Rocky road to confusion

Posted by David Bradley on September 1, 2011 Comments Off

Raman spectroscopy has become an increasingly useful tool in the geosciences partly because it is non-destructive and requires minimal sample preparation, but also because it can be carried out on site with various irreplaceable geological samples. Unfortunately, Raman can confuse, …

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Does ChemDoodle do?

Posted by David Bradley on August 31, 2011 Comments Off

  iChemLabs has announced ChemDoodle 4 It looks interesting but I wanted iChemLabs’ Kevin Theisen to tell me about ChemDoodle’s unique selling point. Apparently, it has at least 6! 1. ChemDoodle is, he tells me, the only chemical drawing brand …

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Chemists are dying to uncover historic textile’s secrets

Posted by David Bradley on August 25, 2011 Comments Off

US researchers have developed a sensitive and simple technique for identifying the dyes used to colour textile artefacts. Their approach will not only help understand the composition of heritage materials for conservation purposes but could offer new insights into the …

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Periodically naked ladies

Posted by David Bradley on August 23, 2011 Comments Off

In which Sam Kean muses on how Chinese edition of his new book about the periodic table got such a risqué cover. via How the Chinese edition of my book about the periodic table got such a risqué cover. – …

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A chemist’s lucky 7 reasons not to smoke

Posted by David Bradley on August 8, 2011 Comments Off

Forget the gruesome imagery on packets of cigarettes in the UK, the health campaigns, the nanny state warnings. There are seven simple reasons not to smoke cigarettes from a chemist’s perspective, each one is present at harmful levels in cigarette …

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Breathe easy, dioxygen found spotted in space

Posted by David Bradley on August 3, 2011 Comments Off

At last, astronomers have added molecular oxygen, common-or-garden dioxygen, the stuff we get from the air around us, in space. More on the Beeb’s site here: Oxygen finally spotted in space.