At least 25% of prescription drugs are based upon natural products or their structural analogues. This figure rises to 40% if one considers antibiotics and anti-cancer drugs. Although many of these agents are of microbial origin, there are several real ‘botanical miracles’ as well.
There is a seemingly insatiable appetite for TV dramas about forensic science. While most of these involve an element of toxicology to determine cause of death, they give a false impression of the most important work carried out in contemporary forensic science labs. Title: Forensic toxicology, Editors S. Davies, A. Johnston and D. Holt, Publisher RSC Publishing, Year 2016, Pages 569, Price £86.99, ISBN 978-1-78262–156-0
If one was asked to think of an expression that covered the extent of forensic science in criminal justice, then ‘from crime scene to court’ would seem to fit the bill. From the recovery of items, through to experimental analysis, interpretation and finally the expression of opinion in a courtroom, forensic science is a significant factor in the detection of many different offences.
In this book, Hayley Birch lays out her 50 favourite/best/most relevant chemistry concepts in, what appears to me, no particular order. Each one is dealt with in four easy-to-read pages with monochrome diagrams where relevant. I’m guessing the book is aimed at the general reader with an interest in science. Title 50 ideas you really need to know about chemistry, Author Hayley Birch, Publisher Quercus Books Year 2016, Pages 208, Price £11.99, ISBN 978-1-84866-667-2
Smell is all to do with sex – at least for insects and mammals. They have highly developed ways of sending out sexual messages, and their would-be mates have equally sophisticated methods of detecting them. Both the broadcasting and the detecting involve chemistry and a host of various molecules.
Love Canal was a subdivision of Niagara Falls, New York (state). The canal – actually a ditch about 5 m deep, a remnant of a 19th-century industrial boondoggle – was used in the 1940s-50s to dispose hazardous wastes from chemicals production. Niagara Falls’ local government, despite repeated warnings from the chemicals’ manufacturer, soon thereafter decided to build a residential neighbourhood, right on top of the hazardous wastes.
Dennis Rouvray, The author of this book, Stuart Kauffman, is an American polymath who has engaged with a vast repertoire of scientific themes, ranging from evolutionary biology, through non-equilibrium chemical reaction networks, to the role of quantum mechanics in living organisms.
The computer Deep Thought spent 7 billion years working out the meaning of life, the universe and everything, and came up with the answer: 42 - or so we learn in Douglas Adams’ A hitchhiker’s guide to the Universe. And of course it was right: element 42 is molybdenum without which life as we know it could not exist. Molybdenum is essential to the formation of ammonia from N2 and thus to the amino acids of proteins and other nitrogen-containing molecules upon which life depends. You can read about molybdenum in McFarland’s remarkable book, A world from dust.
Stimuli-responsive materials are now an intrinsic part of our everyday life – even if we didn't know it. They make possible many of the advanced features in devices we take for granted. Some examples are the fingerprint recognition on a mobile phone; the paper strips that diabetics use to test their sugar levels; the surface coatings used on solar cells to keep them clean; and targeted anti-cancer therapies.