Interesting Lens

http://www.squidoo.com/ChemistryOfDailyLife

I found a lens created by a PhD researcher “The Chemistry of Daily Life” which covers everyday biochemical topics. Her articles are easy to read, very informative and they just make you want to keep reading –bad science jokes included! The best part of this lens is that complex topics are explained simply but none of the science behind them is lost. The author encourages comments through the guestbook.

The topics covered are:

• Soap
• Veggies and color
• Pressure cooker dynamics
• Invisible ink recipe
• Onions make you cry
• Cholesterol
• Cigarettes
• Why is the sky blue
• Coffee
• Decaffeination
• The chemistry of love
• Lactose intolerance

Connections with past knowledge

A professor once told me that all science is science, that the lines between the disciplines frequently blur and the things which keep those from different disciplines from effectively communicating is either terminology or pretentiousness. While I have not encountered said pretentiousness I have seen the lines blur between scientific disciplines. I am finding that I have been exposed to a good majority of the material we are covering in this course at one point or another. I’ll be sitting in class listening and realize these connections to other classes I’ve taken. Some of the topics we discuss in class I have already covered in more detail in other classes. However, in biochemistry we discuss topics I have touched on but have not gone in depth with. Other classes from my education where the material overlaps are: environmental evolution, microbiology, soils, mycology, botany, chemistry, organic chemistry, biology, neurobiology, and neruoendocrinology.