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Dracula, Enhanced Butts and the “Grecian Bend”

30 Jul 2024

The 1993 Academy Award for costume design went to Eiko Ishioka for creating the magnificent costumes in the hit film, “Bram Stoker’s Dracula.” Particularly stunning were the dresses worn by Wynona...

Studying Organic Chemistry Can Pay Off

26 Jul 2024

One of the fundamental reactions we teach in organic chemistry is “nucleophilic substitution” in which an atom or group of atoms in a molecule is exchanged for another one. Quite logically, the...

Bubbling Over With Science

9 Jul 2024

Bottled soft drinks that lose their fizz also lose their appeal. But it seems technology has come to the rescue with the “Fizz Keeper.” This little pump can be fitted into the neck of the bottle...

Pick A Card, Any Card!

26 Jun 2024

The curtain went up in “Heller’s Wonder Theatre” on Broadway to reveal a blindfolded lady comfortably seated center stage. A volunteer from the audience was solicited to “pick a card, any card!”...

Why Scary Lab Accidents Happen

21 Jun 2024

If a chemist has never been in a lab accident, he has been lucky. Of course, luck is more likely to come to those whose mentors have learned from bad experiences and to those who have taken...

From “Iron Fallout” to Hair Permanents

19 Jun 2024

For most people a car is just a vehicle that gets them from one place to another, and as far as cleanliness is concerned, occasionally driving through a car wash is good enough. But some...

The Chemistry of Inks: Old and New

7 Jun 2024

When we write the old-fashioned way, with ink on paper, we rarely think of the pen’s ingredients. For hundreds of years gall ink was used to produce documents such as Shakespeare’s will and the U.S...

The Canadian Connection to the American Greenback

4 Jun 2024

The green in American paper bills is chromium oxide, a refined version of chromite, a naturally occurring ore in the Earth’s crust. This ore is also the source of chromium metal which is produced...

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