Sep 3, 2009
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Seeing Molecules
Atomic-force microscopy works by scanning a surface with a tiny cantilever whose tip comes to a sharp nanoscale point. As it scans, the cantilever bounces up and down, and data from these movements is compiled to generate a picture of that surface. These microscopes can be used to "see" features much smaller than those visible under light microscopes, whose resolution is limited by the properties of light itself. Atomic-force microscopy literally has atom-scale resolution.
Until now it hasn't been possible to use it to look with atomic resolution at single molecules. Researchers overcame this problem by first using the microscope tip to pick up a single molecule of carbon monoxide, which they used to make an image of pentacene. They hope that looking this closely at single molecules will give them a better understanding of chemical reactions and catalysis at an unprecedented level of detail.
Cup of Joe
Mickey Rooney
He has 320 movies to his credit. In 1944, Rooney Rooney entered military service for 21 months during World War II as a radio personality on the American Forces Network.
Name | Years | Children |
---|---|---|
Ava Gardner | 1942-1943 | |
Betty Jane Rase | 1944-1949 | Mickey Rooney, Jr. (born 1945) |
Tim Rooney (1947 - 2006) | ||
Martha Vickers | 1949-1951 | Theodore Michael Rooney (born 1950) |
Elaine Devry | 1952-1958 | |
Barbara Ann Thomason (Carolyn Mitchell) | 1958-1966 | Kelly Ann Rooney (born 1959) |
Kerry Rooney (born 1960) | ||
Michael Joseph Rooney (born 1962) | ||
Kimmy Sue Rooney (born 1963) | ||
Marge Lane | 1966-1967 | |
Carolyn Hockett | 1969-1974 | Jimmy Rooney (adopted from Carolyn's previous marriage) (born 1966) |
Jonelle Rooney (born 1970) | ||
Jan Chamberlin | 1978-present |
What is he up to these days? Mickey and Jan brought their off Broadway musical: Let's Put On A Show! to the Arcada Theatre in St. Charles, Illinois on August 30, 2009, to be followed with a 13 performance tour of Ontario, Canada from September 21 through October 6, 2009. Wow, not bad for his age.
Breathalyzer Test
The device could provide an early warning system before tumors become visible in X-rays. The sensor uses gold nanoparticles to detect levels of so-called volatile organic compounds, measured in a few parts per billion, that become more elevated in cancer patients. Currently, only 15 percent of cases are discovered before the disease has begun to spread.
A team of researchers took breath samples from 56 healthy people and 40 lung cancer patients. They found 33 compounds that appeared in at least 83 percent of the cancer group, but in fewer than 83 percent of the control group.
Then they designed an assembly of chemical sensors using gold nanoparticles measuring five nanometers across. (An average strand of human hair is about 100,000 nanometers in width.)
The devices were able to "distinguish between the breath of lung cancer patients and healthy controls.
"Given the impact of the rising incidence of cancer on health budgets worldwide, the proposed technology will be a significant saving for both private and public health expenditure," they say.
Lung cancer claims some 1.3 million lives worldwide each year, accounting for nearly 18 percent of all deaths from cancer, according to the World Health Organization.
Sep 1, 2009
Three Little Pigs
Tanqueray
Charles Tanqueray’s path through life seemed pretty clear while growing up. He followed three straight generations of Bedfordshire clergymen, so it seemed natural that he would grow up and be a man of the cloth himself.
Instead, he started distilling gin in 1830 in a tiny plant in London’s Bloomsbury district. Fifteen years later, he was shipping his gin to colonies around the British Empire, where many plantation owners and troops had developed a taste for Tanqueray and tonic.
Quotable
and tolerates shoddiness in government because government is an exalted activity,
will have neither good plumbing nor good government.
Neither its pipes nor its promises will hold water.
Did You Know?
Aug 28, 2009
Boston Butt
During colonial days New England butchers tended to take less prized cuts of pork like these and pack them into barrels for storage and transport. The barrels the pork went into were called butts. This particular shoulder cut became known around the country as a New England specialty, and hence it became the “Boston butt.” Interesting that this name is not used in Boston. A hogshead is 64.8 US gallons and butt it equal to two US hogsheads or 126 US gallons.
Aug 27, 2009
Nanodiamonds
These little gems deliver insulin for wound healing. Bacterial infection is a major health threat to patients with severe burns and other kinds of serious wounds such as traumatic bone fractures. Recent studies have identified another use for insulin as a weapon for fighting infection and healing wounds. These can also be used for chemotherapy and other local drug deliveries.
Using tiny nanodiamonds, researchers have demonstrated a method for delivering and releasing insulin to a specific location over a period of time. The nanodiamond-insulin clusters hold promise for wound-healing applications and could be integrated into gels, ointments, bandages or suture materials.
A wound site skin pH levels can reach very basic levels during the repair and healing process and researchers found that the insulin bound to nanodiamonds is released when it encounters basic pH levels.
A substantial amount of insulin can be loaded onto the nanodiamonds, which have a high surface area and can accelerate the healing process and decrease the incidence of infection. The results of the study were published in July by the journal Biomaterials.