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Science
Drug Resistant Bacteria — A Research Challenge
There has been much ado about drug resistant bacteria in the news. As a researcher in the field, I thought it would be valuable to outline some of the biochemical background that explains some of the challenges in this field. Most bacteria require a cell wall to live. Enzymes named D-alanyl-D-alanine carboxypeptidases (peptidases) are responsible for forming the bacterial cell…
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Feminism
Infiltrating the Good Ol’ Boys’ Club
A reoccurring theme in many women’s lives is being excluded from the Good Ol’ Boys’ club. Many, many women have felt resistance in a varying atmospheres including skepticism, technology, science, athletics, etc. The consistent dismissal from these groups inhibits women from flourishing in arenas that have predominantly been a single gender affair. Last week, I attended a leadership workshop for…
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Science
Materials Science Heals
Whenever I see the term ‘self-healing’ my bullshit meter immediately alarms, however Nissan has produced a self-healing iPhone case with some awesome materials science to back it up. The case is expected to be distributed later this year, so I haven’t gotten my wanting (and clumsy) hands on one myself. To me this is a ‘when I see it, I will believe…
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Science
Lizards, Robots, and Dinosaurs Get Major Air
Agama lizards are known to leap from horizontal surfaces to vertical walls. Similar to most of nature’s wonders, they have adapted an exceptional feature to accommodate their needs. In this week’s edition of Nature, fascinating research was published by scientists from the University of California-Berkeley explaining the natural marvel with one of physic’s fundamental laws. The researchers were investigating the…
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Science
Diels-Alder Puzzle Answers
About a week ago, I proposed two organic chemistry puzzles in my post Dear Diels & Alder. As promised, here are the answers to the puzzle. We did have one brilliant reader, Jack99, that answered the puzzle correctly (although it seemed that several other commenters knew the answer as well). The puzzle questions are in the link above if you…
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Science
Dear Diels & Alder,
Dear Diels & Alder, Oh, Diels-Alder reaction, it was love at first sight. I saw your cute mechanism and knew it was meant to be. Ever since that day you have been my favorite organic chemistry reaction. The more I learned about you, the more fun you were to me. Here is why… Love, Jacqueline It is possible that many…
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Science
Part II: The Academia Food Chain
Here is the second installation to the “What is Science?” series (find the first here). An essential aspect of understanding what science is is knowing who does the work. After all, critical thinking by scientists gets the work done and from that discoveries are inferred. The data can’t speak for itself. Let’s take a closer look at the folks who…
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Science
What is Science? Part I: Money
Here at Skepchick we receive many inquiries about this topic and others encompassing how, why, where, etc. I don’t think the answer is necessarily the same to anyone. As a post-doctoral researcher at a university, it means something different to me compared to others. Many in the Skepchick audience are familiar with the academic research process, but we thought it…
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