Definining the science of life

'Biochemistry is the chemistry of life' sums it up well. It is nice to read the other descriptions of biochemistry, as it really is a very wide open field. I liked how biochemistry is an experimental science which encourages students to carry out independent research projects under the supervision of faculty.

Gene therapy

Gene therapy does hold some great potential. The part of gene therapy that was unclear was how it will be applied. Many of the regions affected by these three diseases are very poor/ impoverished parts of the world, and there would be no incentive for the drug companies to supply them with medicine.

Animations

One interesting thing I found with the animations was that they actually showed the atoms' orbitals 'orbiting,' instead of showing them all over the place like they are supposed to be. I checked out the cloud chamber because it sounded cool, but I wasn't sure exactly what I was looking at. I guess you need to read the text that accompanies the animations to make more sense out of them... I was hoping a cloud chamber was some kind of vehicle used to surf clouds in, or something along those lines. Oh well!

Alchemy; Science, magic or art...

I think that there is a certain aspect of each of these qualities in alchemy. There is truly an art to visualizing and focusing through internal alchemy. The effects of alchemy can be physically documented or rationalized through science. As far as magic, I think there's a certain amount of magic in every aspect of our lives. As much as we can write down effects, or determine what will happen if we combine one substance with another, sometimes it's easy to forget how amazing and 'magical' it is that all this came together and works how it does.
Music is a great example of the art of alchemy, as well as science and magic. There can be a science to composing a piece of music, even in purely improvisational free-form music, there's an application of previous formulas of sound that create a certain vibe. The art is represented in the creativity and expression, and there's a bit of magic in the way that the vibrations of music make people feel.

Iodine (I)

Iodine (I) is essential in humans and is found in sodium and potassium compounds.

53 protons/electrons, 74 neutrons

Number of Energy Levels: 5

First Energy Level: 2
Second Energy Level: 8
Third Energy Level: 18
Fourth Energy Level: 18
Fifth Energy Level: 7

The color of minerals

This site has some beautiful pictures of colorful minerals! It is pretty interesting how this site talks about atomic bonds absorbing light. From what I could gather, the property of the elements which make up a mineral are what determines its color, as different elements will absorb and emit a different spectrum of light that is derived from pure white light.

What colors are (were) in my kitchen?

I find that the late winter tends to bring less fresh and colorful fruits and veggies. With that said, frozen wild-blueberries are readily available at Trader Joes, and we generally have a stock of these, as well as dried gou qi zi( 'goji berries'), brussel sprouts, broccoli, pink grapefruit, oranges, lemons and unfiltered concord grapejuice. With these foods we have red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple, so it seems to get more or less the full spectrum. The challenge is keeping these in stock and eating them every day, as well as finding affordable and organic supplies, as my local farmers market is on break until spring. Does Berkeley farmers market run through the winter?

Alkali earth metal: potassium

Potassium is pretty interesting, because it serves a very valuable purpose as an electrolyte in the human body. In order to be an electrolyte, potassium (a positive) must be paired with a negative such as chloride.
Potassium, K 19, 39.0983

Science without social responsibility?

This issue can be connected directly back to big-business motives. Somewhere along the way, people started learning (and teaching) ruthless business ideals involving pure numbers-punching and zero concern for ethics. In order for scientists to get funding for projects, they need to 'streamline' there plans, thereby making their projects more appealing to the big-businesses who are providing funding. Social responsibility is something that is easy enough to cast aside, in favor of making a project seem more attractive. Often times, denial of social responsibility can take a while to manifest as a visible problem and it could be difficult to trace the problems back to a single cause by the time they are realized. For this reason, social responsibility is way down on the list for people operating in a strict capitalistic way, unless of course they can MAKE MONEY on these ideas!

Transitional metal: ZINC

I chose the transitional metal zinc, because it's a very valuable and important metal to get the right amount of in our diet. Zinc is used in more enzyme reactions within our bodies than any other mineral(zinc is a component of more than 200 enzymes within the human body!). Zinc is needed for protein synthesis and therefore cell growth. For this reason it's needed to enable proper healing from wounds. Zinc is also vital for immune system function, and has been shown to decrease risk of infection, and has virus-inhibiting functions. In terms of Chinese Medicine (according to Bob Flaws), Zinc brightens the eyes, nourishes the liver and enriches the kidneys.
It is possible to take too much zinc, and it needs to be well balanced with other minerals (selenium being one). It's my understanding that it's relatively easy to get adequate quantities of zinc through foods such as pumpkin seed, hemp seed, whole grains, and shellfish such as oyster or prawns. Zinc deficiency is a common problem in the U.S., mainly due to poor diet and it's a simple problem to fix through a conscious diet.

ZINC, Zn 30, 65.409


CHEMICAL BONDS WEBSITE
The chemistry bonding images on the canby.com website were a nice visual. It was a little easier to understand the bonding of different elements with the use of color...it also shows the area where the positive and negative charges are actually mingling together.

The idea of isomers is pretty interesting. Through different configuration and proportion, the same elements (for instance CARBON mixed with HYDROGEN and OXYGEN) can assume completely different shapes.

Site review

I chose to review the chemguide to atomic structure and bonding. It helped me to go over some of what we learned in class again, as well as look into ionic bonding a bit. I think it helped me to understand a little more of what my father was talking about when he was describing how he used Germanium.

Ozone

Discussing ozone with Ashley and my dad, we all question the studies that have calculated the reversal of the hole in the ozone layer. It seems like things may have to get worse before they get better. This doesn't mean that we should ignore the issue, it simply means that we may need more patience and perseverance to continue through with positive change on this situation.
It's also important to note that the negative ozone layer that exists around our altitudes (up to~10 miles high) is the smog and pollution that is caused by the combination of chemicals making ozone. We are all a little confused on the impact of this on the 'good' , or natural ozone layer which protects us from excessive UV and such.

Germanium

I decided to use Germanium[Ge] for this assignment because my father has used Germanium quite extensively in the past while working at Lawrence Berkeley Lab. Germanium is a semi-conductor(poor metal) and is used to make electronic chips, as it can be made into a transistor. The general idea is that it can filter or stop a current from passing through, or when biased(charged) it can pass a current through, functioning as a switch.
At Lawrence Berkeley Lab it was used in the process of detecting gamma rays. When a gamma ray passes through the Germanium, it displaces electrons, creating hole-pairs which causes a specific charge to be produced. This charge is measured to tell the strength of the gamma ray. My dad has a much more scientific and complex explanation of the process; this is my over-simplified version(though my dad said it is still accurate) of the process to try and make sense of it...hopefully it makes sense to everyone else!

Germanium[Ge] is a poor metal, with 32 electrons.

Should there be more effective control of the pharmaceutical industry?

I believe that there absolutely needs to be more control of the pharmaceutical industry. From toxic waste, to toxic people the pharmaceutical industry is causing some serious damage. 'Modern' American medicine has been making BIG BUSINESS out of peoples' ill health for most of the last century, and it seems that the drug industry is one of the most convenient avenues for them to rake in the money. I believe that many people are taking drugs as an 'easy' alternative to lifestyle change, or they don't know that there are less harmful ways of dealing with their issues. There are some things that pharmaceutical drugs can help with, it's just that it's not right for these companies to push T.V. ads so people will take drugs for things such as "restless leg syndrome", or to lower the supposed healthy blood pressure level so that more people have "high blood-pressure," hence making them take more drugs.
As far as controlling the pharmaceutical industry? This could prove to be a daunting task, as there is much money and politics caught up in the pharmaceutical industry. This may be a way that Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine can help, in that people can be helped through pain management, and learn to live a more balanced and healthy life, thus avoiding many of the common issues caused by unhealthy living.