a controversial topic in science I will be reviewing the efficiency of Alternative medicine.
But to what extent can we trust alternative medicine?
First of all, what is alternative medicine?
Alternative method contains the practice of: acupuncture, chiropractic and homeopathy. All of these techniques had not been proven by scientific methods.  
The reason why it’s so popular is due to the power of anecdotal evidence. For example, you can hear from a friend that alternative treatment helped improve their back pain. At first, this may seem as the treatment works and you’ll want to try it. But you have to remember that the experience of a single person doesn’t prove that a treatment works the same for everyone. Sometimes the body gets better on its own or via a placebo effect, giving rise to the “it worked for me” response and encouraging more people to follow in their footsteps.  
.................
Contrary to what the popular opinion is about alternative medic…

Is it possible, that after years of controversy, between the public, that GMO’s are safe?
There are many people for or against GMOs, but mainly against. Even though the public are showered with incorrect, and sometimes dishonest, information about GMOs a.k.a genetically modified organisms, scientists and science writers are working to correct any misconceptions about GMOs to the public and eliminate misleading data.
What are GMOs?GMO’s are plants or animals that have gone under genetic modification: where scientists alter their genes with DNA from different species of living organisms, bacteria or viruses to get desired traits such as resistance to disease or tolerance of pesticides. Such as: apples that have been genetically modified to be resistant to browning.
Studies about GMOs...The results from a meta analysis (conducted by Wilhelm Klümper, Matin Qaim, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, Georg-August-University of Goettingen,Germany),  studies the uncertaint…

Some #sciart in light of the #NYCBlizzard RT @TomKierein: Another frozen bubble pic by Candice Trimble pic.twitter.com/PTvlOgxblf — SciArt (@Sci_Art) January 27, 2015
#SciArt leaf prints with linocut organic molecules responsible for their colours http://t.co/H57dew88bN#printmakingpic.twitter.com/MjdJqDI6if — Ele Willoughby (@minouette) March 7, 2015
Trending now on #Biocanvas - titanium carbonide crystals http://t.co/L6eGLD9GqT#chemistry#sciart#microscopepic.twitter.com/LezUa1s2p6 — Biocanvas (@biocanvas) December 7, 2014
Amazing Photographs Of Drugs Under The Microscope http://t.co/Z6GzxQNRlr#microscopy#sciart — GE Life Sciences (@GECellBiology) July 15, 2014
Crystals vibrating to hue of Love. -CB "#art@CRoullardArt#MicroCrystal my piece "Crystal Rock Garden" #SciArtpic.twitter.com/7nijCfNm9i" — Carl Barbarotto (@Carlolight) April 22, 2015
The infectious beauty of salt transforming metal. Shiver. @redheadgallery#shiver#salt#rust#SciArtpic.twitter.com/7Z1fjsqHok …

If you love both science and art, Twitter was a wonderful place to be last March.
#SciArt week, which officially ran from March 1st through the 7th, was initiated by Symbiartic bloggers Glendon Mellow, Kalliopi Monoyios and Katie McKissick, who encouraged science artists of all types of backgrounds to come together and tweet their work to the world. 

The product was a storm of scientific illustrations, paintings, sculptures and animations, that the Internet had never seen before. Their original goal was to get a total of 1600 #SciArt tweets a day but within the first 24 hours they managed to reach 4000 tweets of scientific illustrations and paintings and other artworks.

SciArt is a great way of representing science using art and photography. It also shows how beautiful science can be and encourage the love of science through art.

Although  #SciArt is overloaded with biology related artworks it needs more chemistry artworks. This could be due to the lack of popularity of the hash-tag and i…

The Laboratory vs The Office. The comparison.
Woking in the office a.k.a Science Communication / Publishing: There comes a point in which every scientist has had enough of the lab and they no longer want to work in the laboratory, no matter what field they're in. So they go out and look into other careers that they can go into that doesn't involve lab work (see this post by Nature).

Some scientists turn to science writing. Science communication is a great way to stick to your field and communicate science to the people with / without science background/education.

A comment / quote in a post in Nature: Soapbox Science, perfectly describes why we need science communication:
“It deals with an issue that is important not only, or even mainly, for the scientific community but also for the nation as a whole and for each individual within it. More than ever, people need some understanding of science, whether they are involved in decision-making at a national or local level, in managing …

If you've read Day 22 of my science blogging challenge you'll know that I love cooking and I love chemistry (obviously). I've recently discovered the BEST mix of chemistry and cooking:
Molecular Gastronomy!
(I know I might be a little bit late to the party but it's still awesome!)

Molecular gastronomy is a subcategory of food science that aims to find out the different ways of food's chemical and physical transformations. It uses different chemistry laboratory techniques, such as using liquid nitrogen (to freeze things really quickly), to make different takes on foods; and the best thing is, is that its still edible!

Click on the link to watch a detailed video about it on VSauce's Channel.

This video of powdered ice cream in a candy strawberry shows all the complex yet intriguing physical and chemical transformations that the ice cream and strawberries go though to get to the end product.

I have found that, no matter what the context, I will click on nearly any article with a type of experience in the title. I enjoy reading peoples different views in what they work in, if its working on their PhD or working in a company or their undergrad studies. 

Maybe you’re an ordinary person, not a scientist, and you've just clicked here for some light lunchtime reading. But if you’re a scientist, perhaps you can relate  to my experiences in the laboratory. 

If you personally know me you'll know that another hobby I have is cooking. I feel like the kitchen is like a laboratory except you make edible items. I think this is the basis for loving the laboratory, even if things go wrong its still a great place to work in. So here's a list of prominent things from my experience from working in a laboratory...

1. You don't know where time goes or what time it is...

You can easily forget that time goes by in the lab. When I was working on my project I would be shocked to look …

This weeks science news includes: More reasons to love chocolate, ways to reverse colorectal cancer and also heart damage, and why watching cat videos are good for you!

Even though Facebook pages can seem to be split into two groups — brands trying to advertise and people trying to socialize — there are other pages on Facebook that deserve some attention. The dedicated science pages.

In fact, some of my favourite pages on Facebook are science blogs / magazines and pages that utilize the social media giant to spread the love of science and how majestic science can be. Whether they're making us laugh, enlightening us with the latest science news or teaching us new things, these five Facebook pages provide an excellent break from all those baby pictures and engagement announcements.

Here's a list of my top 5 Science Facebook Pages...


Chemistry World
Compound Interest


Fake Science
I F****** Love Science


Science Lovers Only



What are your favourite science Facebook pages? Share them in the comments below.

Images: Facebook

Hand sanitizer is everywhere, you find it in almost every store you go to and it’s widely available in hospitals. Hand sanitizing is beneficial to protect ourselves from harmful bacteria and viruses that can make us ill. Most people carry a bottle of hand sanitizer in their bag, especially when travelling (and especially on the London underground). 

I was surprised to see that there is a video, scaring people from using hand sanitizer; featured in IF******LoveScience and DNews. 

Recently new research has been published which tries to oppose the use of hand sanitizer by blaming its use on increased absorption of BPA levels in the body. Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical that is used in a variety of consumer products, such as water bottles, dental composites and resins used to line metal food and beverage containers, and also is used in thermal paper cash register receipts. First data has emerged that BPA from thermal paper used in cash register receipts accounts for high levels of BPA in hu…

Personally, I love instagram. Its great for sharing images be it in the lab or personal interests. Here's a list of my favourite science Instragram accounts, hope you like them and if there's someone I've missed out, comment below and tell me about them.

1- From the Lab Bench
The account of Paige Brown Jarreau - She's recently completed a PhD in science communication and she blogs about science communication & her research. But Paige's instagram is filled with her beautiful photography such as this blue bird here.



2- PopSci
This is the account of the popular science website: Popular Science, who post about the "latest science, tech and futuristic nerdery"



3-WIRED
This is the account of the popular science blog: WIRED, who post about the science, technology and everything in between.




4-CellPress
This account goes by the saying "Science is Art" and their instagrm is full of colourful images, such as this one of neurons and stem cells. Go to CellPress&…

In today's favourites I will be listing my favourite twitter accounts to follow. Some of them are bloggers and some just lovers of science. 

1 Sci Art


#sciart: there's an MSc for that! Finished a BioSciences degree? Check out Bio Photo & Imaging @UniofNottinghamhttp://t.co/rqRjVhRtLK — SciArt (@Sci_Art) March 26, 2015

2- RealTimeChem


Kids, this is why you titrate BuLi: sometimes the concentration is half what it says on the bottle! #RealTimeChempic.twitter.com/CFeIcbpwOx — Matthew Katcher (@katmatcher) May 28, 2015
3- Chemjobber



@UnstableIsotope It's the thrill of potential serious injury that makes them want to understand the universe better. — Chemjobber (@Chemjobber) May 27, 2015
4- ASAP Science


We all have fantasies... Even sharks. (via @elclimo) pic.twitter.com/Cbmp5GR0pW — AsapSCIENCE (@AsapSCIENCE) May 28, 2015

5- Psy Post


Hallucinations and delusions more common than thought http://t.co/kXe5mGyt2Spic.twitter.com/ODGyUrYXj4 — PsyPost.org (@PsyPost) May 28, 2015

What are your fa…

Just as I love writing on my science blog, I also love reading other science blogs and seeing what science looks like through other peoples eyes. 

Here's a small list of my favourite science blogs which I recommend you go and check out!


Compound InterestThe Chemical BlogPictures from an Organic Chemistry LabJust Like CookingFrom the Lab benchIFL ScienceThe Chronical FlaskChemistry BlogNew ScientistGuardian ScienceSciCurious

Science Blogging Problems...There are two main problems that some science bloggers may come across: closed access articlesa smaller audience The first and main problem I  have as a science blogger is closed-access articles. Usually I find a really good topic / idea for a blog post and I try and research suitable journals to support my article, but the one that would perfectly match my post is ...you guessed it... closed access! So I cant use that one and I'll have to go back and search for open access journals that fit the topic I wanted to discuss, or try and make do with all the information I can get out of the abstract.

The other problem is reaching a smaller audience. Not everyone who reads, likes to read about science or health related posts most the time, at least that's my opinion. Mainly those who are fascinated by science and love to read about it will read science articles and science blogs.

When I started science blogging I was convinced I would probably have only 1 or …

What do you think about the future of science blogging?more people / scientists will start bloggingscience blogs will become like lab books / diaries as science blogs become more popular, audience will grow & spread science education
More people / scientists will start blogging

In the near future science blogging will become more popular and science blogging will become popular between scientists. It could be a great way to communicate their research and write about other research. 

Science blogs will become like lab books / diaries 
Already, science bloggers utilise their platforms to blog lab work and lab photography. Science blogs could soon become a replacement for the standard lab book and all work will be documented on-line instead of on paper.  As science blogs become more popular, audience will grow & spread science 
Currently the audience for science blogs consists of people who study / have studied science. In the future science blogs will become more famous than fashion a…