TEM Video of Rhenium atoms and pygmy owls (two different links)

Walking with atoms — chemical bond making and breaking recorded in action 

The video on this page is truly astounding. From the main author: “We trapped a pair of rhenium (Re) atoms bonded together to form Re2. Because rhenium has a high atomic number it is easier to see in TEM than lighter elements… we observed the atomic-scale dynamics of Re2 adsorbed on the graphitic lattice of the nanotube and discovered that the bond length changes in Re2 in a series of discrete steps.”

 

Classification and practical approach to the diagnosis and management of hypersensitivity to nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs – Kowalski – 2013 – Allergy – Wiley Online Library

Here are several documented cases of angioedema from NSAIDs (like when I had my eye swell shut due to aspirin). I made a vlog about it.

 

The medications that change who we are – BBC Future

Mood, Personality, and Behavior Changes During Treatment with Statins: A Case Series.

Statins may be linked to mood changes in rare cases.

 

 

 

A 3.8-V earth-abundant sodium battery electrode | Nature Communications

This was really interesting. Sodium metal batteries need cathodes that can take up sodium ions without destroying themselves. This seems to be one such material. It’s on my list to see how it has evolved over the last few years.

 

How Negativity Can Kill a Relationship

Negativity is poison. Criticism and complaint and blame are BAD. It takes 10 positives to overcome a negative. So don’t do the negative. You can’t keep up. There are not enough hours in the day.

 

Multivalent Cation-Induced Actuation of DNA-Mediated Colloidal Superlattices 

The Mirkin lab made gold nano-assemblies with DNA, then changed their properties with metal ions. This is a nice example of the sensitivity of DNA to its environment. I tell students to use magnesium instead of sodium if they need more stable DNA hybridization, but these folks used nickel and cobalt to change DNA more dramatically.

 

Ketamine is revolutionizing antidepressant research, but we still don’t know how it works

Ketamine is a very safe tranquilizer with euphoric effects. It has been a drug of abuse, but it is widely used in veterinary practice. Now it looks like it has immediate and lasting effects on treatment-resistant depression. So if depression just won’t let up, there’s a new option. It’s fascinating that such an old drug (discovered in 1962) still presents biological mysteries.

 

This is my favorite grammar comic ever.

Girls With Slingshots ran for a long time. I think it’s on reruns now? It’s great.

 

Feeling Deprived Can Lead to Some Illogical Behavior | Psychology Today

“Dealing with extremely limited resources increases the problems and barriers we have to deal with, resulting in mental fatigue and cognitive overload. Other studies show that being lonely, or deprived of food, results in an unhealthy obsession, hyperfocus, and overvaluing of the thing we don’t have. Ironically, the nature of scarcity itself impedes our coping efforts.”

 

Comic: Love your neighbor as you love yourself.

 

Geopolitics With Energy Independence After Electrification and Fracking – NextBigFuture.com

It will be a while before sales of electric vehicles overtake fossil vehicles. Then demand will fall as old vehicles retire. That has geopolitical implications. Oil has been a strategic resource for 100 years. That will change.

 

Gold bar found in Mexico was Aztec treasure: study

It is peculiar to be able to piece together a moment hundreds of years ago because of the chemistry of a piece of metal dropped into a canal.

 

Hydrogen accumulates at microstructural defects in steel

Hydrogen embrittlement is a strange phenomenon. I would love to do a demonstration.