A Bird, A Spider And A Human Walk Into A Bar...

A Bird, A Spider And A Human Walk Into A Bar...

One of my son’s favorite before-bed books is a Bert and Ernie number called “Bert’s Hall of Great Inventions.” (http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Bert%27s_Hall_of_Great_Inventions) On each page poor Bert…
Better Bricks Made Of Wool And Seaweed

Better Bricks Made Of Wool And Seaweed

Researchers have made environmentally-friendlier bricks that are also stronger than traditional ones.   That is a big win for everyone. Untreated clay was one of the earliest building materials…
Needed: Research Funding 2.0 !

Needed: Research Funding 2.0 !

I always wondered why research findings funded by tax dollars are freely available to pharma companies to make big bucks. It is a vicious cycle. It starts from taxpayer funding research projects that…
Dry Water- How Can Water Purify Effluents!

Dry Water- How Can Water Purify Effluents!

This whole week there are write-ups all over the internet about something called dry water. Well, originally the idea was patented in 1968, so its not out of the blue. But there is a new use to…
Weekend Science: How To Cook For A Whole Army

Weekend Science: How To Cook For A Whole Army

I am something of a historical repository for my family.   So I have some cool stuff from way back, like a photograph of my great-great-great grandfather, and then also more recent items, like…
Citric toilet

Citric toilet

One of the things that I learnt from my father, who was a chemical engineer, is that halide ions are aggressive towards metals, and steels in particular.  Now bleaches contain a lot of chloride…
Making Phosphorus Go Green

Making Phosphorus Go Green

Phosphorus is a critical ingredient in fertilizers, pesticides, detergents and various industrial and household chemicals but once phosphorus is mined from rocks, getting it into products is…
Analogy Watch: Hydrogen Bonding

Analogy Watch: Hydrogen Bonding

A video posted on A Blog Around the Clock a few days ago discusses the mechanisms behind hydrogen bonding. The first half of the video is visually basic -- simple diagrams to illustrate the points in…