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Sleeping With Half a Brain
It seems scientists from UCLA and the University of Toronto have identified certain chemical cues that allow the seal brain to remain both half awake and half asleep simultaneously. While...
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Bring the Internet to Class
Traditionally the mere mention of chemistry brings about groans from students and adults alike. These classes can be viewed as a ‘make or break you’ course allowing you to continue on to the next step...
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My Work on ILs
Water, the most common liquid on earth, is the typical source we imagine when picturing a liquid. This collection of neutral molecules has the great ability to dissolve almost anything, which has made...
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10 Advances to Life Coming from Biotechnology
The leading experts in the field of biotechnology identified the most important biotechnologies that will impact our future, according to the World Economic Forum Blog. So if anyone is looking to...
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In the Name of Transparency
To go in line with the push from the White House’s call to increase access to results of federally funded science, the Center for Open Science (COS) is now open and looking for help! This Center, in...
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The Promise of Ionic Liquids (ILs)
A couple of years ago a nice article about the superiority of ILs was published in Nature Materials. In the article, they describe ILs as compared to conventional liquids for electrodeposition, energy...
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ILs Assist High Temperature Catalysts
In our endless attempt to copy (and occasionally improve) nature, scientists in China have published results today in the Journal of American Chemical Society 0f about a specific use for Ionic Liquids...
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Equality, except in sickness
Let me start by saying that I am all for gender equality. No person should be restricted by their sex; if men want to dance or women want to lead companies, I say let them. That being said, there is...
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Outta Sight Outta Mind
It is understandable to be confused about our significance. In the grand scheme of things we can believe that our individual actions do not amount to much. Saying you’ll recycle the next bottle or...
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ILs voted the Most Important British Innovation of the 21st Century
The employees in the Queen’s University Ionic Liquid Laboratories (QUILL) Research Centre get to celebrate their work that will have the greatest impact in the upcoming century. These special liquids...
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Mr. Whiskers Is Always With You
For those that are fellow pet owners, a common question often comes up when having people over. “Oh, are you allergic to cats?” Fortunately I no unlucky allergy prone person has visited my house,...
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Not Just CO2
Whenever talking about climate change, people often point to one culprit: carbon dioxide. This invisible gas is formed whenever we burn conventional fuels and gets a lot of attention. Currently there...
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What’s Two Carbons, Among Friends?
Here in America we put ethanol into two of our favorite things: cars and ourselves. I don’t need to share the various ways we consume alcohol; we have cultivated that talent. But did you realize most...
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The Climate Cost of Foods
Typically we only look at the sticker price of foods when deciding what to purchase ($0.29/lb for bananas? score!) however there is a cost to the environment. “Food miles” are a rough measure that...
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Kangaroos and Orange Peels to cut GHG
Raising livestock accounts for roughly 37% of global methane emissions due to human activity. Methane is considered 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide in terms of warming potential. In 2008...
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Alcohol: Liquid Courage for Animals and Us
Boys and their toys. Maurizio Porfiri, a smart dude recently profiled in Popular Science, designs some cool robotic underwater devices. He paired up with Simone Macri from Istituto Superiore di...
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From Plastic Bag to Carbon Nanotubes
Clever Australians have come up with a way to take ordinary plastic shopping bags and turn them into carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Coming up with new, low-cost, and easy to implement methods to create CNTs...
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Frack You and Your Water
The US is producing more energy due to new and controversial exploitation of oil and gas rich shale-rock formations. Seen today in the WSJ, the US looks to be the worlds largest producer of oil and...
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Wafers Assist in the Capture of CO2 (not nilla wafers)
My research involving Ionic Liquids is tangentially related to carbon capture, so I’m always interested when new alternative methods for carbon capture arise. Efficient carbon dioxide management is...
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Filming the Birth (of Molecules)
I cannot take credit for this attention grabbing title, rather Jae Hyuk Lee et. al published the paper “Filming the Birth of Molecules and Accompanying Solvent Rearrangement.” Lee and corkers used a...
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