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Lately I'm quite busy and I didn't manage to update the blog as much as I would like....

So here some random pics (I use some of them for talks), some original, some downloaded from the magic place called the internet:

Few days ago, someone was complaining on the lack of chemistry related memes on the internet. Ok, ok, we have the chemistry cat, but those are pretty bad jokes (few ones are good actually. And naturally we had our own labmate meme some time ago....

Few new ones now:

Parafilm is without any doubt the most used consumable in all the laboratories in the world. Need to seal something quickly? Parafilm! Need to repair something? Parafilm! Need to stop bleeding from a glass scratch? Napkin and parafilm! Your shoe is broken? Parafilm for keeping it useful until going back home!

Parafilm! Parafilm! Parafilm!!!!

But, this magic plastic, is used only in labs? Of course not, such amazing material is used to keep oxygen out of your favorite whiskey, wrapping your flowers or painting your models ... It's one of the few things that you can find in the lab and in the "real world".

But, who invented this magic film? When, and how? Useless questions that I tried, without any luck, to answer:

Parafilm is a 50:50 mix between polyolefins and paraffin wax. It was trademarked in 1934 but some previous references are found in a patent dated 1932. Those dates are quite important as they are between the two great wars, therefore the parafilm was not one of the invention pushed by the war (like for example the silly putty). And it fits with the discovery of the synthesis of polyolefines.

And that's more or less everything I managed to find about it. Who was the man (or woman) that discover it? I don't know, but THANK YOU!!!

Naturally if you have any good hint on the parafilm history, please contact me :)

First try of twitter in real time for a good cause..... AcademicAprilFools:

One of the most "metal" cover I've ever seen is coming from a Chinese group: Gong's publication on ZnO "nanopencil" featured the cover of Nanoscale. Let's forget for one moment about the nano-whatever word and focus on the beauty of the cover: Two metal missiles flying under a heavy storm.

Two songs come up in my mind watching this cover:

and I can only imagine the group working on this, singing along this song in the lab after getting the cover published:

"Brothers of metal
We are fighting with power and steel
Fighting for metal that's all that's real
Brothers of metal will always be there
Standing together with hands in the air"

Let's start a new category: It's CoverTime!!!

The first topic of this category is '80s versus '90s......

In the beautiful cover for the last issue of ChemElectroChem the Spanish group headed by Ibon Odriozola decided to use He-Man (aka Violoman) as a powerful chemist. In the '80s favorite cartoon Skeleton this time become Skelectrode. Kudos for the use of comic sans, this so many time abused font, here is used properly. What else should I say? FOR THE POWER OF GREYSKULL!!!!!!
I can see a small tear in your eye, chemists born in the '80s.... Here you go: watch the trailer of the awful movie "Master of the Universe":

Naturally all of you know that Dolph has a master degree in chemical engineering.....

Second cover of the day, and this time for the chemists born in the '90s:

This cover of Chemistry A European Journal was designed by an Italian group headed by Marcella Bonchio. Why using a poké ball for a chemistry cover? That's because you didn't know that pokemon is the acronym of POlyoxometalate CHEmistry for Molecular Nanoscience. How genius? Funny things is that there are waaaaay more than only 151 polyoxometalate.... Gotta catch'em all!!!!

As I've used a video for the '80s I should use one for the '90s as well....

and I'll leave you with this image:

since now on, you will never manage to say pKa without thinking of Pika Pika Pilachu ... You're welcome :D

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Labsolutely - Wandering in the Lab (Beta)

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Lately I'm quite busy and I didn't manage to update the blog as much as I would like.... So here some random pics (I use some of them for talks), some original, some downloaded from the magic place called the internet: Few days ago, someone was complaining on the lack of chemistry related memes on the internet.

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The Who, What, When, Where and Why of Chemistry Chemistry is not a world unto itself. It is woven firmly into the fabric of the rest of the world, and various fields, from literature to archeology, thread their way through the chemist's text.

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Office Tutorials - Determining the Concentration of an Unknown Sample (Microsoft Excel 2010)

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In this tutorial I show you how to (again) generate a standard curve, and use that standard curve to determine the concentration of an unknown solution (assuming that we are able to obtain its absorbance). I perform this tutorial in Excel 2010 on Windows 7.

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fun chemistry

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A simple but addictive game. Start with four basic items and use them to find dinosaurs, unicorns and spaceships!