[Note: This is an updated version of an earlier post.] Recently I spent some time tracing the very early history of gunpowder or Huo Yao (China, ca 850 AD). It turns out that the earliest clear description of a gunpowder-like composition was described in a document produced during the Tang Dynasty. A document titled “Classified Essentials […]
Just WOW!! A team from Nagoya University in Japan performing synchrotron X-ray diffraction experiments at SPring-8 were able to selectively extract an image of valence level electron density in the amino acid glycine. Did you get that? And guess what they found? The valence electrons were occupying a space the shape of a molecular orbital […]
Note: Not residing in Russia, I cannot grasp the full extent of the events and mood unfolding there. All that remains is to perch on a power pole across the polar cap and try to discern fact from fiction. >>> Let’s ask a very basic question about today’s Russia. Why can’t Russia Putin play nice? […]
The Environmental Protection Agency announced on August 6th, 2024 there would be an emergency suspension on all registrations of the preemergent herbicide chlorthal-dimethyl, or dimethyl tetrachloroterephthalate (DCPA or Dacthal). It has been 40 years since the US EPA has issued such an emergency suspension of registrations. This order has immediate effect. US patent US2923634A was […]
Wow. The evolving kerfuffle around Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (RFK Jr.) leaving a dead bear cub in NYC’s Central Park is another odd chapter in this guy’s bio. He had posted a video on X where he recounted a story to Rosanne Barr about the bear cub incident. Harvesting roadkill for food is not something […]