Category Archives: Chemistry

OK, so the factoid about it being a by-product of the space race is completely wrong – but the true story behind its discovery is a lot more quirky. Get to grips with the non-stick chemistry behind PTFE in this week’s Chemistry in its element podcast.

                  

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http://prospect.rsc.org/blogs/cw/?feed=rss2

The registration for the 35th intake into the very popular Graduateship Program in Chemistry, conducted by the Chartered Chemists in Sri Lanka is now in progress.

Those having or expecting to obtain three A/L passes are strongly advised to make use of the early bird registration facility available until August 31, in order to follow the four year program at an academic level equivalent to a BSc Special (Honours) Degree in Chemistry in the fastest possible time and at minimal cost.

Professor J. N. Oleap Fernando, Honorary Rector of the College of Chemical Sciences said that the College has been for the past 15 years the largest producer of graduate Chemists in Sri Lanka.

Further information about this low cost, fast track, high quality program can be obtained from the website http://www.ichemc.edu.lk or by calling over at 341/22, Kotte Road, Welikada, Rajagiriya (near post office) on any day or by phoning 011-2861231/2861653 or by attending the next orientation session on September 8.

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Registration for chemistry graduateship program closes on August 31

Image: Penguin Group USA

Showcasing more than fifty of the most provocative, original, and significant online essays from 2011, The Best Science Writing Online 2012 will change the way...

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The Chemistry between Us: Love, Sex, and the Science of Attraction Larry Young Brian Alexander Penguin Group USA, 2012 ($26.95)

How do I love thee? When neuroscientist Young and journalist Alexander started counting, they found many molecular ways. In The Chemistry between Us, the writers highlight the complex chemical processes that create love in the brain and bolster the argument that love is an addiction.

Young has devoted his career to studying the behaviors and neural circuitry of love in the prairie vole, a rodent whose monogamous tendencies resemble our own. Once a prairie vole has found the one, the pair will most likely remain companions for life. Young's research has implicated a range of chemical activitiesmainly during sexthat build this lifelong bond. In particular, he uncovered how two hormones in the brain, vasopressin in male voles and oxytocin in female voles, regulate social behavior and memorypromoting the recognition of a loved one and the urge to cuddle or defend. In addition, the circulation of dopamine and opioids allows the vole to associate his or her partner with pleasure, thus strengthening their bond. Many of these molecules are identical to those activated in human bonding.

That loving feeling comes at a price. A hormone called corticotropin-releasing factor, or CRF, builds up in the brains of paramours and parents alike. The CRF system activates a stress response, and this system elicits the painful sensations you feel when your baby cries or your boyfriend dumps you. The system may seem like a nasty trick, but it has its uses. Even when passion fades or a diaper needs changing, the sharp pangs of the CRF system keep families and loved ones together. The CRF system also contributes to the agony an addict feels after the elation wears off. Thus, the authors argue, the highs of intimacy and withdrawals of separation parallel the highs and lows that drug addicts experience.

The Chemistry between Us playfully integrates anecdotes and research, bouncing from bizarre experiments examining how rodents can develop fetishes to real-life stories, such as a woman unable to develop loving bonds because of her lack of human contact in an orphanage as a child. Though occasionally too quick, the book's pace makes it feel like a light read. Understanding love's neurochemistry can't compare with the actual experience, but learning the science can certainly make us appreciate our heritage as loving, social beings.

This article was originally published with the title MIND Reviews: The Chemistry between Us.

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MIND Reviews: The Chemistry between Us

Despite a relatively inexperienced squad, sixth-year La Salle-Peru head coach Joe Sassano is hoping a strong team chemistry from his hard-working Cavaliers will carry them through and offset that lack of experience this fall on the gridiron.

The junior-dominated 48-man L-P roster is made up of 19 seniors, 27 juniors and two sophomores.

"They've just got a good work ethic and they've bonded together," said Sassano of his team.

Triggering a "potentially explosive" Cavs offense will be third-year starting quarterback Zack Cinotto, an All-NIB 12 West selection in 2011 after passing for just lass than 1,400 yards as a junior. The strong-armed, 6-foot-1, 210-pound slinger who is on the recruiting radar of college coaches has thrown for more than 2,300 yards during his two varsity seasons.

One of the players who will be responsible for protecting Cinotto and giving him time to fire away will be senior left tackle D.J. Wilmot (6-5, 225) L-P's lone returning lineman.

A couple of expected weapons for Cinotto will be running back Victor Espindola and wide receiver Adam Happ.

"We have the potential to be explosive and hit the big plays," Sassano said. "And I think as the season goes on, we'll be able to, hopefully, control the ball a little bit and be able to move it running. We've got some running backs that can make some things happen.

"Our goal is to be able to have a balanced attack."

The L-P defense welcomes back a trio of starters in linebackers Seth Schiffbauer and Kyle Jenkins, along with safety Billy Vickers. A pair of key players on the Cavaliers D-line will be tackles Michael Denyes (6-3, 220) and Chris Morehouse (6-0, 205).

"Obviously, we're going to have some inexperienced players out there, but yet, they seem to want to play some physical football. I think we've got some tough kids," Sassano said. "And we've got some good speed in our secondary."

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NIB 12 WEST: Chemistry is key to Cavaliers equation

Take this all with a grain of salt, but a book being published next month by Current/Penguin, The Chemistry Between Us: Love, Sex and the Science of Attraction, argues that all the sexy, impatient, bored, jealous, secure feelings you think you have regarding loveabout your boyfriend or husband, the hot guy in the office, your ex are really neurological responses to the chemical cocktails that flow through your veins. Youre not making decisions or choices, not really. Youre following the requirements of biology, and then telling yourself a culturally acceptable fiction like "love at first sight," or "just my type," or "so glad I dumped that douchebag cheater."

The authors, Larry Young and Brian Alexander, are a neuroscientist and a journalist, respectively. They're particularly interested in the rest of the animal kingdom species that haven't developed stories by which we explain away our biological impulses. By describing experiments in which researchers masturbate female rats, stimulate the cevixes of ewes, and study the cheating behavior of otherwise monogamous voles and zebra finches, they trace the biological foundations of human bonding.

So as an end-of-summer public service, I thought I'd pass along three of Young and Alexander's tips on love and marriage.

1. Dont marry the guy you meet while youre ovulating.

The fertile period womans cycle has demonstrable effects on her appearance and behavior. The timbre of her voice changes. She takes more care with her appearance. She becomes more flirtatious. Men notice: Studies have shown that strippers who are ovulating make more money than those who are not. A University of New Mexico psychologist found that ovulating strippers made $354 per five hour shift, as opposed to $264 for non-ovulating strippers. Menstruating strippers earned even less.

But women also make riskier decisions at the fertile time of the month. Theyre likelier to hook up with a stranger, likelier to respond to the attentions of a bad boy type, likelier to rent a house, sight unseen. Heather Rupp is a neuroscientist whose experiments on ovulating women are chronicled in Chemistry. The guy you are most likely to pick mid-cycle he is not necessarily the guy who is going to raise your children, she says. The perfect guy is the guy you like across the entire cycle, and they are rare!

2. Size matters.

Oxytocin is a hormone that triggers bonding, especially in women and especially between women and their babies. It is released through the stimulation of the cervix (which explains, partly, the bonding that occurs between mother and infant after labor). Scientists at the University of Cambridge found in the eighties that if they stimulated the cervixes of ewes (with a dildo!) who had not recently given birth, the ewes behaved maternally toward lambs that did not belong to them. They exhibited the full complement of maternal behavior after five minutes of vaginal-cervical stimulation, the scientists wrote.

Thus Young believes that the human penis has a similar, evolutionary purpose: To massage his sex partners cervix and thus release in her maternal feelings for him: "Men are using their penises to entice women to babysit them.

3. Some men have a bad boyfriend gene.

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The Chemistry of Love

If you're an actor and you're in a relationship with another actor, you better hope that the chemistry translates to the screen. Otherwise, things could get a little embarrassing.

Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard, real-fiances, definitely felt the pressure for their new movie, "Hit & Run," which casts them as two lovers on the lam. When MTV News sat down with the couple, they said they understood the challenge.

"It was kind of high-risk," Shepard said. "Because had we not had chemistry, that would have been rough for everyone."

But even if they hadn't clicked on screen, Bell reminded him that it wouldn't have been the first time. "I think plenty of people have watched movies with people without chemistry," she said.

"But when they are dating, it's rough," Shepard said. "When they are engaged, it's rougher."

Since things went so well the first time around, Shepard said that he wants to get a franchise of movies going with the two of them as stars.

"I'd like to be Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn and do four or five of these suckers together," Shepard said. "In fact, we should redo the boat movie, 'Overboard.' I'd be Jack, right?"

"I would have a shoe closet," Bell said. "This is perfect."

"Yes, look for 'Overboard' next fall in a marina near you," Shepard said.

Do you plan on seeing "Hit & Run"? Let us know in the comments below and on Twitter!

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Kristen Bell And Dax Shepard Are Relieved They Actually Have Chemistry