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Received & published by Henry Sapiecha

Apatite

A mineral for hungry people? Apatite is a phosphate mineral with the composition Ca₅[PO₄]₃(OH,F,Cl). It has been used extensively as a phosphorus fertilizer and is still mined for that purpose today. The mineral called “asparagus stone” is a appropriately a type of green apatite. Ironically, apatite is the mineral that makes up the teeth in all vertebrate animals as well as their bones.

The gem material makes a great faceted stone.

Thanks to ‘Sparkly’ Sally Ewen for suggesting this molecule and to Sean and to Kay Dekker for some info about it.

Sourced and published by Henry Sapiecha 18th October 2009

Angelic Acid

Angelic acid isn’t very angelic at all – it’s a defence substance for certain beetles. It gets its name from the Swedish plant Garden Angelica (Archangelica officinalis) from whose roots it was first obtained in the 1840s. Its proper name is (Z)-2-methyl-2-butenoic acid. The other isomer (E) goes by the equally silly name of tiglic acid (from the plant Croton tiglium, the source of croton oil) and is also a beetle defence substance.

Thanks to Andrew Walden for suggesting these molecules and to Florian Raab and Bo Ohlson for providing some of the information about them.

Sourced and published by Henry Sapiecha 18th October 2009

Fukiic Acid

Fuki is the Japanese word for the butterbur flower, and Fukiic acid is the hydrolysis product from this plant, Petasites japonicus. Interestingly, further oxidation of this produces the wonderfully named Fukinolic acid. (I wonder if fukanolic is anything like alcoholic…) Anyway, since the conjugate base of fukinolic acid is fukinolate, it’s probably about time we stopped!

Thanks to Anton Sherwood for info on fukiic acid, and to Andrew Reinders for suggesting fukinolate.

Sourced and published by Henry Sapiecha 13th Oct 2009

NEW SCIENTIST EUREKA PRIZE [Australian Museum]

for science photography

……………………………………………………….

CALL FOR ENTRIES

……………………………………………………….

The new sceintist $10,000 Eureka  prize for science photography recognizes and rewards outstanding science photography.

The definition of ’science’, for the purpose of this prize,is a comprehensive one. It includes all asp[ects of science [such as nature, technology, health] as well as work that addresses the social or economical aspects of science.

Entries are invited from both amateur and professional photographers aged 18 years or over.

Enter now and view past entries >

http://www.austmus.gov.au/eureka

Sourced and Published by Henry Sapiecha 23rd May 2009

Fruit flies used to study neural circuits in the human brain

fruit fly

PASADENA, Calif. (UPI) — A U.S. biologist says he has used the behavior of fruit flies to study human behavior and, perhaps, develop new treatments for mental illness.

BRINGS A NEW MEANING TO THE TERM ‘FRUIT LOOP’

Am I mad

I have an  eye for the ladys though

Professor David Anderson of the California Institute of Technology and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator noticed fruit flies subjected to even gentle wind will assume a defensive position, halting flying until the wind ceases.

Anderson and colleagues subsequently discovered the flies’ wind-sensitive neurons exist in the same sensory organ in the flies’ antennae as the neurons that process the sound of the song of a potential mate.

The next challenge was determining how the same organ processed two distinct stimuli, leading to two distinct behavioral responses. The team mounted a fly under a very powerful two-photon microscope and cut a hole in the shell covering the fly’s brain to observe when any neurons were activated by a particular stimulus.

Simultaneously playing recordings of mating sounds and using a fan to make a breeze, the scientists identified the neurons being activated.

“And it was absolutely obvious that neurons in different regions of the brain were being activated by the sound or activated by the wind, and these regions were different, even if we applied the two stimuli simultaneously,” said Anderson

HEAD SCAN

He said the findings have potential application for the treatment of mental illnesses and might target medications to precisely where they are needed, as opposed to treating the brain globally.

The study appears in the journal Nature.

Copyright 2009 by United Press International

Sourced and published by Henry Sapiecha 24th March 2009

Scientists create protective windows

space age movement detection

POTSDAM, Germany (UPI) — German scientists say they have created windows and doors that can detect suspicious movements before a crime is committed and, if necessary, sound an alarm.

keep an eye out

A motion sensor developed at the Fraunhofer Institutes for Applied Polymer Research in Potsdam and by Computer Architecture and Software Technology in Berlin can enable window panes and glass doors to detect movements because of a special polymer coating.

“The glass is coated with a fluorescent material,” said IAP group manager Burkhard Elling. “The coating contains nanoparticles that convert light into fluorescent radiation.”

burglar

He said an ultraviolet lamp “illuminates” the window panes and generates fluorescent radiation in the coating that is channeled to the edges of the window, where it is detected by sensors. If someone steps into the light, less light reaches the coating and less fluorescent radiation is produced. If several sensors are installed on all four sides of the window frame, conclusions can be drawn from the data as to how fast and in what direction an object is moving.

Elling said size can also be estimated by the sensors. Is it a small creature such as a bird or is it a person? The threshold for the alarm can be set, so that moving objects the size of birds, for example, do not trigger an alarm.

flying bird

IT IS SAID THAT WALLS HAVE EARS-WINDOWS

NOW WINDOWS AND  DOORS HAVE EYES

A demonstrator system already exists, and the researchers now say they plan to refine the technology.

Copyright 2009 by United Press International

Sourced and published by Henry Sapiecha 24th March 2009

Craving a cigarette?

How about 4,000 lethal chemicals?

New poster puts smoking hazards gives you a realty check.

So you think smoking is OK. Think again. Facts now revealed.

A global information design consultancy, has created “Put It Out,” an illustrated poster showing in no uncertain terms the lethal chemicals — including arsenic, methane and formaldehyde — ingested from each cigarette and what some of the harsh health facts are surrounding smoking. The 11×17? poster can be viewed and downloaded at www.xplane.com/4000.

DO NOT SMOKE POSTER

Created by a team of world-class graphic designers, the poster is intended to educate, inform and create a dialogue amongst the general public relating to the ongoing issues associated with smoking. Released under the Creative Commons 3.0 Unported License, the poster can be downloaded and used by health organizations and other individuals wishing to spread the word about what harmfull substances go into each cigarette.

Sourced and Published by Henry Sapiecha 24th March 2009

TWELVE MINEROLIGISTS FROM ITALY

Specimen Sulphur Crystals

Italian Mineralogist Calendar (YMCCI)

Italian Scientists Calendar

A perpetual calendar celebrating 12 important Italian Scientists that have given significant contributions to the development on Mineralogy. For each one picture, biograpy, original signature, main opera and mineral that has been dedicated to. Plus Plinius and Steno biograpies, two great contributors to mineralogy science.

Contents: Covelli, Scacchi, Struever, Bombicci, Mercalli, Spezia, Sella, Artini, Guglielmini, Biringuccio, D’Achiardi, Zambonini.

Italian language.

Size: 29 x 21 cm.

Some of the scientists are featured below here

Sella Quintino

Stensen Nicolaus

Struever Giovanni

Zambonini Ferruccio

Sourced and published by Henry Sapiecha 22nd March 2009

REVERSE OSMOSIS CREATES DRINKING WATER

REVERSE OSMOSIS PLANT

In some regions of the world, the lack of a primary source such as water, could become a determining factor for economic and political instability whereas nearly 40% of the world’s population relies on river systems that cross two or more countries.
The increasing awareness towards the issue of water, as a precious and irreplaceable wealth, encourages some countries to make enormous investments to increase its availability of drinking water. The fact that the largest source of available water lies in the sea favours the research and investment in the realisation of efficient desalination plants.

FLOATING ON SEA WATER

In this period of impending crisis it’s up to technology to propose solutions that are reliable, feasible, with low environmental impact and with sustainable costs for the economies of the poorest areas of the globe.
The technologies used for the desalination of seawater are based on membrane processes, where the “heart” of the system is represented by Reverse Osmosis. BONO Artes has made some innovation in these technologies through the construction of plants capable of producing drinking water with reduced energy consumption.

Through the experience gained over the years, BONO Artes has provided a plant for the desalination of seawater for the “Peru LNG” project, the largest ever undertaken in Peru and all of South America for the production of liquefied natural gas (LNG), developed by the US company, CB&I, leader in the realisation of industrial complexes in the energy and natural resources field.
The BONO Artes supply is an innovative system capable of obtaining both pure water, to be employed for industrial purposes and pure drinking water meeting the standards of the World Health Organization (WHO) for human consumption.

The process occurs through two phases:
- The first stage consists of pre-treatment with two multilayer filters that allow the removal of suspended solids from water
- The second stage allows the production of deionized water through double step reverse osmosis.

At this point, part of the deionized water is used for feeding the boiler, while the remainder is further treated and made drinkable for human consumption at the nearby field site.

PURE DRINKING WATER

To cope with the energy necessary for the operation of the plant, BONO Artes has adopted a system that allows a turbine to recover energy from the residual pressure of the reverse osmosis concentrate in order to significantly reduce operation costs.
Another critical factor for this contract was the choice of materials since the plant was to be installed in the desert region of Peru. So, in the choice of materials, both the high salinity of seawater and the extreme conditions of operation imposed by the arid regions of South America, had to be taken into consideration.

Right now the plant is running at full speed with excellent results, both from the point of view of water quality, and cost efficiency. This success highlights the ability of BONO Artes to find solutions to deal with any type of water, even in extreme conditions, anywhere in the world.

Sourced and published by Henry Sapiecha 20th March 2009