chemistry news, science news, chemicals, molecules

Interstellar Molecular Thermometer

Posted by David Bradley on May 13th, 2008
Carbon monoxideAstronomers have detected for the first time in the ultraviolet region the spectroscopic signature of the carbon monoxide molecule in a galaxy located almost 11 billion light-years away. This molecule has eluded astronomers for a quarter of a century. The detection now allows them to obtain the most precise measurement of the cosmic temperature just ...

Arty with a Capital F and the Myth of Absinthe

Posted by David Bradley on April 30th, 2008
ThujoneI've got a bottle of absinthe, at the back of a shelf in our store-cupboard. Unopened this bottle of green uber-liquor languishes untested awaiting an appropriate occasion when a drink containing 70 percent alcohol (140 proof) is required. It'll probably be the day our cat dies... Anyway, while my bottle languishes, new research suggests that the ...

Interview with Egon Willighagen

Posted by David Bradley on April 16th, 2008
Check out my interview with chemical blogger Egon Willighagen, one of the new breed of chemists who are using the information tools of our age—the blogs, wikis, and online social media—to further their chemistry and benefit the wider chemical community. By day, Willighagen is a postdoc at the Wageningen University & Research Center in the Netherlands. He participates in, amongst many ...