This Just In: Grow a Bigger Brain Without Getting Off the Couch!
A couple of months ago, published an article demonstrating that aerobic exercise can increase the size of your hippocampus. Well, for those of you interested in growing your gray matter without...
View ArticleA Lexicon of Chemistry Terms to Review Before Attending Your Kid’s Thesis...
Hypothetically, let’s say that (1) I graduate someday and (2) my parents come out for my thesis defense. Since I am, in fact, not curing cancer, I fear that my defense will be a snoozer for any...
View ArticleChemistry of Morphine, Heroin, and Lemon Poppy Seed Cake
You’ve heard the warnings – don’t eat poppy seeds before taking a drug test. The seeds can trigger a false positive reading for opioids, making your potential employer think you could be a heroin...
View ArticleLow Hanging Fruit
This past week, I met with a visiting professor who commented that chemistry research is harder and more complex than it used to be. Most of the “low-hanging fruit” has already been picked, and the...
View ArticleYou know you spend too much time in the lab when…
I hope I’m not the only chemist who frequently wakes up in the morning to realize I’d just been wasting my sleep time by dreaming about chemistry. Kekule famously dreamt , but mine – so far – have been...
View ArticleSour Patch Kids are Full of Protons
Take a look at the ingredient list on the back of a Sour Patch Kids bag the next time you go to the movie theater, and you probably won’t be surprised to discover that this gummy candy contains a lot …...
View ArticleWhat I Want to Be When I Grow Up
I began this blog last September as an experiment. Like any good experiment, this particular one was designed to answer a question. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been mulling over the “data” I’ve...
View ArticleA Deuterated Mouse: Isotopes and Phys. Org.
What would happen, hypothetically, if a baby mouse could grow up eating only deuterated food and water? Could you make an unusually heavy mouse? Isotopes The concept of a deuterated mouse requires a...
View ArticleFDA Warning to Brazilian Blowout. Also, Fume Hood for Hair?
I interrupt this blog from its regularly-scheduled hiatus* to comment on a new tidbit of information about Brazilian Blowout that has recently come to light. The FDA has issued an official warning...
View ArticleFavorite Reaction – SN2
My all-time favorite chemical reaction has to be the SN2. This may sound like a cop-out answer to Rachel Pepling’s question, since the SN2 is arguably the second* simplest organic reaction ever, almost...
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