Crystals And Catalysts

[(Update:  On Monday, 4,893 tweets were shared with the #SciArt hashtag; the first 3 days have totaled 11,695 tweets! Results generated from Topsy.com.  Results from Symbiartic  )] As of March 1st, the Symbiartic team aspires to boost the number of images available within science communication and culture; so everyone is invited to join the hashtag #SciArt on  twitter. So far there have been hundreds of thousand of tweets dedicated to #SciArt which has made it one of the top trending topics on twitter.  ScientificAmerican blog imagines: "IF, for 1 week, half the people on that list tweeted 3 pieces of art, and retweeted others at least 5 times, all in one day. That’s   1,600 tweets containing #SciArt per day; 11,200 in a week . That will cause people to notice. Editors, journalists, researchers, educators, and maybe beyond."  The ScientificAmerican blog has more information here  to help you find out more and join the SciArt twitter storm. 

After my previous blog post Science: It's a Girl Thing  I have decided to start a new segment where I will be featuring one scientist from different branches of science and could be male or female and provide a profile / case study dedicated to that scientist every week. This segment will be: Scientist of the Week and will be posted every Friday  commencing from Friday 6th March 2015 ! Can you guess which scientist I will be starting with?

( Disclaimer:  I maybe two or three years late, but this is still an important issue, so it wouldn't hurt to address it today.) I was “googl-ing” other science and/or chemistry blogs to read and I came across this video here: This video was published by the European Commission for a campaign designed to attract more women to a career in science. The commission said that the video had to "speak their language to get their attention" and that it was intended to be "fun, catchy" and strike a chord with young people. "I would encourage everyone to have a look at the wider campaign and the many videos already online of female researchers talking about their jobs and lives.”The original video was taken down after it received so many negative comments.

J ust recently my Instagram feed became flooded by acai bowls. Acai bowls are becoming increasingly popular day by day because of their main component: the acai berry. Acai berries are now famous for their super-power antioxidant properties and other super health benefits. Acai berry (pronounced Ah-sah-yee) is a tropical berry that comes from the Amazon region in Brazil. The purple berry grow on a palm tree; the fruit has a hard skin so therefore the fruit is pureed to a purple puree which you can drink or eat in a bowl with other fruit, called an acai bowl. So far it is known that acai can increase your antioxidant levels, boost your energy levels, support your immune system and promote a healthy digestive system.

Image from gallery-hip Everyone remembers from their childhood Popeye the sailor-man who used to eat spinach. We also know Popeye loved the green stuff, but the question is, why spinach? Was it just so he could be strong and fight of villains with one mighty-spinach-infused punch.  So what is the key element in spinach that makes it Popeye's super-food? IRON. 

Pineapple is almost everyone's favorite fruit and favorite juice. but not only is it good to consume, its also great for chemical reactions and green chemistry; cleaner ways to make pharmaceutical products.  An efficient and greener synthesis of a series of dihydropyrimidinone (DHPMs) derivatives were accomplished via three-component one-pot cyclocondensation between substituted aryl aldehydes, diketone/ke- toester and urea. This solvent free approach is totally nonpolluting having several advantages such as shorter reaction time, mild reaction conditions, simple workup and reduced environmental impact.

I don’t know how many people in this world have thought of unboiling an egg or if it was even possible. However it is actually possible and the genius people who thought of it have a great idea and cause behind it besides the title.

I hate smoking so much! I hate it so much and every time I go out I try and avoid anyone smoking in front of me or passing by me. Passively inhaling someone’s smoke makes my lungs writhe in disgust. At my time at university my lectures were in between two buildings, in the ground between the two building other students use it as a smoking place where at least 100 people are smoking at the same time (I might be over exaggerating with that number a little bit). Every time I used to pass through, I would hold my breath so I wouldn't inhale the toxic smoke.  Smoking is detrimental to your health and so is passive smoking. By passive smoking, you also inhale all the toxic smoke even if you are not a smoker and it can have negative effects on you too.

When we think of lemons, or citrus fruits in general we think of vitamin C. In fact lemons are packed with more than just vitamin C; they are crammed with vitamin C, B-complex vitamins, calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, and fibre. I have heard a lot about lemon water and how it’s good for you and great for your digestion. Obviously I wanted to research and find out more about lemon water.  Little did I know just how many benefits there are!

(( I am very proud to announce my very first guest post on GradJobs UK!! Be sure to check it out and tell me what you think!  You can find it here: GradJobs UK Blog: Looking after your health after graduation )) [UPDATE: The Gradjobs blog has since been removed and some posts moved to GradsCorner on Gradjobs UK website. So I have posted my guest post here for everyone to read.] Looking after your health after graduation. Stress. The first thing that comes to mind when thinking about stress is a person tearing their hair out and screaming in despair.  After the graduation ceremony graduates start to face the “real world”, independence and the dreaded question: “what are you going to do next?” Since this is the biggest transition in your life it’s definitely going to be the most stressful one. It’s really easy to get caught up in the moment and give in to stress, particularly in today’s tumultuous economy with hardly any job opportunities. Anxiety can overwhelm you

Back in 1631 the emperor Shah Jahan built the Taj Mahal for his deceased wife, Mumtaz Mahal, to honor her memory . It is regarded as one of the seven wonders of the world. Sadly this wonder is becoming tarnished by the day. Due to pollution, the Taj Mahal marble is starting to turn yellow. Even though, every couple of years the mausoleum is given a clay mask to remove all the grime and restore the sparkling white marble, the grime returns over and over again every few years.

Can you really catch a cold when it’s cold outside? It turns out that actually staying warm can be useful and our mums were right in telling us to wrap up and keep warm and to wear a jacket when we go out.

This weeks words are from Immunology: Antibacterial Agent ,  Antibiotic and Antiviral

A new segment I will be adding to Crystals and Catalysts will be called Two Words Two Definitions. In this section I will be choosing two words which seem relatively similar in the science world but have two completely different meanings. If you have any ideas fr this segment, or any chemical / biological words that confuse you and want me to define, just drop me an email at crystalsandcatalysts@gmail.com _____________________________________ Chemistry Word Cloud courtesy of Cambridge Dictionaries Online - Chemistry general words - Smart Thesaurus Dictionary Image acceptor   allotrope   amphiprotic   amphoteric   atomic   balanced equation   carbon chain   catalyst   chemical chemical bond   chemical equation   chemical formula   chemist   chemistry   chromatography   conformation   distilled water   double bond   electrolyte   equation   formula   fractional distillation   hydrogenated   immiscible   inorganic chemistry  

My 2015 resolutions 1.stick to a good posting schedule AND 2. Complete reading "Bad pharma" by @bengoldacre