Daily Online News

March 9th is Stanley Thompson's birthday. Thompson was an American nuclear chemist when nuclear chemistry was a brand new subject. In the early days of the Manhattan Project plutonium was produced in very small quantities, typically on the order of micrograms. Thompson was the chemist who developed the process that allowed the refining of plutonium on an industrial scale to amounts that would enable practical applications.

Did you know bananas are slightly radioactive? Bananas contain high levels of potassium. Radioactive K-40 has an isotopic abundance of 0.01% and a half-life of 1.25 billion years.

ScienceDaily reports that University of Florida engineers have made a flat surface that is so hydrophobic that it basically won't get wet. The water-repellent surface was formed by arranging microscopic plastic fibers such that they mimic the the hairs of spiders. The hairs of water spiders are both long and short, with varying degrees of curvature, and arranged chaotically over the spider's body, enabling the spider to trap air bubbles so that it can breathe underwater.

It's not very often scientists get to say they have found a new way to generate electricity, but that's exactly what researchers at MIT have done. An Inhabit.com article and PhysOrg.com article describe the discovery of thermopower. MIT chemical engineer Michael Strano and mechanical engineering student Wonjoon Choi and their team produced thermopower waves by coating a carbon nanotube with a fuel and igniting the fuel.

March 7th is the English astronomer, Sir John Frederick William Herschel's birthday. He was one of the better known English scientists of the time and made several contributions to astronomy. One contribution he was credited for was the discovery of life on the Moon. Starting on August 25, 1835, six articles were published by the New York Sun newspaper describing Herschel's observation of Moon creatures such as unicorns, bipedal beavers and bat-winged humanoids. The Great Moon Hoax was written by Richard A. Locke to increase circulation for the New York Sun. It wasn't exposed as a hoax for two weeks and no retraction was ever made. Herschel was initially amused by the stories, but grew tired of trying to explain to people he had nothing to do with it or denying the observations to people who believed the hoax. Find out what else occurred on this day in science history.

Have you ever wanted to color your urine or wondered what causes urine to become colored? If so, you're in luck, because I have the answer! Here's a little applied color chemistry for your entertainment and experimentation pleasure: Violet - I'm going out on a limb here, but I suspect you could get violet or purple urine if you combined beets with methylene blue. Blue - Methylene blue will turn your urine blue or greenish-blue. It can also color the whites of your eyes blue. The coloration of both urine and eyes is reversible. At one time, methylene blue was considered to be an effective treatment against malaria. As far as urine colorants go, this one is considered to be reasonably safe to eat, though you should be aware some people are allergic to methylene blue. Food coloring may turn your urine blue. A rare, inherited disease known as porphyria can cause blue urine. King George III's blue urine may have been attributable to porphyria.

In addition to making a human battery using sodium metal, you can perform a chemistry demonstration showing the vigorous chemical reaction between sodium and water. However, it is important to use a small amount of sodium metal (a piece smaller than the size of a pencil eraser). If you use too much sodium, there is a tendency for the heat produced by the reaction to melt the remaining sodium metal, which suddenly increases the surface area available to react with water. The result may be an explosion of hot sodium metal shrapnel and lye solution.