Category Archives: molecules

Drugs in the Water Supply

Posted by spinneret on April 20, 2009 Comments Off

According to an AP investigation, US pharma companies have released at least 1000 tonnes of pharmaceuticals into American waterways. This putative contamination of the drinking water supply has been consistently overlooked by the Federal government, their report says. Interestingly, this …

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Cranberries and Urinary Tract Infections

Posted by spinneret on March 12, 2009 1 comment

It’s not the acidity of cranberry juice that prevent urinary track infections and cystitis, it’s natural chemicals in the tarty juice that prevent pathogenic bacteria from adhering to the cells that line the urinary tract. That’s according to research in …

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Urine clues for prostate cancer

Posted by spinneret on February 11, 2009 Comments Off

A biomarker for prostate cancer has been identified in urine. Details of the molecule sarcosine is published later this week in the journal Nature. Arul Chinnaiyan and colleagues profiled the metabolites present in the urine of prostate cancer patients compared …

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Ionic Boron

Posted by spinneret on February 4, 2009 Comments Off

Chemistry textbooks will tell you that you need at least two different elements to produce an ionic material. So, what to make of a paper in the journal Nature by Artem Oganov of the Swiss research center, ETH Zurich, and …

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Oxytocin Facial

Posted by spinneret on January 7, 2009 Comments Off

Oxytocin, the nurturing hormone involved in child-birth and breast-feeding, apparently plays a role in how we recognize faces, according to a paper in the Journal of Neuroscience. Researchers gave volunteers a nasal dose of oxytocin and found that they all …

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Melamine Detector

Posted by spinneret on December 16, 2008 Comments Off

A fast and inexpensive melamine detector is reported in the RSC’s journal ChemComm this week. The research follows hot on the heels of the melamine in milk scandal of 2008 and the petfood contamination in 2007 and earlier. The two …

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