BBC News - Cosmic rays: Fermi telescope settles mystery of origin

BBC News - Cosmic rays: Fermi telescope settles mystery of origin

reposted from:

crabsallover highlights, key points, comments / links.

10 year old discovers 'new molecule'

Playing around with a chemistry set 10 year old Clara Lazen came up with this molecule.

References:

• http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2096481/Ten-year-old-discovers-new-molecule-tinkering-educational-model.html
• Robert W. Zoellner, Clara L. Lazen b, Kenneth M. Boehr, 'A computational study of novel nitratoxycarbon, nitritocarbonyl, and nitrate compounds and their potential as high energy materials', Computational and Theoretical Chemistry, 2012, 979, pp. 33–37, doi:10.1016/j.comptc.2011.10.011

Royal Institution Christmas Lectures - The 300 million year war - Lecture 1

Mainly for teenagers but also for enquiring adults, the annual 2009 Royal Institution Christmas Lectures by  - Prof. Sue Hartley is about the evolutionary 300 million year battle between plants and herbivores (an animal that is adapted to eat plants). 

In the first lecture (available to play until 20 January 2010) random topics include:-

• Trichromes 
• fine outgrowths or appendages on plants eg hairs, glandular hairs, scales, and papillae
• Dorset Naga Pepper
• hottest chilli in the world
• Bird's-foot Trefoil
• Phytolith
• silica to make plants distasteful, lending the plant's tissues a grainy or prickly texture.
• Nettle
• Ricin
• Ricin is poisonous acting as a toxin by the inhibition of protein synthesis.