Mar

31

Marian Koshland Science Museum Exhibits

March 31, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Marian Koshland Science Museum Exhibits. ‘The mission of the Marian Koshland Science Museum is to engage the general public in current scientific issues that impact their lives. The museum’s state-of-the-art exhibits, public programs, and educational programs provide information that stimulates discussion and provides insight into how science supports decision-making.’
Exhibits: Interactive displays illustrate the role of [...]

Mar

31

Less Than a Watt Campaign

March 31, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Less Than a Watt. ‘Most of us believe that the little red standby light uses only a negligible amount of energy, but that’s far from the truth. In the UK, devices left in ’sleep’ mode waste about two power stations worth of electricity each year and produce the same amount of carbon as 1.4 million [...]

Mar

31

C&EN on Vitamin B-12 Mystery

March 31, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Vitamin B-12 Mystery Is Solved. ‘Enzyme structure reveals that one vitamin is cannibalized to make another. By capturing the structure of the sole missing link in its biosynthesis, scientists have solved a long-standing mystery surrounding vitamin B-12.
Vitamin B-12 is one of the largest of the known nonpolymeric natural products. Its biosynthesis is well-understood, with one [...]

Mar

30

Enantioselective Organic Catalysis

March 30, 2007 | Leave a Comment

New chemistry approach promises less expensive drugs. ‘With a newly discovered method of assembling organic molecules, a team of Princeton University chemists may have found a way to sidestep many of the expensive and hazardous barriers that stand in the way of drug development.
The new approach allows scientists to synthesize molecules without employing toxic catalysts, [...]

Mar

27

The Abel Prize 2007: Srinivasa S.R. Varadhan

March 27, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Indian American mathematician is awarded the Abel Prize. ‘The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters has decided to award the Abel Prize for 2007 to Srinivasa S.R. Varadhan, Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York. He receives the prize “for his fundamental contributions to probability theory and in particular for creating a unified theory of [...]

Mar

26

Game Theory Net

March 26, 2007 | Leave a Comment

GameTheory.net. ‘Game Theory .net provides resource materials to educators and students of game theory, including the application of game theory to economics, business, political science, computer science, and other disciplines. Primarily, the site is directed at less rigorous presentations of the material, concentrating more on making the lessons of game theory relevant to the student, [...]

Mar

24

Using Force to Make Molecules more Reactive

March 24, 2007 | Leave a Comment

A Novel Way of Doing Chemistry. ‘Researchers have shown that they can use mechanical force to make a molecule more reactive. By tugging on two sides of a specially designed molecule, chemists have been able to change its shape so that it becomes much more reactive. The researchers were able to control the reactivity of [...]

Mar

24

Science 2.0: Sharing and Collaboration

March 24, 2007 | Leave a Comment

The New Science of Sharing. ‘Companies such as Novartis and Intel are at the forefront of Science 2.0 by encouraging open systems of collaboration. Earlier this month, Swiss drugmaker Novartis did something rather unusual—and almost unheard of in the high-stakes, highly competitive world of Big Pharma. After investing millions trying to unlock the genetic basis [...]

Mar

24

Einstein’s Theory of Relativity Applied to Gold Catalysis

March 24, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Chemists strike gold with new gold catalysts. ‘A University of California, Berkeley, chemist has found a mother lode of new and unique gold-catalyzed reactions by applying Einstein’s theory of relativity to the rare and precious metal. Catalysts are metals that speed up chemical reactions, such as when the platinum in a car’s catalytic converter instantly [...]

Mar

24

Interactive Animations: Visual Quantum Mechanics

March 24, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Visual Quantum Mechanics - Explorations of the Quantum World for Non-Science Students. ‘The Visual Quantum Mechanics project, funded by the National Science Foundation, involves the development of instructional units that introduce quantum physics to high school and college students who do not have a background in modern physics or higher level math. To reach these [...]

Mar

24

1859 Solar Superflare Effect on Ozone Layer

March 24, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Solar ’superflare’ shredded Earth’s ozone. ‘The largest solar flare in the last 500 years may have shredded Earth’s ozone layer to a greater extent than human-made chemicals have in recent decades, new research suggests, but the effect was only temporary. If such a flare occurred today, it would likely be even more damaging to the [...]

Mar

23

Quantum Mechanics, 1925-1927 - Heisenberg: The Uncertainty Principle

March 23, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Quantum Mechanics, 1925-1927 - Heisenberg: The Uncertainty Principle. “The more precisely the position is determined, the less precisely the momentum is known in this instant, and vice versa”. ‘This is a succinct statement of the “uncertainty relation” between the position and the momentum (mass times velocity) of a subatomic particle, such as an electron. This [...]

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