Chemistry

Chemistry, Biochemistry, Materials Science, Geochemistry, Organic Chemistry, Analytical Chemistry, Atmospheric Chemistry

Reflections on long hours in the laboratory, and working for results

Marc Leger Chemistry, Mathematics and Statistics
A recent Twitter discussion on long work weeks by academics caused me to reflect on my previous life in academia – that decade where I completed my MSc and PhD in chemistry, postdoctoral studies, and four years as an assistant professor of chemistry in two different universities. The Twitter discussion began in earnest when, In response to this tweet about the distribution of work hours for “average” professors: The average #professor works over 60 hours…

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The biennial athletic pursuit for group 11 elements has begun!

Marc Leger Chemistry, Mathematics and Statistics
When I first saw a periodic table of the elements, I observed that the three Olympic medals – gold, silver and copper, the largest component of bronze – were the three group 11 elements. The order of these elements from lightest to heaviest – copper (Cu), then silver (Ag), then gold (Au) – follow the order of the medals in ascending value. (In 1994, a fourth group 11 element was discovered. With a half-life of…

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Why the Golden Age of Cinema was its most dangerous

Marc Leger Chemistry, Mathematics and Statistics
Going to the movies in the first half of the 20th century was dangerous.  The movie theatre projection room was a hazardous place to work.  And while the source of the danger was well understood, it took several decades for filmmakers to finally offer moviegoers and projectionists a safer environment to enjoy Hollywood’s finest works. Before looking at the dangerous chemistry of early film, let us remember how motion pictures work.  The video portion of…

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Irrational behaviour at the casino – why were the other players so angry with me?

Marc Leger Chemistry, Mathematics and Statistics
During our recent short trip to Niagara Falls, my wife and I strolled through a casino, as a warm and sheltered shortcut from our bed and breakfast to the waterfront.  I had no interest in trying out the slot machines or any of the table games.  I enjoy considering the statistics behind casino games, and I love playing card games and games in general with friends.  But I’m not a big fan of casinos themselves…

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Niagara Falls didn’t freeze over, and it was beautiful

Marc Leger Chemistry, Mathematics and Statistics
My wife and I left the Downtown Toronto hustle for a few days between Christmas and New Year’s, for two nights in a lovely bed and breakfast in Niagara Falls. The intent of our mini-vacation was to spend some quiet time indoors, reading books, perhaps writing (in my case, I thought more about relaunching Atoms and Numbers!), and just relaxing after a busy few months. Unbeknown to us when we booked this trip in early…

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A Motion-Sensor Switch for Antibiotic Resistance: My New Paper in the Journal Structure

Shane Caldwell Biology and Life Sciences, Chemistry, Health, Medicine and Veterinary Science
I’ve been working on my thesis for the last few months, squirreled away in libraries and coffee shops, but now I’ve submitted and waiting to defend, I’m happy to share what’s happened in the meantime! A research paper I’ve been working on for a long time has been accepted, and published in the journal Structure. You can find it online, here. This paper makes up a bulk of the work in my PhD thesis, containing…

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How build a protein – lessons from the Protein Engineering Canada 2016 meeting

Shane Caldwell Biology and Life Sciences, Chemistry, Health, Medicine and Veterinary Science
How do you make a new protein, or a new function in an existing one? This is the goal of the field of protein engineering. Researchers working in this field use a number of strategies to try to make proteins with new characteristics. The development of proteins with new function have applications in industry, medicine, and biotechnology. Want a more stable or more efficient enzyme? Talk to a protein engineer. Want to convert a protein…

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I love thial-S-oxides so much I cry

Shane Caldwell Biology and Life Sciences, Chemistry, Health, Medicine and Veterinary Science
Lots of things can make us cry. Pain. Joy. Boredom. Sadness. Toy Story 3. There’s another common source of tears in any home, and it lives in the kitchen. Onions and other plants in the Allium genus produce compounds that trigger an involuntary reaction. Chopping these bulbs turns even the most stoic into a weeping mess in minutes. What makes this happen? Does the onion want us to be sad? Does it want us to…

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Music of the Macromolecules

Shane Caldwell Biology and Life Sciences, Chemistry, Health, Medicine and Veterinary Science
To fully understand a molecule, you first need to learn what it looks like, and then, how it moves. This isn’t easy. I’ve talked before about how unusual biological molecules can be if you’re accustomed to thinking of real-world objects. They are fundamentally flexible and dynamic in a way that everyday objects aren’t. They move chaotically, at lightning speed, crashing through a molecular mosh pit on the sub-microscopic scale. Protein and nucleic acid macromolecules are…

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