Is there anything...

it can't do?

Red Wine, Tartaric Acid, and the Secret of Superconductivity

Holy Grail of better batteries...

has been achieved: New technology improves both energy capacity and charge rate in rechargeable batteries.

I'd be thrilled to have a phone that doesn't need recharging for up to a week or more, and a netbook that can run for several days of heavy use.  Faster, please.

Coffee vs. tea...

in an infographic.

Much to my students' chagrin, I'm a java man. Try to keep up.

The most complex cocktail...

is the Bloody Mary.  Don't believe it?  Here's some guidance from the American Chemical Society.

Hmm.  Who knew?  I'll have to give this some serious attention, and one shouldn't overlook the health benefits.  Better living through chemistry!

Database of periodic tables...

on the web can be found here. I particularly like the periodic table of elephants.

And non-chemistry periodic tables are here. Heh.

None of them seem to include Bu. Hmm.

We have ignition...

of the plasma torch earlier today on the brand spanking new Thermo ICP-OES in the EWU geochemistry lab. Here's the Thermo technician setting up the software and instructing Professor C. Nezat on its use:

Argon gas is flowing into the instrument, and the glow of the plasma flame can be seen in the window just to the right of the vertical red handle:

And that equals one very happy geochemist:

It gets curiouser and curiouser...

What happens at absolute zero?

Carbon crystals harder than diamond...

found in a Finnish meteorite. Read more here.

Perhaps we'll have to add '11' to Mohs hardness scale?

Life on Earth would be impossible...

without it: First Breath: Earth's Billion-Year Struggle for Oxygen.

Diamond oceans...

possible on Uranus and Neptune, with "solid diamond icebergs."

This doesn't bode well for the hyper-inflated diamond market on Earth. Watch out De Beers.

RELATED: Makes this one seem pretty puny.

Santa delivers a big wooden crate...

containing a brand spanking new ICP-OES to our smiling geochemist, Dr. C. Nezat (click to enlarge). She can hardly contain herself in anticipation of the joy to be experienced from the first whiff of that new instrument smell.

Given the season, it should have arrived with a big red bow tied to the box.

Icy hydrocarbon lakes...

on Titan "are loaded with acetylene, a chemical some scientists say could serve as food for cold-resistant organisms" according to a new study.

Jovian Eden...

on Europa? Article: Europa Capable of Supporting Life, Scientist Says. The global ice-covered ocean, coupled with an abundance of oxygen, could provide optimum conditions for life.

Link to abstract.

Image courtesy NASA.

Christmas comes early...

for our geochemist, Dr. C. Nezat, as she's finally secured her promised start-up monies to purchase this wiz bang instrument to support her research interests in aqueous geochemistry: ICP-OES. Congrats!

And no, despite its appearance, the sophisticated device doesn't do laundry.

Superheavy element 114...

has been confirmed by scientists at Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory.

Alas, its chemical symbol isn't Bu (hey, that's obviously already taken by me!) but Un for Ununquadium.

Julia Child cooks primordial soup...

Hat tip: Oblate Spheroid.

Chromium stable isotopes...

from banded iron formations reveal the "atmospheric rollercoaster" of the oxygenation of the Precambrian atmosphere-hydrosphere system.

Link to technical abstract.

Methane mystery on Mars...

gets more mysterious. In sum, Martian methane is produced and destroyed at a faster rate than on Earth. Moreover, it's not evenly distributed in the atmosphere, but occurs in concentrated regions on the red planet. Link to technical abstract.

Potash salt evaporation ponds...

used for the concentration of potassium chloride southwest of Moab, Utah. From left (north) to right (south) that's the Kane Creek anticline with the high La Sals looming in the distance, Hurrah Pass, Anticline Overlook and the Needles Overlook (on far plateau at rightmost edge.)

Water from the Colorado River is pumped ~3,200 ft underground where a brine develops due to the solution of evaporites in the Paradox Formation (Pennsylvanian.) The brine solution is pumped back to the surface and allowed to evaporate in these man-made lined ponds. The salts eventually crystallize, then are subsequently harvested with large loaders.

Sodium salts detected...

in the water and ice fountains of Enceladus, a moon of Saturn. This strongly suggests that there is a liquid, salty ocean beneath a frozen crust that could support life.