Erythrite

Lifelike Illustrations and descriptions of edible Mushrooms. 

By Krombholz, JV,cs . 1831

Contributing Library: Missouri Botanical Garden, Peter H. Raven Library

BioDivLibrary

Artist Sachiko Kodama is known for her mesmerizing ferrofluid sculptures. Ferrofluids are a colloidal liquid consisting of nanoscale ferromagnetic particles and a carrier fluid such as water or oil. They can react strongly to magnetic fields, forming spikes, brain-like whorls, and even labyrinths. (Photo credits: Sachiko Kodama; via freshphotons)

Also, while this is on my mind. In my master’s-level food toxicology class today we discussed various genetically modified crops and watched part of a documentary about them, and as someone with a food science degree I would like to be clear about the following:

The only health risk that has been shown to us throughout twenty plus years of having genetically modified crops as part of the food system is that there is a possibility of introducing proteins that could cause allergic reactions. New strains are required to be tested for this, of course, but that is a practical risk that needs to be closely monitored.

The objection to GM in general should be the patenting of genes and other legal matters; there are a number of crops that have been saved from blight and overall extinction via modification in the past two decades, and much like putting up inaccessibly expensive paywalls to scientific journals, patenting of genes within crops limits our ability within universities, small research companies, etc to make significant breakthroughs to further the scientific progress of humanity. 

Furthermore. People think of organic crops as the environmentally-friendly option. If you believe this, please pay attention to what I’m about to say. Current regulations dictate that to have a crop classified as organic the land on which the crop is grown has to have been pesticide-free for a significant amount of time. There is no interim label available to farmers. So what do they do? Do they use no pesticides and take the losses from disease and insects for a decade, waiting for a time in which they are allowed to reclassify their crops in such a way that they can sell them for more money?

Of course they don’t. It isn’t practical. You can say what you like about how the system is structured; I’d personally like to see an interim classification come into play. But what farmers actually do, and states like Montana are feeling the full effects of this–they clear-cut forests and plant their organic crops on entirely new land.

You want to tell me that clear-cutting forests is environmentally friendly? It’s not. Hell, for all that people make a big deal about saving the environment by limiting how much paper they use, paper production is done in a more sustainable manner (because the paper farms replant their trees in a regular cycle so as to not deplete their sources; they don’t just go out and cut down random trees). 

There are objections to be had in regards to GM crops on a legal basis. On a scientific one, there isn’t much. Call them frankenfoods all you want; look up what most commercially-sold produce truly looks like in the wild with no modification and you will learn very quickly that all foods have been modified in some way over the years through conventional breeding. We just think of that differently. 

Biotechnology is not the enemy. Pseudoscience tells us that this is the case. Pseudoscience also tells us that we should seek out natural supplements instead of medicine, and, well… that’s a rant for another day, but suffice to say it’s an even more dubious proposition.

Don’t buy into it.

Brine is your friend 

*gags then googles how to get rid of an emulsion*

Hot off the presses! Check out the cover of my new book: Women In Science. Thanks to ten speed press for sending me a copy! Very proud and excited. Hits stores July 26 but you can pre-order it here: readwomeninscience.com

slanty sides or die trying

This is the heated debate amongst chemistry students: what’s the best way to draw 5-membered rings? 1) The ergonomic flat bottom with low error rates but clumpy bond angles. 2) The slick-slanty-sided pentagon with classy bond angles, but when it goes wrong it goes very wrong.

What’s your verdict?

The Extraordinary Iridescent Details of Peacock Feathers Captured Under a Microscope

There was a brief period of time my junior year of undergrad when I wanted to be an organic chemist, so I took the graduate level organic synthesis class.

This wasn’t even the advanced ochem class, it was specifically synthesis for actual organic chemists, and it was just me and two other undergrads surrounded by first year grad students.

Anyways, the exams were these hellish two hour affairs which probably stand as the most difficult exams I’ve ever taken, and we all knew they were going to be bad going into the first midterm but not how bad.

So about forty minutes into the first two hour midterm one of the grad students gets up and turns in his test. The rest of us were like still on the first page so we were all kind of impressed that he was done already.

He leaves the room, and then from the hallway we hear him yell “fucking fuck,” and I think that was the purest expression of how midterms and finals feel that I have ever encountered.