The Wine to Enjoy on This Deck: Chilean Sauvignon Blanc

I was invited by Wines of Chile to take part in a blogger Sauvignon Blanc tasting. The hardest part was sitting on the bottles they sent me via FedEx for a couple weeks. They were very tempting.

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The Wine to Enjoy on This Deck: Chilean Sauvignon Blanc

 Draw chemical structures

The phrase chemical structure drawing is one of the most consistently popular search terms on Sciencebase, so it seemed worth revisiting the topic from a slightly different perspective than before. Of course, with the likes of PubChem and ChemSpider now available one might wonder whether there is any need to draw one’s own structures from scratch, but plenty of chemists and others still do. Sciencebase polled a few contacts via Twitter and LinkedIn to find out what chemical structure packages people are using, what are the pros and cons

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Draw chemical structures

 Moleskine Passed Down Recipes Contest Winner!

We’re happy to announce Nancy White – and her young son’s wonderful story about his great-grandmother’s ravioli – as the winner of our Moleskine “Passed Down Recipes” contest! Nancy will receive a beautiful suite of journals from Moleskine’s new Passions line, such as their fabulous Recipe journal (I have one and LOVE it!). For more on Nancy visit her blog, Nancy’s Full Circle

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Moleskine Passed Down Recipes Contest Winner!

 Tellura, angiogenesis, favourites

Tellurium steroids, angiogenesis against cancer, favourite chemical things and more… My name is tellura – Drugs based on tellurium catch the eye of Derek Lowe Antiangiogenic “anticancer” foods – Can eating these foods help prevent pin-head sized cancers that grow in people from gaining the blood vessels they need to grow into something malignant? In other words, can we eat to starve cancer?

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Tellura, angiogenesis, favourites

 Meatless Monday’s Vegetable Bibimbap

Many of us still find ourselves teetering on the edge of winter and spring. In Seattle, one day we’re outside grilling, the other we’re inside yet again pulling out the slow cooker we thought we’d packed away for its long slumber

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Meatless Monday’s Vegetable Bibimbap

 Avocado Toast for Meatless Monday

Here’s a toast to another Meatless Monday ! Back in high school, I was introduced to “avocado toast” for breakfast. At the time it sounded kind of strange; to smash avocado on toasted bread and sprinkle it with salt and garlic powder, but after one bite , I was sold on the salty, creamy and crunchy gorgeousness that is avocado toast

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Avocado Toast for Meatless Monday

 My favourite chemistry things

Sceptical Chymist tells me (via Twitter) that they were enjoying the favourite things about chemistry meme started by ChemJobber and continued by Azmanam (known to Sciencebase readers for his chemical spelling dictionary and the C+EN team . As is the wont of meme creators, you pay it forward and have to come up with your own “list” or whatever. Skeptical Chymist had, “The smell of ethyl acetate (in the morning)”, Peter Atkins’ textbooks, the elements song, and freaky glassware and the prowess of glassblowers on their list of ten favourite things about chemistry

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My favourite chemistry things

 Submarine eruptions, hybrids, and quarks

The first three links are to my latest column on Intute, which is now online: Scrubbing up knowledge of submarine volcanoes – Consider the simple pumice stone next time you're having a bathtime scrub… Metallic liquid crystals – A new class of materials formed by combining liquid crystals and metal clusters glow intensely red and in the infra-red region of the electromagnetic spectrum when irradiated over a broad range of wavelengths Quark, strangeness, and charm – US researchers have calculated, with a tiny margin of error, the mass of the three lightest and, therefore, most elusive quarks Neanderthal genome sequenced – Did your great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, grand-dad get it on with a Neanderthal?

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Submarine eruptions, hybrids, and quarks

 Eat Animals? As If! Our Interview With Alicia Silverstone

Alicia Silverstone, best known for her role as the airheaded matchmaker in the 1995 comedy Clueless, is gaining a green following outside the multiplex thanks to her devotion to Earth-friendly causes. She developed the EcoTools line of beauty products, emplaced solar panels and water-conservation measures at home, and became a vegan

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Eat Animals? As If! Our Interview With Alicia Silverstone

 Build Your Own Birdhouse Kit

Before trying to build your own house, use this lightweight DIY set to build your own birdhouse. With simple, easy-to-follow instructions, your home will be popular with our feathered friends in no time. $10 @ Urban Outfitters

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Build Your Own Birdhouse Kit

 Book Roundup Wednesday: Books About Species Threatened by the Oil Spill

Every Wednesday, we review a selection of new and upcoming books addressing a specific aspect of environmentalism. This week we're recommending books about animals threatened by the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster.

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Book Roundup Wednesday: Books About Species Threatened by the Oil Spill

 Heart Shaped Umbrella

Whether you love rainy days or are just a romantic at heart, this umbrella is a great way to show your personality when the weather is gray. Available in green, blue, black, white, ivory, and yellow, but not red! Oh well… $60 @ Art Lebedev

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Heart Shaped Umbrella

 Daily Roundup: May 4, 2010

Quick Death for Slow Creatures: At least 23 sea turtles have washed up dead on Mississippi’s shores since the oil spill, and more carcasses have been found in Texas. It’s unclear whether the endangered animals’ deaths are related to the disaster. However, the number is more than twice what’s normal

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Daily Roundup: May 4, 2010

 How to Incorporate Marine Awareness Into Your Cinco de Mayo

The tragic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico makes it harder to muster a celebratory mood for Cinco de Mayo , but gatherings can provide much-needed support during a time of environmental crisis and offer opportunities to reinforce and spread planet-friendly behavior.

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How to Incorporate Marine Awareness Into Your Cinco de Mayo

 In the Oil Spill’s Wake, the Green Jobs Conference Commences

With the oil spill claiming countless career casualties in industries including fishing and tourism, there will be more people looking for jobs in the near future. And they'd do well to look for ones in the burgeoning realm of sustainability.

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In the Oil Spill’s Wake, the Green Jobs Conference Commences

 Metal, quantum dots, and life on earth

Latest science news with a spectral twist from my column on SpectroscopyNOW.com and more… X-ray fuel – X-ray absorption spectroscopy, XAS, has been used to probe the metal centre of an important enzyme that can oxidise methane, natural gas, to methanol. Turns out the metal is copper not iron as previously thought and the discovery could open up a route to novel catalysts for converting “waste” methane (either from landfill or oil well flare-off) into useful liquid methanol for processing into fuel or other more valuable products.

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Metal, quantum dots, and life on earth

 April Alchemist Arrives

The Alchemist travels back billions of years to the dawn of life this week to learn how aspartic acid may be the crystal Eve, the mother of all chirality while heading back to the future also discovers how biology and nanotechnology might be fused to produce new metamaterials for a range of medical and analytical technologies. Banned scent compounds turn up in childrens toys, we hear while US chemists have built a molecule that bites its own tail to trap smaller molecules within. In environmental news, the recent volcanic activity that grounded thousands of travelers to and from Northern Europe may not have the environmental impact some observers have suggested.

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April Alchemist Arrives

 Unsung Kitchen Pantry Ingredients: Corn Starch

I do a lot of vegan cooking at home because I have a cholesterol level that, if you put a decimal point in front of it, would make Ted Williams tip his cap. (Stupid heart.

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Unsung Kitchen Pantry Ingredients: Corn Starch

 Foodista Haiku Contest Winner!

Last month was national poetry month, to celebrate we held our own Foodista Food Haiku Contest. After many delicious, hilarious and thought-provoking entries, we’re proud to announce Cathy Dellinger, from North Danville, Vermont, United States, as the winner of the Foodista Haiku Contest! Thank you all so much for joining in on the fun! Cathy Dellinger’s Winning Haiku: Shy asparagus Peeking through quiet spring earth Seeking salad bowl. Fantastic Honorable Mentions: Deborah Berlin-Berger Oh! Jalapenos! Eating them a hot delight, Next day; not so much.

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Foodista Haiku Contest Winner!

 Giant Inflatable Soccer Ball

This giant inflatable soccer ball is great for kids who enjoy playing in the backyard. This large 40″ soccer ball is sure to keep the kids busy and laughing all summer long. $99.95 @ Hammacher Schlemmer

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Giant Inflatable Soccer Ball