Category: Chemistry

This week in my SpectroscopyNOW column, I have four new posts covering, as usual, a wide range of solutions to scientific and technical problems. First up, is the discovery that compounds found in cannabis could lead to novel antibiotics that are less susceptible to resistance than conventional drugs. Then, we have a new type of spectroscopy that allows scientists to carry out broadband analysis of artificial atoms held at temperatures close to absolute zero. Next, is word from chemists that they have developed a new type of reaction flask that can carry out reactions in the solid state. Finally, this week, we hear of testing times for biomass, where modern spectral analysis could help in the processing of old, treated wood as a renewable fuel resource.

Doping the superbugs – Substances found in cannabis could be used to fight potentially lethal superbugs, such as antibiotic-resistant bacteria, without the mood-altering effects, according to researchers in Italy and the UK. Cannabis sativa (L. Cannabinaceae) extracts may also provide an alternative to synthetic antibacterial substances used in personal hygiene products, including hand wash and cosmetics.

Diamond amp – A new spectroscopic approach to measuring the energy levels of an atomic system has been developed by US researchers. Amplitude spectroscopy can be used to measure the energies of certain natural and artificial atoms and molecules over extremely broad bandwidth by scanning the amplitude of the applied radiation rather than its frequency. The new technique allows the characterization of multiple energy levels in the system, and so overcomes a key challenge to realization of powerful quantum computers. It is applicable to systems with strong coupling to external fields, including artificial atoms, spin systems, cold atoms and molecules, and molecular magnets.

Littlest test-tube – Chemists in Japan have synthesized a new porous material that acts as a microscopic solid-state reaction vessel. Chemical changes taking place in each pore can be tracked using X-ray crystallography the team explains.

Testing times for biomass – Spectroscopy can be used to determine the amount of ash and char present in various types of biomass derived from wood, according to researchers in Japan and the US. Their analytical approach could help in the development of renewable resources for fuels to replace fossil fuels.

It’s that time of the month again, so here’s the latest round-up from my column over on SpectroscopyNOW, covering a whole range of science and medical news with a spectral twist from magnetic resonance to Raman by way of fishnets and infra-red.

Fishnet invisibility cloak – It is what fans of science fiction and technologists have been waiting for since HG Wells’ Invisible Man first came into view – or not, as the case may be. Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, have engineered three-dimensional meta materials that can reverse the natural direction of visible and near-infrared light, which could one day lead to an invisibility device.

Bending MRI to diagnose joint disease – Osteoarthritis has turned out to be the bane of the Baby Boom generation, causing joint pain and disability for millions of people, more than half of those over the age of 65 in fact. Unfortunately, current approaches to diagnosing the disease cannot provide definitive results until the disease is in the advanced stages. This is often when symptoms have become severe and irreversible joint damage may already have occurred. Magnetic resonance imaging could provide an early diagnosis of osteoarthritis (OA), the most common form of arthritis, according to scientists speaking at the recent ACS meeting.

Universal detector – A team in Japan has used UV spectroscopy and microscopy to study the interaction between liposome clusters and endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) as a model of how living cell plasma membranes might be affected. The work could lead to the development of a universal detector for EDCs

Dance of the xenons – An NMR study of xenon atoms has demonstrated a fundamental new property – what appears to be chaotic behaviour in a quantum system ? in the magnetic spin of these frozen atoms. The work could lead to improvements in our understanding of matter as well as in magnetic resonance imaging.

Handling chirality with X-rays – X-rays are rather useful in determining the structure of materials and biomolecules, but are relatively insensitive to chirality. Now, a team of scientists in Japan has shown that circularly polarized X-rays at an appropriate wavelength can distinguish ‘left’ from ‘right’ in alpha-quartz. The work could have implications for studies of other inorganic organometallic materials, including industrial catalysts, liquid crystals, biomolecules, and pharmaceutical products.

Hybrid technology – Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) was first used in 1977 and since the has proven itself as an extremely sensitive analytical technique requiring only small volumes of sample and with wide application. Researchers have suggested that it is so sensitive that it could be used as a new tool in single molecule detection to augment or even displace techniques such as laser-induced fluorescence, frequency-modulated optical absorption at low temperature, and electrochemical detection of redox-active species. SERS of silicon nanostructures coated with a gold-silver substrate can be used to detect DNA hybridisation for taxonomic, biomedical and medical diagnostics purposes, according to a new study by researchers in Singapore.

Oh, and speaking of fishnets…anyone been thinking about the modelling career of John McCain’s running mate Sarah Palin?

Apparently, scientific thought needs rekindling, seemingly it has run out of kindle and needs a new flame if it is to burn brighter. In steps Terence Witt with the concept of null physics. Witt has now self-published a hefty tome by the name of Our Undiscovered Universe.

According to the press blurb that came with my review copy of the book, he’s a visiting scientist at Florida Institute of Technology. Now, I can find FIT on the web, but I cannot find Witt at FIT. Anyway, he puts forward a not entirely original, idea that modern physics requires a paradigm shift back to common sense thinking and a logical reconnection between observation and theory.

There is, Witt says, a disconnect between the two in our current Big Bang theory of the origins of the universe. In Our Undiscovered Universe, Witt puts forward the hypothesis that the universe is static and not expanding, and rouses various equations to explain away the red shift of distant cosmic objects and concepts such as dark matter and dark energy.

Perhaps there are almost as many loopholes in modern physics as there are wormholes and maybe it is possible to tangle up any scientific model with enough string to fill a universe. But, Witt’s is too comfortable a conclusion, that the universe does not rely on any unknowable precursors in the untestable past and will not grow old, collapse or die, but is an unimaginably large cosmic engine. Moreover, his null hypothesis suggests that “our universe actually is, the only thing it could possibly be: the internal structure of nothingness.”

So, you might ask, what is Witt’s evidence for this concept? He explains that evidence of the Null Axiom is everywhere:

• Matter and antimatter are always created in equal, yet opposite amounts whose electrical sum is zero
• Positive and negative electric fields sum to a neutral universe with zero net electrical charge
• Energy is conserved in all interactions; the magnitude of the universe’s energy has zero change
• Space is a collection of points, little bits of nothingness itself, which embodies a geometric zero – Null
• Charge must be conserved in particle interactions; the sum of the difference between charges is zero
• Momentum is conserved, so the universe’s net momentum remains constant at zero

I put a few questions to Witt on behalf of Sciencebase readers just on the off-chance that a paradigm shift really is pending. First off, I asked him to describe null physics briefly.

Null physics is a bottom-up theory built upon the solution to the ontological dilemma: why does the universe exist [instead of nothing]? The solution – that our universe is composed of nothing – leads directly to the four-dimensional geometry of which energy and space are composed. Null physics is the study and quantification of this geometry and its larger ramifications. In contrast to modern physics’ top-down, heuristic approach, which uses measurements and mathematical symmetries to build models that conform to empirical reality, null physics derives empirical reality, such as the magnitude of unit elementary charge and the range and strength of the strong force, through calculations applied to the topology of a fully known underlying geometry.

I put it to Witt that because his theory is a blend of philosophy and science, that might be a double-edged sword?

Not at all. What we currently call physics originally began as natural philosophy. Physics replaced natural philosophy because it provided an accurate mathematical description of the macroscopic scale of the physical world. This set the stage for untold advances in engineering and technology, but many of the foundational questions that natural philosophy confronted, such as why the universe exists and why matter is composed of discrete particles, were lost in this transition, leaving us with empty mathematical models. Null physics is the best of both worlds, fusing a deep understanding of physical reality (as geometry) with empirical validation. The geometry used in Null physics is derived using logic and reasoning similar to that employed by natural philosophy, but has no philosophical component in its final geometric formulation.

Of course, there are other theories around that suggest the universe did not begin with the Big Bang, I asked Witt, what makes his stand out among them?

Sweeping unification and empirical validation. Unlike other non-Big Bang theories, null cosmology is falsifiable, provides testable predictions, and gives a full accounting of the many nuanced properties of the intergalactic redshift and CMB. It also, unlike any cosmology before it (including the Big Bang), provides a logical reason for the universe’s existence and a clear framework that unifies a wide variety of known galactic properties with the large-scale universe. And in keeping with true scientific progress, the unification provided by null cosmology illuminates a number of currently unknown galactic properties, such as the vortical motion of a galaxy’s disk material.

Finally, I was still curious about the philosophical implications and asked about what this theory can tell us of our place in the universe.

It tells us everything about our place in the universe. It tells us why and how we exist on a finite scale that, because of space’s intrinsic symmetry, must exist precisely midway between infinite largeness and smallness. It tells us that the universe is, through causality and sheer size, large enough to contain its own history. In fact the universe must contain its own history, because each and every moment of our lives is integral to ultra-large-scale structure. Perhaps most importantly, null physics demonstrates that our existence is neither accident nor design – it is inevitable.

Witt’s theory also closes the door on a designer. If the universe has always existed and always will exist, then how could a creator have any role to play at all? I suspect that an atheist agenda might underlie many of the static universe theories that are springing up at regular intervals, but they could be simply replacing unsubstantiated nonsense with another form of unsubstantiated nonsense. It’s just not good enough to ask, why are we here? And to answer, because we’re here!

Here is a sneak preview of the various science news items I have scheduled to appear on August 15 over on SpectroscopyNOW.com

Stay young and beautiful – NMR spectroscopy has been used uncovered the secret of eternal youth and the ability to attract sexual partners almost at whim. The results suggest it all hinges on a novel group of pheromones. Unfortunately, before you head for the local pharmacy to stock up, these are pheromones of the lab-technician’s favourite worm, the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, so they are likely to have no effect whatsoever on human behaviour or longevity.

Electronic wine tasting – The wine buff’s palate is a complicated multisensory organ as anyone who knows their Bordeaux from their Beaujolais knows. Now, researchers have taken a step towards an artificial nose based on a system amenable to multivariate analysis. The system integrates a multisensor to test wine and grape juice samples for adulteration or vintage fraud.

The Kita runners – Protein folding is one of the great conundrums of the twenty-first century. How exactly does a linear string of amino acids “know” into what three-dimensional cross-linked structure to fold itself? Moreover, how might molecular biologists predict this folding from first principles and how might the misfolding seen in prionic diseases, Alzheimer’s and other disorders be prevented or even reversed? A new clue about the folding of proteins comes from studies with a novel technique known as kinetic terahertz absorption spectroscopy (KITA).

Green and peasant landscape – There’s also a bonus item on science in art. Post-impressionist artist was rich beyond his wildest dreams but only posthumously. He may have chopped off part of one ear, but he had double vision. At least that’s the idea that emerges from new X-ray studies of one his more mundane paintings – Patch of Grass – which reveals a portrait of a peasant woman beneath.

I’ve got a whole new clutch of science news in my latest column on spectroscopy NOW for you this week:

Magnetic insights – A new MRI technique has been developed to allow physicists to see deep within tiny magnets. The technique could improve our understanding of magnetism at the fundamental level and lead to better computer hard drives and perhaps even new small-scale MRI instruments.

Salty solution to desalination – NMR spectroscopy has been used to assist in the development of chlorine-resistant membranes for use in water desalination plants. The new membrane materials could avoid degradation by chlorine disinfectants and reduce operating costs and inefficiencies and so make desalination a more viable prospect on a larger scale in the developing world. I asked the team leader Benny Goodman about the prospects for this system. “We anticipate a 3-5 year timespan to commercialization,” he told me, “The remaining obstacles are to demonstrate large-scale, continuous membrane production and to further tune the chemistry of the materials to be highly rejecting for seawater purification applications.” He added that, “Our current vision is that these membranes would be made in such a way that they could be used to swap out existing membranes.”

Summer screen – Wear sunscreen! It has been the advice of the medical profession, governments, and parents everywhere for several years, and is a topic I’ve touched on in how to sunbathe safely, on Sciencebase. Now, a report published this summer by the Environmental Working Group suggests that many popular sun protection products are at best ineffective, and at worst hazardous to health.

Reflecting on frozen fleas – US scientists have synthesised an antifreeze protein from the Canadian snow flea. The X-ray structure of this, and a synthetic enantiomeric form, could lead to an improved understanding of how this protein inhibits ice crystal formation and could have implications for transplant surgery.

Ordure, ordure! – A new study of soil fertilised with bovine manure reveals that soil quality can be improved significantly compared to that possible with modern “inorganic” farming methods. The study suggests that even poor quality land can be farmed for crops such as maize using manure as a soil improver.

Absorbing work on heavy metal – Chemical analysis and a powerful microscopy technique have been used to work out how toxic heavy metals, such as hexavalent chromium of Erin Brokovitch fame, can be adsorbed on to magnetic nanoparticles. The work could help in the development of a novel remediation technique for water contaminated with the carcinogenic hexavalen chromium.