Chemistry Studies in Siena 2012

Lab Ra...Dogs?

2012-07-12T21:41:00.002-07:00

I did not realize dog testing was so common until every article we discussed in one of Simon’s classes referred to pharmaceutical testing on dogs.

Yearly, over 70,000 dogs are used for drug testing in the US.

Pharmaceutical testing on dogs is legal in the States. The FDA actually requires toxicity tests on rodent and non-rodent species, dogs tending to be the latter.

Why test on dogs?

Scientists have discovered that humans share 5% of both the dog and mouse genomes. I’m sure dog lovers see the resemblances! Our emotions, habits and the general physical layout are all similar.

Dogs and humans are also ailed with similar diseases. In fact, “dogs suffer from more than 350 genetic disorders” such as cancer, cataracts, epilepsy, allergies and heart disease.

Canines are used for research on “autism, paralysis, leukemia, diabetes”, and many other medical conditions.

The small, docile and easily manipulated beagle is commonly used as a lab dog.

Surgical experiments and toxicology tests are top reasons for canine testing. The discovery of insulin in 1921 is contributed directly to medical experimentation on dogs.

However, both the Journal of Toxicology and Nature claimed in 1986 and 2011, respectively, that dogs are “poor predictors of drug effects in humans” and that the industry yearns change considering the ineffectiveness of drug testing on dogs thus far.

Canine rights activists will rejoice.

Vocal cords removed to reduce disturbance, skin illegally burned, tattoos to remain anonymous…

A lab in North Carolina was shut down after researchers there were charged with 14 counts of animal cruelty. This case isn’t isolated either! Dogs can spend their whole lives in research facilities without having ever stepped outdoors.

This is quite a touching article and video detailing the Beagle Freedom Project: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/14/dog-testing-the-beagle-fr_n_898513.html.

Opinions of readers quoted from Nature on pharmaceutical testing on companion animals:

“Continuing to employ hapless companion animals in pharmaceutical testing – a pathetically passé practice – is morally and ethically indefensible, and must cease immediately.

To continue this barbaric practice only lends additional credence to the axiom that ‘mankind’ is the penultimate oxymoron, if ever there was!” ~Stephen Phillips

“Please let us keep the emotions out of this discussion. It is clear that basic, translational, and clinical research has significantly advanced over the last 40 years, where as toxicology research to my knowledge has not. I applaud Johns Hopkins, the ICCA and the Doerenkamp Foundation for taking a lead in reviewing current toxicology practices and helping us to modernize these.” ~Gottfried E Konecny

Hildegard Doerenkamp, a Swiss philanthropist, donated €1 million to the Zurich based Doerenkamp-Zbinden Foundation to work towards reducing animal testing.

The following changes are urged:

The Centre for Alternatives to Animal Testing (CAAT) at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland suggests using a better model for testing such as the mini-pig.

There is also a drive to test on non-rodent species only when in vitro or rodent species do not provide enough information.

And lastly, the FDA and the European Medicines Agency are urged to harmonize requirements for testing to reduce the number of animals used.

It turns out testing on dogs is quite common worldwide. But is this a fair, science based practice or is it a practice based on tradition? You be the judge! Please share your thoughts below.

References:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/14/dog-testing-the-beagle-fr_n_898513.html

http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110628/full/474551a.html

http://news.change.org/stories/animal-use-and-abuse-statistics-the-shocking-numbers

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3760453

http://www.abpischools.org.uk/page/modules/diabetes_16plus/diabetes5.cfm?coSiteNavigation_allTopic=1

http://www.ktla.com/news/local/ktla-beagle-lab-testing,0,7173511.story

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/12/1207_051207_dog_genome.html

http://www.iamscruelty.com/

http://www.animalfreezone.co.uk/thefactsanimaltesting.html

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/78/216097163_621d9523ef.jpg

http://www.cosmeticanimaltestingpictures.com/images/cosmetic/cosmetic-dog-testing.jpg

The Many Ways We Purify Water

2012-07-01T18:10:00.004-07:00

So, part of living in Italy involves many purchases of bottled water, specifically the kinds that are purified and chilled water. Nothing is better in this ridiculous heat than the ability to drink nice, cold water (even at 500 mL).

So, the actual inspiration for this blog was that while I was riding the train from Pisa and while I was waiting for my laundry at the Laundromat, I was also reading “The Hunger Games”. Now, while reading this book, I was definitely expecting the main character, Katniss, to try to find water after being dropped into a wilderness environment and forced to fend for herself. But there is one thing I forgot (or maybe took for granted?) and that is that the water needs to be purified. She uses iodine, a simple way to destroy any offensive bacterial agents, as her weapon of choice against any water contaminants. Thinking about this, I looked at the water bottle I was drinking, and thought back to the fridge water I so take for granted when I am at home. Then, I realized that I actually had a pretty great inspiration for a blog post. How is water filtered?

Having family in India, I have visited the subcontinent several times. One rule is universal: don’t drink the tap water. It is not a good idea. It will give you diarrhea and a host of other bad things can erupt. This is simply because of all the microorganisms that undoubtedly exist in the water. When we visit my grandmother in India, the only water we are allowed to drink is bottled water or water that has been boiled to the point that all contaminants have been killed. Makes sense.

However, this raises an interesting question for me. How does the bottled water I buy in Italy retain its fresh taste by being filtered? How does the water I drink in the fridge at home? These questions linger, and I plan on studying the chemistry of filtering potable water.

Studying about it, apparently the main thing of water filters involves pores. Basically, there are pores (roughly a micron, or 1/1000 of a millimeter, big) and most things such as bacteria, protozoa, and the like are caught by the pores, while water is allowed to freely flow through. This is why sometimes water filters can be very slow moving, while other times they can be very fast.

However, there is some very cool chemistry that can be used to filter water for human consumption. Look at a water bottle in America and most all of them have been filtered through a process known as reverse osmosis. This basically means that, using a semipermeable membrane and some simple equilibrium chemistry (including Le Chatelier’s principle), the osmotic pressure on both sides of a membrane is equalized. Using pressure, reverse osmosis can occur, instead of equilibrating the pressure of both sides, the added pressure essentially forces clean water to the other side of a semi-permeable membrane. Adding a stress to the system causes a change in concentration. Not a perfect example of equilibrium rules, but the basic underlying principle holds true.

However, if you are hiking in the woods, chemistry can also be your friend. Take, for instance, the iodine example I gave above. Assuming you don’t have a thyroid problem or an iodine allergy, that would be totally acceptable, and Katniss was smart to do so (even though I didn’t even think of purifying the water). In a pinch, chlorine will do, even though that’s more for pools and drinking chlorinated water regularly is definitely not good for you. Treat the water for 30 minutes or so, strain it if need be, make sure the water is warm as possible (cold water is harder to treat, and should be allowed to sit for longer), and do something about the taste of iodine or, worse, chlorine. These are both elements that will kill the pathogens in the water and allow us to use chemistry for our biological functionality. (There’s a reason Italians drink wine, it’s tradition: back in the day, they didn’t have this fancy chemistry. What they did have: ethanol. Alcohol kills bacteria. Simple.)

Hopefully, if you are in the Hunger Games, just need some clean water, or are just curious about the water that you drink and how it is filtered, you have learned something from this blog post. Water is a universally important biological necessity, and having clean water is important. This is why so many filtration methods exist. Taste is also important, which is why we have things to add to water, and why Italians seem to prefer bottled water from the less-pleasant-tasting tap water. Something we take for granted every day is something we can now understand much better: having potable, clean water. And isn’t that just a little bit cool?

Info Sources:

http://www.howstuffworks.com/outdoor-activities/hiking/water-filter.htm

http://www.princeton.edu/~oa/manual/water.shtml

http://science.howstuffworks.com/reverse-osmosis.htm

Photo Sources:

http://www.inspiredwater.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/water_pouring.jpg

La chimica dei capelli

2012-07-01T11:33:00.000-07:00

The Chemistry of Life and Hair.

Why is it that almost every Italian seems to have perfect hair? Is there something in the shampoo that they use? Does the pasta and pizza diet contribute to stronger peptide bonds in the amino acids that make up keratin? No, it must be the gel. It has to be.

Well, before we get into the Italian hair styles. Let’s delve into the chemistry of hair. Hair is made up primarily of keratin, a protein. There are three layers that make up the structure of hair. The medulla makes up the innermost layer, next is the cortex, which is surrounded by the cuticle. Let’s incorporate some chemistry shall we. The cuticle swells as a result of hair products with a high pH and shrinks when exposed to products with a low pH. The purpose of the cuticle is to shield damage from the follicle. Anytime, you change your hair color or get a perm or relaxer, you are chemically modifying the cortex of your hair.

Let’s delve even deeper into the chemistry of hair. On average, hair consists of 45.2 % carbon, 27.9% oxygen, 6.6% hydrogen, 15.1% nitrogen and 5.2% sulfur. The following are the amino acids that are found in hair: cysteine, serine, glutamic acid, threonine, glycine, leucine, valine, arginine, aspartic acid, alanine, proline, isoleucine, tyrosine, phenylalanine, histidine, and methionine. Cysteine is the most abundant amino acid and contributes to the strength of hair.

Let’s rewind to the cortex. The cortex is composed of numerous polypeptide chains that are cross-linked with hydrogen, disulfide, and salt side chains. Each side chain consists of the corresponding bonds. Hydrogen and salt bonds are weak physical bonds. The former are broken by water or heat and the latter are destroyed by changes in pH or by alkaline or acidic solutions. Disulfide bonds in hair are chemical by nature and contribute the most to the strength of hair even though they are less abundant than the other two bonds mentioned. The linkage of two sulfur atoms to create cysteine constitute a disulfide bond.

So it may just be that Italians have a greater number of disulfide bonds that yield more cysteine molecules that aid in stronger hair that can withstand any conditions and prevail looking good. Maybe that’s why Buffon’s hair is always camera ready even when he saves goals.

FORZA ITALIA!!!!!!

Sources:

http://www.hair-science.com/_int/_en/topic/topic_sousrub.aspx?tc=root-hair-science%5Eportrait-of-an-unknown-element%5Esuperb-chemistry&cur=superb-chemistry

http://dermatology.about.com/cs/hairanatomy/a/hairbiology_2.htm

BATH SALTS!!!!!!!!

2012-07-01T10:19:00.000-07:00

While we’ve been here in Italy, we’ve all been trying to keep up with the news at home. One of the topics that has foddered the most hilarity (although it’s really not funny when you think about it), is the spree of bath salts induced zombies that have been wreaking havoc in the States. We have all really been trying to puzzle out what compound could possible induce someone to eat another person’s face. Trevor and I decided to recreate the scenario (left), and just couldn’t figure out why it would ever be appealing (and we were both starving). In light of this, and due to the actual, serious nature of these new, legal, designer drugs, I decided to do my blog post on what bath salts actually are.

Bath salts are a legal stimulant, classified under the class of drugs called synthetic cathinones, which have a combination of psychoactive effects on the user similar to those induced by cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamines. To me, this sounds like an absolutely terrible combination, but apparently many people have though it would be a great idea to buy bath salts from gas stations (yes, gas stations), and try them out.

The active ingredients in bath salts are 3,4-Methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV) and/or mephedrone, which usually come from manufacturers in China in extremely pure forms of brown or white powder. These highly addictive compounds induce hallucinations, paranoia, panic, extreme insomnia, agitation, psychosis, and aggressive/combative behavior in addition to other, less severe effects. People overdosing on MDPV (bath salts) have been known to attack people nearby, and even commit suicide. MDPV acts as a norepinephrine-dopamine reuptake inhibitor, which means that norepinephrine and dopamine are left outside cells to overstimulate adrenergic (adrenaline) and dopaminergic (dopamine) neurotransmission in the body. This over transmission leads to the euphoric effect also associated with bath salts. Bath salts can be injected, snorted, or swallowed to produce these, and other, cognitive effects.

3,4-Methylenedioxypyrovalerone

Although the effects that bath salts induce are often laughable (i.e. face eating zombies), the reality is that this drug and others like it are extremely dangerous drugs designed to give the maximum high, regardless of the consequences. Despite the fact that the government is working to illegalize bath salts, drug designers are working faster to come up with new drugs and marketing schemes to replace bath salts and other, similar drugs that are being outlawed. With this in mind, we all have to wonder, is this new zombie population with cannibalistic tendencies here to stay?

http://drugway.com/drug-related/bath-salt-drug-symptoms-physical-and-psychological/

http://www.hdap.org/mdpv.html

http://www.whatyoudomatters.org/Substance_Abuse/Bath_Salts_Composition.aspx

http://bathsaltsdrug.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norepinephrine-dopamine_reuptake_inhibitor

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methylenedioxypyrovalerone

http://www.neurosoup.com/mdpv_bathsalts.htm

It All Begins With A Hit

2012-07-01T10:17:00.001-07:00

Poppy flowers are so pretty, and they are everywhere. When you look at them, you would never think that such things like opium is made out them. Opium has been playing a big role in history in humanity. From the Opium War between China and UK, to the Civil War in the US, opium had significant influence. The Opium War was definitely was one of the worst things that happened to China, and the fault kind of goes to opium. In the Qing Dynasty, the British people brought the opium to China, and started huge trading and merchandising opium. People started to get lazy, including a lot of royal members, just wanted to smoke pipes all day and not work. This soon became a real problem for the society until the government attempted to stop the trading and importing of opium. That was when the Brits got angry and used opium as an excuse and started to fire bombs to China, eventually won the war and we paid Hongkong and tons of money for “compensation”.

Opium is used as a painkiller in the ancient times, and it gives the user a drowsiness effect. Not long after, people have started to use opium as recreational use. They give you a relaxed sensation and hallucination, but the biggest side effect is the hopeless addiction and the withdrawal effect is extremely severe. So what chemical is responsible for this stuff?

The opium resin contains two major alkaloids, the phenanthrenes and benzylisoquinolines (papaverine). Morphine, codeine and heroine are all opiate derivatives that are present in opium. Morphine and codeine are actually utilized in the modern society as potent opiate analgesic drugs that relieve severe pain. Because their adverse affect, the drugs are prescription only. Especially morphine, is present in widely marketed drugs like Avinza and Kadian, etc. The side effects are more or less those of opium. Morphine acts on the myenteric plexus (part of the enteric nervous system) in the intestinal tract, thereby reducing gut motility, causing constipation. In addition, the addiction is very serious, and can lead to the condition similar to heroin addiction if not taken-in properly. Also, the withdrawal effects and addiction lead to great pain, such as depression, anxiety, mood swings and all those kind of bad things. Morphine, as a benzylisoquinoline alkaloid, the chemical structure contains several carbon rings and the ring system has little conformational flexibility (no isomers). Morphine can be made into codeine by methylation. Actually, by modifying morphine, you could create more than 200 derivatives and they all vary a little in functionality. Moreover, as we all know how bad heroin is and it doesn’t do anything good.

Opium has two sides, one to help people for pain relief, one to harm people and countries. Just like thalidomide, with its adverse influence on the previous users but now used to treat cancer. There are just good things you can find about them.

resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morphine#Adverse_effects
http://www.chemistrydaily.com/chemistry/Opium
http://nzic.org.nz/ChemProcesses/biotech/12C.pdf

Yuka -- The Caterpillar Assassin!

2012-07-01T09:56:00.000-07:00

Palio week at last!!!

At the horse trial, we saw all the contradas that are selected this year: The Eagle, Caterpillar, Wave, Forest, Dragon, Unicorn, Turtle, Snail, Shell, and Giraffe. While William was in great support of Dragon and Wave, I decided to support the Caterpillar. So then an argument goes all the way from "dragons are more mystical" to "dolphins eat caterpillars"... No. Dolphins don't eat caterpillars. But even if they do, these small little creatures have their own ways to kill big predators in the world.

Bruco - The Caterpillar Contrada

In order to protect their cute little bodies from numerous predators, caterpillars have a few lines of defense. They can warn off large animals by their bright toxic colors and body markings as a first line of defense. When they are attacked, some will activate second line defense reponses such as releasing poison. Other aggressive caterpillars may combine both defense bristles with venom glands. The South American silk moth, genus Lonomia, produces one of the most potent defensive chemicals in any animal, enough to kill an adult human (or an adult dolphin)!

Deadliest of the Deadly Lonomia - Lonomia obliqua

The caterpillars of genus Lonomia has caused 354 cases of poisoning in Brazil between 1989 and 2005. These caterpillars are even more toxic and dangerous than rattlesnakes, since data has shown fatility rate by rattlesnake bite is 1.8% and by Lonomia is 1.7% while using 0.001% of what a rattlesnake uses! Its venom act as an anticoagulant (interferes with blood clotting) which is powerful enough to kill humans. Most poisoning occur when people rub against multiple Lonomia caterpillars as they pass by a tree, leading to severe pain, kidney failure, and hemolysis. In severe cases, this venom works to cause intense bleeding (or hemorrhaging) in the skull, also known as intracerebral hemorrhage. This is due to the anticoagulants inside the venom, which increases the chances of intracranial bleeding.

Intracerebral hemorrhage - brain will gradually squeeze through the skull...

Interestingly, this deadly poison has its beautiful and valuable side in medication. Lonomia is studied in medicine for its anticoagulation properties; scientists try to use chemicals in the venom as in vivo medication for thrombotic disorders. Unfortunately, the specific chemical makeup of the poison is still not entirely understood yet. Previous studies done by da Silva GH et al. took samples of the Lonomia venom and injected it intravenously to rats. Light and electron microscopy were used to detect the morphological alterations in the brain and blood-brain barrier, and cases of leaky vessels and intracerebral hemorrhage were seen.

Still many studies are carried out to understand the mechanism of envenoming by these deadly caterpillars. Several toxic principles were found in bristle extract and the hemolymph, and some have more than one function. It still amazes me how such natural poison is a valuable pharmeceutical compound that will be useful in preventing life threatening blood clots. More natural products will be used in medicine in astonishing ways, and hope after this great study abroad trip I can continue to learn more about these natural medicines!

References:
"On The Conditional Nature of Neotropical Caterpillar Defenses Against Their Natural Enemies" - Ecology
"Lonomia obliqua caterpillar venom increases permeability of the blood-brain barrier in rats" - Toxicon

Drier than Dried Potato Chips.

2012-07-01T09:54:00.002-07:00

Since our trip is coming a close shortly, I began to ponder about my ride on Delta Flight 241 from Rome to Atlanta. I’m going to be stuck in an airplane cabin for eleven and a half hours. You know, you begin to think about all the things you HATE about airplanes when faced with that number. Like how long the lines for the bathroom is. How you really wish you had gotten a window seat. How you wish the old guy next to you would respect personal space. Or how you wish you could have been seated next to someone more attractive that you wouldn’t mind striking up a conversation with. The list goes on, but there is one that you KNOW you are going to deal with. And that’s the dry, arresting air.

Remember there is NO SMOKING on this flight.

Before my flight to Rome, I was suffering from really bad allergies (as some of my friends have outlined in earlier blog posts… my allergies are BAD). The dry air in the plane cabin really assisted in the allergies. While I loved that the allergies were gone, now it felt like it was so dry that my nose was going to bleed.

So, I began to ponder, how do they get the air SO DRY. At first I thought that it could possibly be some sorcery or demon magic because we all know that the airline companies have sold their souls to the devil.

She's increasing baggage fees, RIGHT NOW.

Rather than some sort of Santeria, airlines simply use HEPA filters. While I cannot conclude myself that all planes are sorcery-free, I can tell you with 100% confidence the mechanism for air filtration.

Air filters on airlines are what they use in hospitals. The efficiency of cleaning all those particles is upwards of 99.99%. There are three mechanisms of filtration that occur.

The first is direct interception. This is the most suspected type of filtration. It’s just like when you are done cooking your wonderful pasta that you’ve imported from Italy, and you are filtering it through your colander.

It's so GOOD.

The second type is a bit more complicated. It involves inertia. Essentially, particles that are denser than air just stick to the solid parts of the filter. It’s hard to keep objects denser than air in the air, so it makes sense. Every see a lead zeppelin? I don’t think so. It would sink faster than a lead balloon from what I can gather. These denser-than-air particles would rather simply stay attached to air filter.

The third type is even more complicated. This is for very small particles are bombarded by very small molecules in the air. This causes the particle to have an unpredictable path. Thus because its trajectory is determined by small molecules moving randomly in the air, the trajectory of the particle becomes more erratic. This is used for filtration because eventually, it will get pumped onto the pores in the air filter, and will adhere there.

It's like me on market day in Siena.

Here's a really informative video from Pall Corporation on how their air filters work.

I"m sure the music encourages the pores to filter better

With these three methods employed, it essentially creates a completely sterile air environment. Considering that planes air cycles through filtrations 20 times an hour while an office building’s air is cycled only 12 times an hour, airplanes have clean air. They are so clean that hospitals use the same types of filtration.

With all this filtration, it really takes out all the moisture in the air. They also want that because moisture can lead to mold, bacterial growth and other pretty bad things when confined to a small space. So, you can reliably believe your airplane has clean air. Now if you sit next to a sick person, you might want to ask for that oxygen mask…

These wonderful sponsors gave me great information and images!

http://www.pall.com/main/Aerospace-Defense-Marine/Microbial-Removal-Cabin-Air-Filters.page#bacteria
http://strongholdsmashers.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/magic.jpg
http://www.visualphotos.com/photo/2x1905129/cooked_pasta_being_taken_out_of_colander_902289.jpg
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/es060424e
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownian_motion

Money Matters

2012-07-01T08:50:00.002-07:00

In the Palazzo Ducale in Venice last weekend, Meredith and I saw an exhibit entitled Il Vero e il Falso (Real and Fake) about counterfeit banknotes and coins throughout the centuries in Italy. It was remarkable how similar some of the fake money was to the real thing – I definitely would not be able to spot counterfeit bills from real ones. While the older counterfeits were noticeably different with crooked printings, slightly different colors and less detail, the 21^st century fakes were nearly perfect matches to the real euro.

Real Currency

Fake Currency

Counterfeiting began with the first productions of currency. Initially it consisted of mixing pure metals (gold and silver) with cheaper metals and of “clipping,” or shaving metal off the edges of coins to create counterfeits with. With the introduction of paper money, counterfeiting expanded and began to be included as acts of war with enemy nations printing counterfeits to cause inflation. To combat counterfeiting, stringent punishments existed, including the death penalty, in both the United States and England because the crime was seen as being a threat to national security.

As counterfeiters have become more skilled at their trade, the need for more advanced detection and production techniques has risen. A recent study conducted in China found that the use of solvent-free gold nanoparticle assisted laser ionization imaging mass spectrometry (IMS) was a non/minimally destructive technique. It involves first spraying a layer of gold nanoparticles on currency or documents, which does not disrupt the spatial distribution of inks, dyes and markings on the paper. Then the gold is ionized by nitrogen laser irradiation and the ions are desorbed from the paper and detected conveying information about the molecular images on the note along with the order of inks present on the paper. This allows, for example, the detection of adulterated checks while preserving the original sample for further investigation.

Demonstration of the non/minimal destruction caused by gold nanoparticle assisted IMS

But with only about 1 fake note out of every 10,000 banknotes in the United States, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, the likelihood that we’ve used counterfeit money is slim. In addition, the average loss due to accepting counterfeit bills is 20 cents per person in the States. Check fraud accumulates more losses with an estimated cost of $1 billion in 2005 compared to the loss of $56.2 million caused by fake currency.

Sources:

http://www.veniceconnected.com/node/12223

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterfeit_money#cite_note-7

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ac1020485

http://www.chicagofed.org/digital_assets/publications/policy_discussion_papers/2010/PDP2010-2.pdf

The Cruel Reality of Veal

2012-07-01T07:56:00.001-07:00

In the past month or so, I have become enamored with Italian cuisine. My meals are no longer dictated by white rice and bok choy (a form of Chinese cabbage), but are now dominated by bread, pasta, and olive oil. However, as a devoted meat lover, how could I survive without indulging in all the delicious dishes Italy has to offer? While Italians do not really consume poultry, they do eat a lot of pork as well as veal. Growing up in Texas, beef has always been an integral part of my diet. However, back in the states, I had never had the chance to eat veal. While I have had my fair share of steaks, veal has always remained a mystery to me. After consuming veal two or three times, I began to wonder to myself: Just how cruelly are veal calves treated?

Veal is considered to be one of the cruelest foods in the world, along with shark fins and foie gras. Veal comes from the meat of young calves, usually male because of the lack of use for male cows in dairy farms. In the case of formula-fed veal, young calves are often raised in dark crates in order to limit their movement. Limiting their movement prevents the development of their muscles, which in turn, means that the meat is more tender. The crates fulfill this purpose by being extremely small, making the calves unable to even turn around. The calves are also fed synthetic milk consisting of Vitamin D, but lacking in iron.

Vitamin D is naturally obtained from sunlight. Humans can obtain the amount of Vitamin D they need for the day just by being out and under the sun. Vitamin D obtained this way goes through two hydroxylation reactions and is converted into the active form known as Calcitriol. Calcitriol promotes the absorption of calcium and phosphorus as well as the reabsorption of calcium from the kidneys, making it crucial to the growth and development. Since veal calves are locked in crates of darkness, their diets contain supplements of Vitamin D.

Iron is crucial to the production of red blood cells. A lack of iron results in a lack of production of red blood cells, resulting in a condition known as iron-deficient anemia. Veal calves are consistently fed synthetic milk that lack iron due to the desire to have their meat look white. The meat of the calves that are raised this way are known as formula-fed veal.

Although I knew that the reality behind the production of veal was very cruel, I never knew the extent of the cruelty. However, other types of veal such as non-formula-fed veal and free raised veal are much more humane. For free raised veal, calves are raised naturally through a mother's milk and pasture grasses. This results in a lower fat content as well as a pinkish color in their meat. Thankfully, the veal I have had were all had pink colored meat so I know that the calves were not cruelly abused when they were still alive.

Works Consulted

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/161618.php

http://animalrights.about.com/od/FactoryFarming/a/Whats-Wrong-With-Veal.htm

http://italianfood.about.com/library/weekly/aa030801.htm

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/348307

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veal

http://www.talkoftomatoes.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/422212482_5e92f12730.jpg

http://www.occupyforanimals.org/uploads/7/7/3/5/7735203/1003719_orig.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/62/Calcitriol.svg/220px-Calcitriol.svg.png

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs8hYtV5xL4LowwNFGb1S9ERHVGzUJBeFzCQbGveLVcrywRFDiiQxsxQFou_9lkhT8tvngPZYUA8iqYot-b4d4O8DzQo08oEeVViPWXkSxcn_YuQzMNI0FABaW3SrMrI2IRZ92Ka46YfA/s400/Anemia.jpg

Rotten Tomatoes

2012-07-01T06:56:00.005-07:00

Supermarket tomatoes do not taste as good as they used to be. As I was browsing through the news on a Saturday morning, I came across an interesting article describing new research that had identified why tomatoes have lost their flavor over the past years. With this new knowledge, scientists may eventually be able to recreate the flavor that had once been present in the tomato population. The answer lies in the genes.

About 70 years ago, tomato growers began mass producing the variety of tomatoes that we see today: uniformly colored, light green tomatoes that eventually ripen into uniformly colored red tomatoes. Since most of us are around 20 years old, it’s difficult to imagine how much better tomatoes used to taste because we’ve never had it. You can still get tomatoes of the “traditional” variety, but they come from small farms and are usually more expensive or rarer. Tomatoes used to have splotches of different shades of green and red. The advantages they saw in the new, uniform color mutation was that it made the tomato look more visually appealing and easier to identify as ripe during the harvesting season. However, an unintended consequence occurred. Tomatoes unexpectedly lost their flavor.

Fruits and vegetables use photosynthesis to convert energy from the sun into sugars that the plant can use for food. Scientists focused on two genes in tomatoes that are responsible for this: GLK1 and GLK2. The two genes help signal the production of chloroplasts, or the plant structures that undergo photosynthesis. While GLK1 works exclusively in the leaves of the plant, GLK2 is active in both the leaves and the fruit of the tomato plant. Most of the sugar of the fruit, about 70-80%, comes from the leaves of the plant, but the rest of it is produced by the fruit itself – providing that the tomato has the GLK2 gene.

As you might be able to guess, the tomato growers unintentionally bred out the GLK2 gene when they preferentially selected the tomatoes with uniformly light green skins. Modern tomatoes were missing this gene that helped the fruit produce more sugar. To try and see if they could reproduce tomatoes of the old, splotchy and darker-green variety, scientists genetically engineered modern tomatoes with the GLK2 gene. What they found were tomatoes that were not only 40% higher in sugar content, but also had 20% more carotenoids. Lycopene, which is the primary carotenoid found in tomatoes, has known health benefits in the form of anti-cancer, antioxidant properties. So in addition to being tastier, the genetically modified tomatoes are also healthier. Unfortunately, the researchers who conducted this study (Powell et al., 2012) were unable to actually taste test their creation due to regulations, so more (tasty) tests are needed to qualitatively confirm the success of their experiment!

Lycopene structure

My hopes are high for the future, where we can enjoy the sweeter, more flavorful tomatoes of the past.

Works Consulted:

· http://www.sciencemag.org/content/336/6089/1711.full

· http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-tomato-taste-20120630,0,4449608.story

· http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/29/science/flavor-is-the-price-of-tomatoes-scarlet-hue-geneticists-say.html?_r=1&ref=geneticengineering

· http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2166063/Genetic-breakthrough-spell-end-supermarket-tomatoes-taste-like-mush.html?ITO=1490

· http://www.lycocard.com/index.php/lyco_pub/health/

"What Floor Ya Gettin Off At?"

2012-07-01T05:47:00.000-07:00

Want to go to space to have a picnic in a space park? Well, that’s definitely a foreseeable possibility, in our lifetime.

You may be asking yourself, “Really Trevor, you think that I can just enjoy the luxuries of space in my lifetime?” I think it’ll be the future’s Disney World. The technology is essentially there for us to create the impossible; we just need to improve it.

We can create a lifting mechanism that will take you to space easy, but the hardest part is anchoring it to the ground. Well, scientists believe that carbon nanotubes may be the answer. These have already been applied in everyday items that involve carbon fiber, but only on a small scale.

These nanotubes have been created with a length to width ratio of 132,000,000:1. For a nanotube that is 11ft wide could reach the moon.

http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/8/2011/02/medium_space_elevatordiagram.jpg

They use a fullerene structure which was inspired by Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic designs in architecture. For example, in a geodesic dome, the supports constantly experience compression and decompression which allows for the dome to stand on its own. There are limits, but they are so far beyond man’s needs that the domes are essentially limitless.

http://extremelongevity.net/wp-content/uploads/Fullerene-C60.png

Fullerene. It is the simplest and easiest geodesic dome in the world. Just 60 carbon atoms and boundless limits....?

However, carbon nanotubes may slowly be encountering these limits. If we want to build a space elevator, these tubes will need to be improved. We can make them in proper lengths, but they do not hold the tensile strength withstand the forces of being slung around the earth with weight on the end. These tubes already exhibit the greatest tensile strengths in the world, but they do not work well under compression because they will buckle. However, for my dream of the space elevator, it will always be under tension! So, the dream of the space elevator will take some innovation, but science is on its way.

And, these nanotubes are making their way into our lives. They exhibit incredible thermal conductivity and are being deployed in the electrical circuits and wires now. They also absorb radar, so the military is looking to use it for stealth purposes. Scientists have been make nanotube walls to destroy cancer.

Nanotubes will change how the whole world works. This much we know. I, however, would be happy with just a picnic in space.

Thanks to these sponsors

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_nanotube#Structural

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckminster_Fuller

10 Hour Flight?!?!

2012-07-01T05:34:00.003-07:00

I just looked at my flight itinerary and it’s a 10 hour flight, but I thought it was 9 hours! Air Canada, you’ve managed to piss me off again. But in all seriousness, why is the flight back to the States longer? No, it’s not reverse culture shock and missing Italy (well possibly), nor is the plane mechanically slower. Believe it or not, it’s actually because of the Earth. More specifically, a natural phenomenon called the “jet stream” acts as a force that helps propel (or in some cases, slow down) aircraft at certain altitudes along a particular corridor in the Northern hemisphere. While the jet stream is normally associated with its impact and purpose in the field of aviation, it also plays a significant role in meteorology, affecting weather patterns, and even has military usages, such as aiding fighter jets and driving unmanned weaponry.

The jet stream seems to be a crucial aspect in our lives and has definitely served society a great deal of usages, but how does it work exactly, there must be some science and logic behind it. Simply put, the jet stream is basically a path of high-speed air current that circles the Earth. To be more accurate, it’s not a single jet stream, but in actuality, there are really multiple jet streams on Earth and they even exist in the atmosphere of other planets. In the Earth’s atmosphere, there are in total four major jet streams, two in each of the Northern and Southern hemispheres: Polar jets and Subtropical jets. Of the two, the Polar jets are stronger and located at lower altitudes than the somewhat weaker Subtropical jets (7-12 km and 10-16 km above sea level respectively). Regardless, jet streams can have speeds up to several hundred miles per hour; speeds over 247 mph have been recorded. These main jet streams are located in a layer of the atmosphere wedged right between the troposphere and the stratosphere called the tropopause. The jet stream is several thousand miles long and a few hundred miles wide, but the thickness is relatively miniscule, only a mere few miles. So in order to harness or avoid the jet stream, airplanes have a narrow window in terms of altitude to aim for, but also have a wide path that can be taken for an extensive period of time, assuming travel from West to East.

So, what exactly causes this massively intense, high-speed force that can accelerate aircraft and why does it travel from West to East? These two factors of the jet stream are actually interrelated and are derived from a combination of two aspects of the Earth. The foundational bases of the jet stream are the Earth’s axial rotation and the temperature difference between two air masses. The requirement for air masses with a temperature difference basically dictates where the jet stream is located. In the case of the Northern hemisphere, the jet stream is primarily located between the latitudes of 30⁰N and 60⁰N because that is the area where the cold Arctic air mass meets the warm tropical air mass. The jet stream also shifts according to the season and the weather; generally speaking, there is a shift north in warm weather and south in cold weather. Also, the jet stream is stronger in the winter than in the summer due to the greater temperature difference between the air masses. The temperature difference between the air masses is not exactly the direct cause of the jet stream, but there is a clear, distinct connection. To begin, air masses of different temperatures have different densities, cold air being denser than warm air, providing an air pressure difference. At higher altitudes in the atmosphere, the air pressure simple continues to escalate and grow. The air pressure difference causes winds that desire to flow from the warmer air to the colder air, from high pressure to low pressure. If this logic works, then the winds should flow vertically from the warmer southern air mass to the colder northern air mass. However, this doesn’t hold true, the jet stream flows horizontally along the boundary of the air masses. This is where the spin of the Earth comes into play. The Earth’s axial spin causes a natural marvel called the Coriolis Effect, which basically deflects the winds to flow along the air masses. The Coriolis Effect causes the winds to turn right and flow from West to East, not into the opposing air mass. Overall, the jet stream is strong winds produced from temperature differences and the Coriolis Effect.

Now that we understand why the plane ride back home will be longer, not cause of the airline, but instead we will be on the plane longer because of the jet stream from the Earth. Rather than being mad at the airline on the whole ride home, we should sit back, relax, and simply remember all the great times we’ve had in Italy over these past 6 weeks. (But I’ll still be pissed at Air Canada for my 8 hour layover…)

Resources:

http://geography.about.com/od/climate/a/jetstream.htm

http://geography.about.com/od/physicalgeography/a/coriolis.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jet_stream

http://www.weatherquestions.com/What_causes_the_jet_stream.htm

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-jet-stream.htm

Girls and the armpits

2012-07-01T04:53:00.000-07:00

Our trip in Italy has been characterized by gelato, creeper pictures, and the obsessive adoration of armpits. Most people would be very confused and disgusted by the last item in that list, but not for the girls on this trip. They’ve taken checking guys out to a whole new level, so much so that they’ve even come up with codenames to describe each guy they talk about. The girls have a complex system of words, each one categorizing a guy into a group. At first you would think it’s just a short game that would run its course and be done, but it’s continued. Even near the end of the program, it has continued and the girls even gotten more descriptive. If you just take a look at our Facebook group you'll find many excellent examples. When some of the girls finish their work, all they want to do is find “armpits”, especially “sweaty ones” but not “deodorized or shaven”.

It is interesting to see this unfold because if a guy were to do this same game, he would probably be considered to be a “tool” or “douche”. This comes down to the idea of a double standard. Most of the time women believe they are on the wrong end of a double standard, while men seem to have it easy. It’s interesting to try and find how this arose. Is there actually a double standard in society or have women used their genetic differences to convince society that there is a one? Even if there isn’t a double standard, have women just used their powers to implement one? I mean it has gotten to the point where no matter what happens in a situation, most guys will still adhere to the time-withstanding saying that “The woman is always right.” It’s intriguing to ponder where this saying came from. Did it stem from women always winning?

Let’s first take a step out and examine the situation as a whole. Many women tend to believe or at least express that there are too many double standards present in society, most resulting with them on the losing side. How many of these women can justify their claims? That’s a completely different story. Let’s just take a look at society real quick. First, many women believe their bodies are objectified by men. They believe this is a reason why women have to be more concerned with their body, placing some of the blame on the male gender. Some extrapolate this to claim that this is why women are more self-conscious about their body. Turns out, research shows that actually men are more concerned with their physical appearance than women and men would sacrifice more in their life for a perfect body (1). Another example presents itself when women talk about how unfair it can be to be a woman, especially because they have to endure childbirth. When a women is giving birth, she feels up to 57 del (which is a unit) pain, similar to fracturing 20 bones at once. Compare this to when a man gets kicked in the nuts, he feels above 9000 del pain which is about the same as giving birth to 160 kids and breaking 3200 bones at once (2). How in society have these examples been twisted? Could it simply be due to women being dramatic? Possibly, especially because girls are normally considered to be more cat-like and judgmental of each other, even though research shows men tend to leap towards judgment while women see more shades of grey (3). Something in that situation has to make women’s judgments become more prevalent than men’s, even though in women’s natural thought process they jump to judgments less. Women are also more likely to delete friends on social networking cites, a possible expression of their more-pronounced feelings (4). There must be some factor must be present that pushes women’s feelings to a higher level. This same factor might also explain why women tend to get their way more often.

We seem to be able to find a root of these factors in the genetic differences between men and women. Male brains are naturally larger than female brains, so some might assume men to be smarter and get their way more often, but actually certain parts of the female brain work better (5). The corpus callosum, which is nerve tissue that connects the right and left sides of the brain, is larger in females than in males (6). When read a novel, males only seemed to listen from one hemisphere of their brain while females listened from both. This activity across both hemispheres typically results in the stronger language skills demonstrated by females. Women also have a larger ventral prefrontal cortex than men, around 10% larger in fact (5). This area deals with social cognition and interpersonal judgment, which also contributes to how women are better at using social and speech skills than men. Can the way women seem to get what they want a lot of the time and their dramatic ways stem from this literary difference? It seems plausible, especially because both men and women are more effective at persuading someone if they use a feminine style (7).

Corpus Callosum

It already seems like women only need their naturally superior literary and convincing skills to get what they want and turn societal differences in their favor, but there’s even more support. Even though men have a bigger brain and on average have a five-point higher IQ score, these benefits are no match when having a conversation/argument with a women (8). New research shows that unlike women, when men talk to members of the opposite sex, they tend to automatically become cognitively impaired (9). At this point it’s not even fair for a man!!!

In many arguments with a woman, it seems very hard to win. Whether this is due to me having naturally lower listening and communication skills or because men seemingly become dumber when talking to a woman, it always seems so hard. Even when the facts are present as listed above, women have somehow been able to twist these subject matters into their favor. As much as I could try to reverse them, I as have many before me fall back to the same old saying: The woman is always right.

NOTICE: This blog post may be over-exaggerated for entertainment purposes and does not accurately reflect all the views of Chris Weeden

References:

(1) http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/jan/06/body-image-concerns-men-more-than-women

(2) http://mcrapu.com/woman-vs-man-in-pain/

(3) http://phys.org/news/2011-04-men-tend-judgement-women-grey.html

(4) http://tech.slashdot.org/story/12/02/25/0111219/women-more-likely-to-unfriend-than-men

(5) http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=girl-brain-boy-brain

(6) http://www.webmd.com/balance/features/how-male-female-brains-differ

(7) http://wip.ncbar.org/media/2754960/effectsOfGenderOnCommunication.pdf

(8) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1274952/Men-ARE-brainy-women-says-scientist-Professor-Richard-Lynn.html

(9) http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=why-interacting-with-woman-leave-man-cognitively-impaired

Ohhhhhh Balotelli!!!

2012-07-01T04:50:00.002-07:00

2012 Italian National Team

For the past month, a group of us have been keeping up with the Euro Cup and cheering for Italy every step of the way. The Italian national team has advanced to the finals after some impressive moves and maybe a little bit of luck in every previous game they have played. Regardless of whether they win the Euro Cup, some of the players’ names have become household (or dormhold) for us. Goalie Gianluigi Buffon, Andrea Pirlo, Mario Balotelli, and Antonio Cassano have proven to be some of the best players on the team, and by far the most popular for us (except for Anahita, who will always love “El Niño” from Spain the most).

This blog is dedicated to the Italian national soccer team, which has been the incentive for us to finish our homework early so we can go cheer alongside the Italians as we watch the quickness, cunning, and finesse that the players bring to the field.

With high-intensity sports like soccer, it is important to maintain a good diet and to stay hydrated (I’m sure you’ve heard that from your PE instructor as well as your mother). This reduces the effect of fatigue during and after a match.

The definition of fatigue is “failure to maintain the required or expected power output.” If you play sports, be it soccer, swimming, cross country, or even karate, you’ve probably experienced fatigue at some point during training.

Let’s look at the facts for soccer players. They run between 9 to 12 kilometers (~5.5 to 7.5 miles) per game, but it’s not steady or continuous. Soccer players change their activity every 4 to 6 seconds. In a single game, players perform about 220 high-speed runs and have over 1300 changes in activity. They are also at 75% of their maximal oxygen uptake throughout the game. It’s no wonder that fatigue can impede their performance throughout the 90 minutes of the game. Here are a few of the reasons why:

There is a correlation of increased potassium in muscle and fatigue, which is hypothesized to be related to a player’s anaerobic metabolism. Potassium is increased when muscle pH is lowered, and results in depolarization of muscle membrane potential and decreased force development, making it harder to perform at higher levels during a game.

Studies have shown that the first 5 minutes of the second half of a soccer game are marked by less high-intensity running than at the start of a game. This is why you always need to warm up again during halftime: lower muscle temperature results in a decrease of high-intensity performance. A decrease of only 2 degrees Celsius can cause major inhibition of performance during the beginning of the second half, but re-warming up 7 to 8 minutes before the start of the second half can prevent this.

It has also been shown that players, regardless of their skill level, have a decrease in high-intensity activity during the last 15 minutes of the game. This could be due to glycogen depletion in muscles. Muscle glycogen is a reserve source of glucose for muscle. As the body requires energy, these stores are used up. A correlation was observed between lower glycogen levels and fatigue during intermittent exercise. Glycogen is depleted the longer players are exercising, leading to fatigue by the end of a 90-minute period.

Dehydration is also a major factor. Players lose an average of 3 liters of fluid during a match, and a 1 to 2% decrease of body mass can increase core temperature and cause cardiovascular strain, which in turn induces fatigue.

You might have heard about lactic acid build up in muscles. For years both scientists and nutritionists alike have thought that a buildup of muscle lactate is connected with fatigue. While performing high intensity exercises, glucose breaks down and oxidizes to form pyruvate, which produces lactate. This is a process called gluconeogenesis. Our tissues can’t remove the lactate as fast as it is formed, so the concentration of lactate in our blood and our muscles rises. However, more recent studies have revealed that increase of muscle lactate does not contribute significantly to fatigue during a soccer game.

So, throughout a soccer game, fatigue can happen during different periods of the match for different reasons. Players must prepare well in advance with their diets, and they must stay hydrated. If fatigue sets in during a game due to unpreparedness, it could mean a slip up, an injury, or even the loss of the game.

But we all know that won’t happen to Italia.

Thumbs up, Buffon.

Sources:

http://www.antoniocgomes.com/cms/pdf/08062010152203.pdf

http://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com/lactic-acid.html

http://www.google.it/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&ved=0CGMQFjAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmostafataheri.com%2Fresources%2FFatigue%2Bin%2Bsoccer.pdf&ei=LCPvT5XcNebO4QTg3ozfDQ&usg=AFQjCNHB6vofs0mSK7adZEowFpwrW634Qg&sig2=SIObNunPi3MjOJDjQgvY2A

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycogen

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10662708

Kenny Wants To Know About the Sunglasses He Almost Bought in Padua

2012-07-01T04:19:00.003-07:00

I think it’s safe to say that sunglasses made by Ray Ban (my personal favorite makers of fine and stylish eyewear) are popular in America. To say the same about their status in Italy, however, would be a huge understatement. It seems like here, everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) has a pair of aviators or wayfarers, all brandished with the signature Ray Ban logo. After checking out the Ray Ban site and looking at their history section, I learned that Ray Ban invented anti-glare technology and polarization in order to help pilots see more easily while flying. Curious, I looked into how these and other sunglass technologies work, and I found that they involve a lot of Chem 260 topics we recently covered!

So light waves can be refracted into many directional planes after emerging from its source, and, once it is refracted like that, it is said to be polarized. We can see an example of natural polarization of light every time we look at a body of water; light hits the water, and it is refracted off, usually in a horizontal orientation. Polarized sunglasses have a special filter sprayed on to them composed of molecules that line up with each other in such a way that uniform “slits” are created in a particular orientation. Light can only pass through this filter if it is aligned in the same direction of the slits. Since naturally polarized light usually is horizontally refracted, most polarized lenses usually feature vertical slits, which block out all of the horizontally refracted light, allowing us to see without the glare of a lake’s surface, for example.

The color of the lens, of course, is also involved in selective light blocking. White light, the kind of light the sun emits, is a combination of all colors of light, so blocking out some colors using different colored tints will yield a clearer view for us. As we learned in Chem 260, the colors of objects we see is the color of light not absorbed by the object, and this is a pretty solid application of that knowledge. Grey lenses reduce overall brightness and glare. Yellow and gold lenses absorb blue light but let other colors through. Blue light tends to bounce off of a lot of different surfaces, so blocking it and only it out yields a clearer overall view without too much darkening. Amber and brown lenses are like the more intense versions of yellow and gold lenses; they also block out blue light, but they also absorb harmful UV rays. Green lenses filter out some blue light and reduce glare, but they also increase contrast, allowing green lens wearers to see more clearly. Purple and rose lenses increase contrast of objects against blue or green backgrounds, making them popular choices for hunters.

While writing this, I might have gotten distracted multiple times by the Ray Ban website...even though I already have a pair, I think I just might have to get another when I get back home! Good thing my birthday is coming up soon...

Sources: http://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/light/u12l1e.cfm

http://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/everyday-innovations/sunglass8.htm

http://www.ray-ban.com/usa

“Scientists Invent Particles That Let You Live Without Breathing” (from Gizmodo)

2012-07-01T03:25:00.003-07:00

This is one of the coolest things I have read about in the past few months. I stumbled upon an article on Gizmodo titled “Scientists Invent Particles That Let You Live Without Breathing,” and I was immediately intrigued.

from Gizmodo

Scientists have been searching for a way to inject oxygen particles into blood for years now. This would allow physicians to keep a patient alive for an extended period of time after respiratory failure, a feat we have not been able to accomplish until now. Respiratory failure quickly leads to cardiac arrest and brain injury. Early attempts of injecting oxygen led to air bubbles and the current treatments rely on the machinery of the lungs, which is often not reliable.

Researchers at the Boston Children’s Hospital developed a method to inject oxygen particles into the blood stream allowing for 15 to 30 additional minutes without physical breathing. These particles have been tested on oxygen-deprived rabbits, and successfully restored oxygen levels to near-normal levels. Rabbits with their windpipes completely blocked were able to survive for 15 minutes with the help of these particles. As soon as the mixture is injected, the oxygen particles quickly bind to hemoglobin and the lipids dissolve and disintegrate into the blood. However, the particles can only be used to add 15 to 30 minutes because the fluid could overload the blood if used for longer periods of time.

The particles are made up of oxygen and lipid molecules. A single layer of lipids surrounds a few oxygen particles and this is then delivered in a liquid solution intravenously. The structure is similar to that of a phospholipid bilayer containing the contents of a cell. The liquid solution can easily be carried by paramedics and used in code carts.

A sonicator mixes the oxygen and lipid particles together with the help of high-intensity sound waves. The particles themselves are about two to four micrometers in size, and not visible with the human eye. The solution actually contains three to four times the amount of oxygen in our blood. In fact, 70% of the solution is made up of oxygen particles.

This was all possible because of a diverse team of experts in chemical engineering, particle chemistry, and medical doctors. This treatment is currently being further tested and optimized for human use. It has the potential to save millions of lives every year. Keep an eye out for it!

Scientists Invent Particles That Will Let You Live Without Breathing:

http://gizmodo.com/5921868/scientists-invent-particles-that-will-let-you-live-without-breathing

An Incredible New Way to Breathe During an Emergency:

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/06/study-of-the-day-an-incredible-new-way-to-breathe-during-an-emergency/259046/

Injecting Life-Saving Oxygen Into a Vein:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/06/120627142512.htm

Oxygen Gas-Filled Microparticles Provide Intravenous Oxygen Delivery:

http://stm.sciencemag.org/content/4/140/140ra88

Fuel or Rabbit Food?

2012-07-01T02:36:00.002-07:00

During our recent trip to Val d’Orcia, we visited a storage facility for the grains produced in the area. But one of the giant warehouses we peeked into held something other than grain- it housed a huge pile of grass pellets. To many, these probably looked like something you would feed to an animal, but they reminded me of home and of the wood pellet stove that we use to heat our living room. So what is a pellet stove, and what is the big deal with these weird-looking bits of wood?

Pellets: food or fuel?

Generally, pellet stoves are fueled by wood pellets, which are made of sawdust and other wastes from logging and milling of trees. But they can also be made of rice-husks, grasses, and other biological plant waste, like the ones in Val d’Orcia. To make the pellets, wood material is dried, milled, compressed, and formed into pellet shapes, with the lignin in the wood acting as a natural “glue” that holds the pellets together. The most important step here is the drying process, which gives pellets better storage and combustion properties than traditional wood. The final pellets contain between 6-10% moisture. Wood pellets are easy to transport, burn more efficiently, are easy to use, and represent a renewable source of energy. Pellets are used for small heating stoves as well as larger central furnace systems and for other heating appliances, although they are used as a primary heating source mainly in certain European countries.

Example of a wood pellet stove

Wood pellets are viewed as an environmentally-friendly fuel source in comparison with fossil fuels, since they emit little to no greenhouse gases. Specifically, a study done in Sweden, the most prominent user of wood pellets for heating, looked into emissions arising from the use of wood pellet stoves. After performing tests both in a laboratory and in residential settings, the study concluded that pellet stove emissions are generally low, but identified a few major components of those emissions.

The main compounds that are found in wood pellet emissions are carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, aromatic hydrocarbons, small volatile hydrocarbons, and antioxidant methoxyphenols. Carbon dioxide (CO₂) is a known greenhouse gas that was found to compose 6-23% of smoke emissions from pellet burners. But the study argued that the release of CO₂ is balanced by the fact that pellets are made of plants, and the CO₂ released when burned is equal to what was once consumed by the plants during their life. This theory, however, has come under fire in recent years, and a June 2010 report for the Massachusetts Department of Energy stated that burning wood pellets does indeed release a large amount of CO₂ into the atmosphere, which should not be ignored in consideration of pellet use. In addition to CO₂, carbon monoxide (CO) is often released during pellet burning, usually due to incomplete and inefficient combustion, which occurs when machines are used on “half effect,” meaning not at full energy capacity.

Aromatic hydrocarbons, which consist of one or more benzene rings, are also hazardous compounds that are released during the burning of pellet fuel. Benzene, the simplest of these aromatic hydrocarbons, is a known carcinogen, along with naphthalene. It was found that the relative abundance of these hydrocarbons increases with increasing combustion temperature in pellet burning appliances. However, the concentrations of these compounds were very low (much lower than sitting in a room with secondhand smoke) and it was argued that since they are emitted from chimneys at higher elevation, they do not pose a threat to humans.

The volatile organic compounds found in the emissions consist of small organic molecules such as methane, ethane, and ethyne. Methane is another known greenhouse gas, having a global warming potential over 20 times that of CO₂. Like many of the other harmful compounds in pellet stove emissions, methane is released in relatively low amounts (0.5-30 ppm), which corresponds to less than 5% of the global warming potential of burning fossil fuels. Of the other volatile organic compounds released, alkenes are also dangerous because of their photo-oxidant potential, and some can be genotoxic. This means that in the presence of UV radiation, these compounds can attack cells of the body, including DNA, by causing radical chain reactions.

Luckily, to combat this photo-oxidation effect, the final group of compounds in pellet fuel emissions is antioxidant methoxyphenols. These compounds are derived from lignin, which makes up 30% of the composition of wood. When wood is burned at around 400°C, lignin decomposes into methoxyphenols with either a guaiacyl or syringyl structure, depending on whether it is hard or soft wood. At higher temperatures, lignin is broken down further into simple phenols, and at 800°C and above, aromatic hydrocarbons are formed. The methoxyphenols formed from incomplete (low temperature) combustion are antioxidants that protect the body’s cells from radical attack.

To summarize, pellet-burning appliances release various compounds in their emissions that are both harmful and helpful. In general, the concentrations of these compounds are low and wood pellets are generally seen as a good alternative source of energy. However, there are concerns about CO₂ emissions, as well as the availability and sustainability of wood pellets as a fuel source. It will be interesting to see if the popularity of pellet stoves grows in the coming years, but for now I will be perfectly happy sitting in front of my nice warm pellet stove during the coming New England winter!

References:

http://publications.lib.chalmers.se/records/fulltext/5787.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_pellet

http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/fplrp/fpl_rp656.pdf

Because you're worth it

2012-07-01T02:36:00.001-07:00

Girls usually have one favorite shampoo brand that they swear by, and I’m no exception, but on this trip I have used several different types of shampoos, from the Fuge’s “2-in-1 shampoo and body wash” – which I thought was really questionable – to a shampoo for “frizzy, curly, thick hair” from an Italian pharmacy. I wondered if all shampoos function essentially the same way. How does shampoo work?

I can't do without my Garnier

We all know how soap works from, like, day one of general chemistry. Well, shampoo works practically the same way (no surprise there) but there’s more chemistry beyond that. Shampoos contain several key ingredients that are necessary to clean hair without damaging it. Hair glands at your scalp release an oily substance made of fats and wax called sebum, which prevents the scalp from drying out. This oil accumulates dirt pretty quickly though, which is why you need to shampoo your hair, since water alone cannot remove dirt from oil.

Shampoos use cleaning agent called surfactants that produce the foam/lather that occurs during shampooing. While there are many different molecules that can be used as surfactants, they all have a similar composition: a hydrophilic end and a lipophilic end. Remember from soap – the lipophilic end is attracted to the nonpolar oils, while the hydrophilic head of the molecule is attracted to the polar water molecules. Surfactants encase oil molecules and separate them from each other, then the polar heads on the outside attract water to wash away the dirt and oil.

Surfactants can differ based on the length of their nonpolar hydrocarbon chain, which can range anywhere from 8 to 18 carbons. Shorter chains have stronger oil-removing capabilities, while longer chains are more mild but less lathering. Shampoos use what are called anionic surfactants, which have a negative charge when ionized. The most common of these are sodium laureth sulfate and sodium lauryl sulfate – these are used in popular shampoos such as, say, Herbal Essences Hello Hydration, of which Bhavesh claims to be a fan for its Hawaiian coconut scent.

sodium lauryl sulfate

The only problem with this highly effective cleaning method is that shampoos remove all the oil that protects hair, so this oil has to be replaced. This is where conditioners come in! Conditioners contain essential fatty acids which are the next best thing to replace the natural sebum. Hair is composed of 97% keratin, which is a protein with a surface made of negatively-charged amino acids. Therefore, conditioners contain what are called cationic surfactants, which are positively charged when ionized. They will cling to the negatively charged strands of hair, so they aren’t easily washed off with water.

I looked at the ingredients in the conditioner that Carolyn bought from the olive oil shop, and sure enough, the third ingredient listed was cetrimonium chloride, which is the most common cationic surfactant. This molecule has a single positive charge at its head, which binds to hair strands and creates the smooth texture and prevents those pesky fly-aways.

cetrimonium chloride

Conditioners also contain some kind of silicone-based ingredient that coats the hair to prevent it from drying out after shampooing. The most common is dimethicone, which forms a slick coat around each strand of hair in order to separate the strands, detangling hair and making it easier to comb. Cetrimonium chloride is also an emulsifying agent, so it helps disperse the water-insoluble silicone oils into the conditioner.

dimethicone

So now you know why it's important to use conditioner after shampoo. Especially for those of us unfortunate enough to have curly hair, which without fail will turn into some kind of Albert Einstein look when we don't use conditioner. Not a sight anyone wants to see.

Oh and one more thing of dire importance.... FORZA AZZURRI!!!! VIVA ITALIA!!!

<----- that's the face of a champion if I've ever seen one

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/euro-2012/euro-2012-final-preview-mario-balotelli-italy-stand-spain-run-record-article-1.1105563?localLinksEnabled=false

Sources:

http://suite101.com/article/how-shampoo-works-a130330

http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/issues/2005/january/taketwobottles.asp

http://www.naturallycurly.com/curlreading/curl-products/curlchemist-what-is-cetrimonium-chloride

Lead Oxide: Exploring the difference between glass and crystal

2012-06-30T14:23:00.001-07:00

In light of our visit to ColleVilca where we learned about the chemistry of glass and glass blowing methods, I began to question what makes crystal more valuable than glass. From my understanding, what differentiates the two is based primarily on lead oxide content, crystals ranging from 24-27%. Anything slightly under this amount would be considered lead glass while anything higher could be potentially poisonous for us to use. What is intriguing though is that this small range in chemical composition is enough to make the difference between a prized item and one that is overlooked. If glass and crystal and virtually identical to the untrained eye then there must be some reason why crystal is so much more desired and expensive. So, I asked our guide what it was about crystals that made them so different from glass and why it is more valuable. I was hoping for some magical property or characteristic unique to crystals but, much to my dismay, she referred back to lead oxide content. She said lead oxide is very expensive to use so the more you have in your product, the more valuable it is. A little research, however, and I find there is a lot more to lead content than I thought.

Crystals are a type of glass, meaning all crystals are glass but not all glasses are crystals. The concentration of lead necessary to constitute something as a “crystal” varies from region to region. In the United States, having 1% lead oxide incorporated into production of glass is enough to give a product the “crystal” name. In Europe, there is a standard for making glass/crystals but the range is much larger than the one set by ColleVilca. Here is a breakdown of lead content and what this means in terms of defining glass in Europe.

glass ware= 4-10% lead content

lead-glass= 8-10% lead content

crystals= 10-30% lead content

lead crystal= >30%

The presence of lead oxide in important because it hardens the glass, making it easier for artisans to exquisitely cut and engrave it. More importantly, lead has intrinsic properties that make objects sparkle. Glasses with more lead oxide content have more sparkle, meaning they can diffract light better. Regular glass with little to no lead content cannot diffract light, whereas fine crystals are capable of casting “color spectrums though a whole room” in the presence of light. Certified Vilca crystals, which are guaranteed to have over 24% lead content, are made with a very high refractive index of over 1.56. The presence of lead adds more weight to the final product, making crystals heavier than regular glass. This is not to say that, however, they are sturdier. Incorporating “lead into glass reduces the ‘give’ in the glass,” actually making it more fragile and brittle. In regard to atomic structure, crystals are arranged in a highly ordered and repetitive manner whereas arrangement in glass is random. This is why the sound produced when you flick a crystal produces a much more dainty and long-standing "ding".

Below is an image highlighting the structural difference between glass and crystal:

So, like I had thought, there is more to lead oxide than it’s price. The presence of lead gives crystal physical properties that make it more desirable than glass. Higher levels of lead oxides means better cuts, more intricate design, more sparkle, more weight, and of course, more delicacy. The art of glass-blowing at ColleVilca was indeed a sweaty and arduous process but the result? Priceless.

Sources:

http://www.grandinetti.org/resources/Research/Applications/OxideGlassStudies/GlassStructure.gif

http://www.ehow.com/list_6299129_differences-between-glass-crystal-glassware.html

http://vspages.com/glass-vs-crystal-23591/

http://www.luckyglass.cz/en/crystal_glass.html

http://www.differencebetween.net/object/difference-between-crystal-and-glass/

http://www.vilca.it/en/tips-for-crystal

http://www.kinsalecrystal.ie/history.htm

To inhale or not to inhale

2012-06-25T23:30:00.002-07:00

Anahita Sattari

Among the things I have noticed during my stay in Italy, like how the people emit an air of elegance and grace, is how it almost always seems to be in the midst of a puff of smoke that encircles the crowd. Smoking seems to be a fashion trend that never goes out of style. It’s as if the cigarette in the hand is an accessory much like the high heels and designer sunglasses everyone is adorned with. Smoking doesn’t discriminate in Italy. The adolescent, elderly, female, and male populations smoke alike. What’s more, the effects of smoking are not specific to smokers as non-smokers are exposed to 250 harmful chemicals, 69 of which cause cancer according to the National Cancer Institute. Secondhand smoke is composed of smoke given off by a tobacco product and the smoke exhaled from a smoker. It is almost impossible to avoid any exposure to secondhand smoke when roaming the Vias in Italia. This is a problem as lung cancer is a result of inhaling secondhand smoke.

The negative health effects that cigarette smoke yields do not deter smokers from inhaling. So it seems unlikely that they will quit, even when inhaling is at the expense of another’s, aka a non-smoker, health.

Studies to determine to the extent of the effects of smoking on smokers and non-smokers are being continued.

It was found that a polymer is capable yielding superoxide from the reduction of molecular oxygen, which will ultimately convert into hydrogen peroxide and hydroxyl radicals. There are radicals in the tar and gas phase of cigarette smoke. The latter phase consists of oxygen- and carbon-centered radicals which are more reactive than those of the tar-phase. The radicals in the gas phase are produced from the oxidation of NO to NO₂.

The following are some of the toxic chemicals that are present in secondhand smoke: ammonia, butane, carbon monoxide, chromium, cyanide, formaldehyde, lead, and polonium. It seems unfair that we, the nonsmokers, are put at risk because of the nicotine addictions of the smokers. Furthermore, there is no safe level of secondhand smoke, so any exposure is damaging. It seems that Italy should follow countries like France, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, and Uruguay, which require places of work including restaurants and bars to be smoke-free.

Too Much Fun in the Sun

2012-06-25T15:15:00.000-07:00

After spending last weekend in Vernazza, a small sunny town in the Cinque Terre, I came back to Siena rather severely sunburned. Parts of my skin glowed painfully red and any movement or touch was excruciating for a few days after. And you may be wondering why I didn’t apply more sunscreen to begin with, instead of trying to find aloe in a nearby farmacia, which entailed explaining my problem with hand gestures and some revealing of my skin. The problem, or one problem rather, was that I didn’t feel or see my sunburn until hours after leaving the seaside. It turns out that this is a normal phenomenon – skin can turn red 2 to 6 hours after the initial burning.

So some basics: Sunburn is caused by UV radiation from the sun burning the skin. The ultraviolet radiation from the sun is divided into three categories – A, B, and C. While the atmosphere, specifically ozone, filters out almost all of the C subtype along with some A and B, enough UV radiation reach the earth’s surface to cause burns. The burn will develop for up to 72 hours after the initial exposure and pain is generally worst 6 to 48 hours after, followed by peeling skin 3 to 8 days afterwards. Additional symptoms of sunburn can include tenderness, blistering, rash, fever and nausea – these symptoms are caused by the dying cells releasing toxins and when many cells die, they peel off. In extreme cases, hospitalization may be necessary for the treatment of sunburn.

Although all of the immediate effects of sunburn are extremely unpleasant, the worst problem caused by sunburn is DNA damage. The radiation causes both direct and indirect DNA damage to skin cells, which can lead to skin cancer. The direct DNA photo-damage (or damage caused by light) occurs when the UV light excites the DNA molecule and, within one picosecond, that energy is released. This energy causes the formation of a bond between two thymine bases, as seen in a study by Kohler et. al. In the study, researchers created special strands of DNA with only thymine bases and observed the chemical reaction induced by UV radiation in which the base pairs dimerise when they are in the right conformation. Due to the speed of the reaction, even the rapidly moving DNA molecules appear frozen during the time in which the photo-damage occurs. This damage impairs the replication process - but don’t worry too much, our cells are capable of healing themselves up to a certain point. Problems are more likely to happen when sunburn and DNA damage are frequent; in fact, chronic damage is believed to be a cause of cancer causing mutations.

A tan, on the other hand, is the body’s protective response to sun exposure. Skin cells produce a substance called melanin, which absorbs solar radiation. There are two types of melanin produced by cells: red pheomelanin and a very dark brown eumelanin. Both types of melanin cause the darkening of skin color after sun exposure. UV-A and UV-B radiation cause two different processes in the development of a tan. First, UV-A radiation causes the oxidation of existing melanin which causes it darken. In addition, stored melanin is released into the cell. This mechanism does not increase the amount of melanin in the skin so there is also no increase in protection against sunburn. The second process, initiated by UV-B radiation, causes an increased production of melanin, through the process of melanogenesis. This is a reaction to direct photo-damage, as discussed previously, and is protective against future UV exposure.

So the major lesson learned: even if you don’t feel the sunburn happening, wear sunscreen because you’ll probably start turning a lovely red within the next 6 hours.

Sources:

http://www.chemistrydaily.com/chemistry/Sun_burn

http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/dnaburn.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_tanning

http://homeremedieshealth.com/home-remedies-for-sunburn/

It's About Time...

2012-06-25T14:46:00.000-07:00

In commemoration of one month of successful living in Italy (and so we can fully live our last few days here), I thought I'd post some useful Italian words and phrases.

This isn't the most chemistry-oriented blog post (I'll make it up with my next one, don't worry!) but I figured we can try integrating the language in our everyday interactions with our fellow neighbors, students and gelaterians. And I can stop trying to speak Spitalian (Spanish+Italian) with them!

First off: Pronunciation

C
=”K” before a, o, u and consonants

=”CH” before e and i

Ex. Ciao!

=”GAH” like in “good” before a, o, and uand consonants
Ex. in Good

=”JAH” like “general” before e and i

H is silent.

For other letters, it's generally safe to read it as it sounds.

Numbers are infinitely helpful, I’ve realized.

1	uno	11	undici	21	ventuno	31	trentuno
2	due	12	dodici	22	ventidue	32	trentadue
3	tre	13	tredici	23	ventitré	33	trentatré
4	quattro	14	quattordici	24	ventiquattro	40	quaranta
5	cinque	15	quindici	25	venticinque	50	cinquanta
6	sei	16	sedici	26	ventisei	60	sessanta
7	sette	17	diciassette	27	ventisette	70	settanta
8	otto	18	diciotto	28	ventotto	80	ottanta
9	nove	19	diciannove	29	ventinove	90	novanta
10	dieci	20	venti	30	trenta	100	cento

Oh, what about those greeeetings?

Ciao: casual, “hello”
Buongiorno: “good day”, formal, use in morning and early afternoon
Buono sera: “good evening”, formal, use in evening into the night
Arrivederci: “goodbye”

Ooo, I’m doing well. And you…?

Come stai? How are you?
Come va? How are things?

If we're talking to more than one person we say…

Come state? How are you?

Respond with…

Bene, grazie. E lei? Good, thank you. And you?
Benissimo. E lei? I’m very well, and you?
Non ce male. Not bad.

My name is…

Mi chiamo . . . My name is…
Come ti chiami? What’s your name?
Piacere - pleased to meet you

For nationality, you can use “Sono”

Ex.
Sono italiano/italiana

I would like a… (At a restaurant)

Caffé: a small and mighty shot of espresso
Latte Macchiato: milk with very little coffee
Cappuccino: cappuccino

Prendo un cappuccino - I'll have a cappuccino.

Il conto, per favore. The bill please.

“Quante”or “Quanto costa?” How much is it?

FACT: Italy consumes 220,000 tons of Gelati a year.

Cono o coppetta? Cone or a tub?

Interesting toppings on La Pizza, Italy's favourite fast food.

melanzane aubergines
acciughe anchovies
capperi capers

The all important meats:

*la carne*	meat
il manzo	beef
il vitello	calf
il maiale	pork
la pecora	sheep
l'agnello	lamb
il pollo	chicken
il coniglio	rabbit
la gallina	hen

Oh, and most importantly! Questions to ask when you meet a sweaty armpit…

Quanti anni hai? How old are you?
Hai fratelli? Do you have brothers or sisters?
Hai bambini? Do you have children?
Che lavoro fa? What do you do for a living?
Lei è sposato? Are you married?
Lei è fidanzato? Are you engaged?

You know when to walk away when he says something like mia ragazza or fidanzata or donna. This means he’s talking about his girlfriend, sadly.

Common words

Dove Where
Molto very
ex. Molto grazie! Thank you very much

moglie wife

figlia daughter
figlio son
bambini children
piccolo small
più more
Olio oil
Aceto vinegar
A sinistra To the left
A destra To the right
Accanto all’albergo Next to the Hotel
Notti night
per stasera tonight

And lastly…

Andiamo, which means “Let’s go!”

Resources:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/italian/talk/transcripts/
http://www.tantarobina.com/2008/3/23/pollo
http://italian.about.com/cs/pronunciation/ht/pronounceconson.htm

Salt Bloom?

2012-06-25T14:34:00.002-07:00

While I was sitting in the microclimate-stabilizing room outside the Scrovegni Chapel this weekend in Padova, I watched the video on the Chapel that was playing to pass the time. It actually turned out to be very interesting, and I learned about a new form of art deterioration that peaked my interest: salt bloom. I was actually so interested in it that I asked Vijay to remind me about it later for my blog post. So here I am now, still wondering what salt bloom is. (Side Note: the Scrovegni Chapel was a funeral chapel, commissioned by Enrico Scrovegni for his father, that was painted by the renowned artist Giotto after its construction began in 1300).

Salt damage in the Scrovengi Chapel Paintings

It turns out that salt bloom, or efflorescence, occurs when solvent evaporates out of a porous substance, and leaves behind highly concentrated salt deposits that appear as a “bloom” on the painting. In the Scrovegni Chapel, the salt bloom also caused blistering and distortion in the paintings. These “blooms” happen in everyday life too on our garage floors and sometimes on our walls to, but usually no extreme measures are necessary for removing them due to the regular usage and traffic on and around these items. However, works of art damaged by efflorescence often require the use of bacteria (solvents can be used, but they are often damaging) to get rid of the unsightly bloom.

Efflorescence from Lipid Accumulation on Leather

Efflorescence can also appear as the accumulation of fatty acids on the surface of porous materials. These fatty acids present in the art can arise from a number of sources, such as leather, paints (i.e. oil), and other treatments done to works of art by artists. There is evidence that some of the lipid crystallization may occur more heavily around certain colors in a painting due to chemical reactions that may arise from the different compositions of the paints. Researchers are still looking to what kind of deposits form on the paintings and what reactions might make them take place.

Much work has been done on the Scrovegni Chapel to help restore and maintain its condition. The microclimate-stabilizing room were sitting in was just one of the mechanisms conservators have devised to help preserve the Scrovegni Chapel, but it is an extremely important one. By having the microstabilized climate and by allowing only a 25 people at a time to visit inside the chapel, conservators have made definite steps to help avoid more salt bloom from contact with too much of the outside environment, which could cause changes in the paintings’ hydration states. Hopefully these measures will keep the Chapel looking great for another 700 years.

The (pardon the pun) Shocking Truth about Electricity.

2012-06-25T14:02:00.001-07:00

So, here’s something interesting: Italy’s electricity is different from America’s. First of all, I need this stupid adapter to get anything plugged in and done. Second of all, I need to make sure that everything I plug in works at 220V. And why is that? Because if I don’t, then it will fry.

This thing is so useful, and so necessary.

Let’s start with a talk about electrical current. Power is generated either through the consumption of fossil fuels or through some other source of energy (nuclear, wind, solar, etc.). This power is in the form of electricity. Electrical current is the flow of the electrical charge through a medium (like power lines). Most power lines work on Alternating Current (AC), meaning that the current cycles (at 50 Hz in Italy, 60 Hz in the US). This is as opposed to Direct Current (DC), which is much harder to distribute over long distances. With AC, power is distributed from the power plant to our appliances. Of course, the voltage is controlled by transformers along the power line, which are able to use magnetic fields and some simple electromagnetic math to convert electricity from one voltage from another. It should be clear that the power of a device is equal to the voltage times the current (considering the voltage is how much energy is in each particle and the current is the number of particles per second, this makes sense). This means that if the voltage is too high, the device will be overpowered and fry.

We all had to check our devices that we brought on this trip to ensure they were 220V compatible. Luckily, laptop chargers generally do work at these voltages. Also, my cell phone charger works here. Sadly, my charger for my electric toothbrush didn’t, so I had to leave that behind. It’s a sad but true reality, unless you have what is basically a giant waste of space (a portable transformer that will step up or down the current for your specific device), you will have to leave something behind. I hope the people who wanted hair driers were able to find some way to manage.

So this leads me to an interesting question. Why is the US 110-120V and Italy 220V? Is there some specific reason? Well, back in the day, everyone seems to have used the lower voltage, but Europe realized that it would be smarter and easier to use the higher voltage. Sadly, this was impractical for the United States, whose residents already had too many lower voltage appliances. So, the old voltage stands (although it was upped from 110 to 120 in the 1950’s).

Another thing: voltage is not what kills you, but rather current. However, with twice the voltage, a higher current through your body is possible, and currents in Europe are far more dangerous than currents in the United States. When we see the blue shocks in the US coming from our outlets, it generally doesn’t mean much to us. However, seeing it in Europe (which I have), is not something to be as blasé about as I would think, apparently. It’s serious business, an electric shock could kill you here. So be safe, have fun, enjoy charging your laptops, and I hope you were a bit more educated today!

Sources:

http://goitaly.about.com/od/travelpackingtips/l/bl_electricity_italy.htm

http://askville.amazon.com/difference-110-volt-220-Europe-Asia-Pro-Con/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=724312

http://0.tqn.com/d/goitaly/1/0/Y/4/-/-/plug-adapter.jpg

I’m Obsessed With Make-Up

2012-06-25T13:31:00.005-07:00

So… I put on make-up everyday, and I’m obsessed with them. Make-up is just so much fun and there are so many colors. It makes you look different and exuberant different vibes with different make-ups. And one my one little addictive hobbies, is to collect lipsticks. I don’t usually wear lipsticks normally, because I look too dressy when I wear them. Still, lipsticks are one of the most fun cosmetics products and their packaging is usually really pretty. My favorite lipsticks are from YSL(Yves Saint Laurent). They are really smooth and stay on all day. They have absolutely stunning colors and smell so good. My favorite shade is, hands down, mysterious red. I wear it when I’m really dressed up, and it’s the prettiest red I have ever seen.

Also, I recommend the NARS matte color lip pencils; stay all-day and so easy to use! Before I turn this post into a make-up tutorial, let me talk about some chemistry about lipsticks.

Historically, ancient people color their lips with different things. In ancient china, people use pigmented paper extracted in plants and flowers to color their lips. The ancient Egyptians are known to use henna to paint lips, whereas there is another recipe that shows the lip paint is composed of focus-algin, 0.01% iodine and bromine mannite. This is toxic! Maybe that is why make-up is considered to be evil in the ancient times.

Lipsticks nowadays are made of wax, oils, pigments and emollients. Wax is pretty important in the composition in lipsticks and is mainly responsible for the smooth “glide on” touch. Also, of course, the shape of the tube. Beeswax is commonly used in lipsticks. It is made of esters of straight-chain monohydric alcohols with even-numbered carbon chains from C₂₄to C₃₆, along with straight-chain acids with even numbers of carbon atoms up to C_36.Hence, this is a very stable structure, preventing the lip-color to decompose easily. Moreover, oil is essential as well. Olive oil, mineral oil, caster oil and cocoa butter are often used. Oil makes the lipstick thick and sticky to keep the color cling to the lips. The combination of oil and wax keeps the lipstick to wear off when drinking water or licking her(maybe his ;)) lips.

In addition, the pigments (dyes) of the lipstick have to be special to stick to the lips for a long time. Because dyes are soluble, they have to be “laked” first, meaning converting the soluble substances to insoluble ones by treatment with metal oxides. Eosin is a popular substance to be used. When it is in contact with skin, the NH₂ groups on it reacts with the surface and becomes a deeper red.

Lipsticks are awesome and definitely one of the greatest inventions. But I probably wouldn’t wear them if they were toxic like ancient times!