My latest contributions to SpectroscopyNOW.com and my current Alchemist column on ChemWeb.com are now live:
Sweetening breast cancer risk – Experimental and epidemiological evidence previously suggested that circulating glucose and insulin may play a role in the emergence of breast cancer. Now a statistical analysis of baseline plasma levels of these compounds shows that elevated serum levels may indeed be a risk factor in postmenopausal women.
Mysterious marine microbe metabolism – US researchers have used spectroscopy to help them show that microscopic marine microbes, phytoplankton, are the answer to a ten-year-old mystery about the source of an essential nutrient in the oceans, the phosphonates found in organic phosphorus.
Telluride temperature test, just right – Researchers in India have used laser spectroscopy and other techniques to study a new type of glass doped with telluride ions that could have potential as new kind of high temperature sensor.
The fourth item, posted earlier in October, is my extended take on the Nobel Prize for chemistry news, which goes into some of the chronology of the X-ray structures of ribosomes that led to this year’s prize completing a trilogy of important post-Darwin discoveries (Watson-Crick, Wilkins, Kornberg, now the current prize).
A spot of synchronicity this week with the development of rocket-powered chemistry based on water and aluminum powder meshing neatly with the discovery of water on the moon. While, Harvard chemists are taking macromolecules to the truly macro scale to help them understand polymer folding. In Japan, nano scientists have found a way to insulate their wiring using carbon nanotubes and vaporized metal while a highly sensitive breast cancer detection chip is on the horizon in Europe. Read more and get the links in The Alchemist this week.