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jupitermelichios · 4 years ago

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DC: The High-School AU: The Series: The Staff (the musical)

So I finally cast the school staff and teachers for my DC High School AU, which I thought some of you would have some fun with! I took the subject list from a fairly fancy looking private school, because only schools you have to pay for have their subject lists online, so I’m probably offering way more classes than your average state school, but hey, it’s my AU and I wanted to cram in as many supervillains, obscure heroes, and bad jokes as possible.

Admin & Staff

Principle - Amanda Waller

Deputy Principle & Treasurer - Noah Kuttler (the Calculator)

Nurse - Myra Mason (she was Dr Midnite’s nurse and love interest in the 40s & 50s, then got fridged, but I’m unfridging her and giving her a job with much better survival prospects)

Councillor - Ethel Peabody (she’s a psychiatrist from the Gotham TV show, and also in my headcanon, Amanda Waller’s sister)

Librarian - Stanislaus Johns (The Librarian. I considered bookworm for this job but he’s literally called the Librarian, what was I supposed to do, not use him?)

Admin Staff - Laura Conway (Superman supporting cast and occaisional vampire), Mabel Martin (Riddler’s secretary), Theresa Collins (Goldstar, also Booster Gold’s secretary)

Business

Loren Jupiter (aka Mr Jupiter the richest and therefore most thrustworthy man in the world) - Business 101, Business Law, Entrepreneurship

Wesley Dodds (Sandman) - Business Communications

Annabeth Chamberlain (Brimstone) - Marketing, Hospitality & Tourism (she doesn’t work in tourism, but I figure anyone who can waitress while also having the power to set people on fire and damn them to hell and keeps her job probably knows a whole lot about customer service)

Family & Consumer Science

Miss Tribb (Lobo’s childhood teacher who inexplicably survived the extinction of their species) - Childhood Developement, Early Childhood Education

Neil Richards (The Mad Mod) - Texiles/Sewing, Fashion

Tenzil Kem (Matter-Eater Lad) - Food & Nutrition

Finance

Noah Kuttler (The Calculator) - Personal Finance

Foreign Languages

Matron Bertinelli (Nu52 Huntress, who I’m declaring a sepperate character and the aunt of pre-52 Huntress because they’re radically different characters and I like both of them) - ASL, Italian

Chang Jie-Ru (Nu52 Yo-Yo) - Chinese, AP Chinese

Yolanda Montez (Wildcat II) - Spanish, AP Spanish

Barbara Minerva (Cheetah) - Latin

Health Sciences

Myra Mason - Emergency Medical Responder training

Charles McNider (Dr Midnite) - Anatomy & Physiology, Health Class

Brian Durlin (Savant) - Computer Programming, Web Dev

Jennifer Lyn-Hayden (Jade) - Digital Art 101

Arnold Wesker (Ventriloquist) - 3D Animation, 3D Graphics (I don’t know why but the idea of Wesker as an animator just tickled me. Obviously his real passion is stop-motion, but he learnt 3D because there were more jobs)

English (the fancy private school called this ‘language arts’ which is so prentious it makes me feel slightly nauseous)

Wesley Dodds (Sandman) - English Language, AP English Language

Rac Shade (Shade the Changing Man) - English Literature, AP English Literature

Chloe Sullivan (the worst character in the Smallville TV show, a hotly contested position) - English Language, Communications 101, supervises the School Paper and the Yearbook

Shelly Gaynore (The Whip III) - Englist Literature, Creative Writing

Basil Karlo (Clayface) - Intro to Shakespeare

Nick Scratch (officially his supervillain name is just Scratch, but I refuse to consider that a code-name, looking at you Drake) - Communications 102: Public Speaking

Mathematics (which has a 100% villain make-up, which seems accurate from what I remember of high-school maths)

Noah Kuttler (The Calculator, because I think I’m funny) - Pre-Calc, Calculus, AP Calculus

Harlan Graves (The Underbroker) - Stats, Algebra 1, Algebra 2

Angelo Bend (Angle Man, becuase I know I’m funny) - Geometry, Trigonometry

PE (I realise this is probably too many PE teachers but there are a lot more caonical althetes than just about any other job in the DCU except maybe scientist)

Lawrence Crock (Sportsmaster, you knew this was coming) - Gym, Weight Training, coaches Baseball, Basketball, Tennis & Hockey

Lisa Snart (Golden Glider) - joint-coaches Cheerleading, coaches the Drill Team, Wrestling

Randy Hanrahan (Stallion) - PE, joint-coaches Cheerleading & Cross-Country, coaches Football

William Everett (Amazing Man) - PE, joint-coaches Cross-Country, coaches Track & Field

Matron Bertinelli (Huntress, sort of) - coaches Soccer & gymnastics

Performing Arts

Lisa Snart (Golden Glider) - Dance

Hartley Rathaway (Pied Piper) - Music 101, Music Theory, Composition, teaches Guitar & Percussion

Isaac Bowin (The Fiddler) - Music 101, AP Music Theory, leads Jazz Band, Orchestra, Marching Band

Siobhan Smyth (Silver Banshee) - part-time, leads the Choir and teaches singing

Basil Karlo (Clayface) - Theatre, Theatre 101

Simon Trent (Grey Ghost) - Theatre, Theatre 101, Film Studies

Ted Kord (Blue Beetle) - Theatre Tech

Mary Louise Dahl (Baby-Doll, from B:TAS) - Film Studies, Video Production

Betty Bates (Lady-at-Law, who is technically owned by DC now due to corporate buy-outs) - Debate

Science (do you have any idea how hard it is to pin down areas of specialisation for comic book scientists? TNT is on this list entirely because he’s the only actual honest-to-god professional chemist I could find)

Kirk Langstrom (ManBat) - Biology, AP Biology

Pamela Isley (Poison Ivy) - Biology, Environmental Science

Thomas “Tex” Thomas (TNT) - Chemistry

Achilles Milo (Professor Milo, again not really much of a code name) - Chemistry, AP Chemistry

Will Magnus (I refuse to even dignify it as a code-name) - Physics, Earth Sciences

Ray Palmer (The Atom) - Physics, AP Physics

Adam Strange (DC is just doing this to fuck with me, personally) - Astronomy

Social Studies & Humanities

Barbara Minerva (Cheetah) - World History

Maxie Zeus (ffs) - World History, AP World History (fun fact, Maxie was canonically just a normal history teacher before he got lightning powers, became convinced he was Zeus incarnate, and set out to become a criminal, making him my favourite DC mobster by a country mile)

Terry Long (aka one of the only characters to really deserve to get fridged) - US History, AP European History

Eobard Thawne (every code-name he has is stupid, but lets just go with Reverse-Flash as the least awful option) - US History, AP US History

Nick Scratch - US Government, AP US Government, AP Comparative Politics

Rex Tyler (Hourman) - AP Art History

Magdalene Kyle-Burton (Sister Zero, she’s a sometimes-nun and a sometimes-sister to Catwoman) - Comparative Religion

Michael Carter (Booster Gold) - Economics, AP Microeconomics, AP Macroeconomics

Jonathan Crane (Scarecrow) - Psychology (there is exactly one heroic psychiatrist in all of comics, and I’d already used Dr Fate elsewhere. Scarecrow seemed like the least bad option of the remaining pool for being around children, and he does at least have teaching experience)

Adam Strange - Sociology

Betty Bates (Lady-at-Law) - Law

Richard Occult/Rose Psychic (it’s complicated, lets just say Dr Occult and leave it at that) - part-time, Criminal Justice

Technology & Engineering

Ted Kord (Blue Beetle) - Electronics, CAD, Woodworking

John Henry Irons (Steel) - Engineering, Metalworking

Will Magnus - Robotics

Visual Arts

Linda Lee/Danvers (she’s Supergirl, but I’m making her a different character from Kara Danvers/Kent because the DCU is really short on artists and I needed someone to teach the damn class, although the only thing that really makes her distinct from other supergirls is that she fucked a horse that one time and IDK how that will translate into a personality...) - Ceramics, AP Studio Art: 3D Design, Art 101

Rex Tyler (Hourman) - Graphic Design, Drawing, AP Studio Art: Drawing

Jack Knight (Starman) - Painting, AP Studio Art: 2D Design, Art 101

Jennifer Lyn-Hayden (Jade) - Photography

So there you go - I’ll be honest I still don’t really understand how high-schools in the USA work, and I have no idea what Design studio art even is so I kind of assigned those ones at random, but now it’s done and cannot be changed.

As always this universe is open to prompts so if you want a chapter focussing on any of these characters just drop me an ask or a comment and I’ll see what I can do. Making Dr Occult & Rose Psychic a single gender-fluid person is already on my list to do, since that’s who I thought they were for a longest time when I started reading comics and I’m still kind of annoyed that isn’t canonically what’s going on.

#teen titans fanfiction #amanda waller #ted kord #booster gold #supergirl #john henry irons #will magnus #adam strange #betty bates #ray palmer #maxie zeus #hs au #my fics #my fic #highschool never ends

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scifigeneration · 6 years ago

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Lessons from 'Spider-Man': How video games could change college science education

by Aaron W. Harrison

The new ‘Spider-Man’ video game isn’t just fun and games – it’s also science. Marvel / Insomniac Games

Like many people over the holidays, I spent some time – maybe too much – playing one of the most popular and best-reviewed video games of 2018: “Spider-Man.”

While I thought I’d be taking a break from chemistry research, I found myself web-swinging through virtual research missions all over New York City. I collected samples of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in Hell’s Kitchen, studied vehicle emissions in Chinatown and determined the chemical composition of atmospheric particulate matter in Midtown.

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“Spider-Man” has many of these eco-friendly research missions. But what I found most encouraging is that the game also includes tools that can potentially teach advanced concepts in chemistry and physics. These tools include adjusting the wavelength and amplitude of radio waves, rewiring circuits to meet target voltages, and what will be examined here, using absorption spectroscopy to identify unknown chemicals.

Beleive it or not, the millions of people playing “Spider-Man” have been unwittingly introduced to principles of quantum mechanics. There is a lot of veiled science to this aspect of the video game. Perhaps more importantly – as a chemistry researcher and university lecturer – I believe the game represents an interesting opportunity to teach science in a fun and engaging way in higher education.

Spectroscopy and ‘Spider-Man’

To better understand the scientific technique that players simulate in “Spider-Man,” it helps to have a short primer on what absorption spectroscopy is.

The interaction of light with matter is the most powerful means scientists have to understand what matter is made of. When matter does not interact with light, we are quite literally left in the dark. This problem is made obvious in the still unknown composition of dark matter that constitutes the vast majority of matter in the universe.

Using light to study ordinary matter like atoms and molecules is a broad field of science known as spectroscopy. It is an important part of university courses in chemistry and physics. There are currently many different types of spectroscopy. However, the underlying concepts are almost entirely the same as the original version that began in the 17th century when Isaac Newton first dispersed sunlight with a prism.

As famously illustrated on Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” album cover, dispersing the white light of the sun with a prism reveals its continuous color spectrum extending from violet (higher energy, shorter wavelength) to red (lower energy, longer wavelength). However, if this is done carefully, you would find that this continuous spectrum is patterned with intermittent dark bands.

While the origin of these dark bands was not fully understood until the 20th century, scientists now know that they are due to absorption of specific wavelengths of light by atoms and molecules present in the sun. In fact, this kind of spectroscopy led to the discovery of helium in the solar spectrum before it was identified on Earth. This is why it derives its name from the Greek “helios” meaning sun.

So what causes this phenomenon? Atoms and molecules have a set of energy levels that depend on how their electrons are arranged. The absorption of light – which remember is energy – can cause the electrons to rearrange into these different levels. The catch is that the energy – or wavelength – of light must exactly match the energy difference between two electron arrangements in an atom or molecule for absorption to occur. This set of energies is unique for each chemical and leads to a distinct absorption spectrum much like a fingerprint from which it can be identified.

In “Spider-Man,” the player identifies unknown substances using simplified versions of these spectra.

Spectrum of Unknown Molecule from Research Mission.

The goal is to match the pattern in the spectrum using the fragment inventory provided to give the absorption spectrum of the unknown substance. Unfortunately for chemists everywhere, determining the chemical structure of an unknown molecule is much more complicated.

Still, there is a significant amount of science conveyed in the video game version of what a spectroscopist would call assigning this spectrum. Only slight modifications and additional explanation could make these parts of the game an excellent way to teach these concepts to undergraduate science students. But are video games ever used in higher education?

Video games in higher education

Video games for teaching more elementary skills like arithmetic or spelling are common. Similarly, colleges and universities are increasingly infusing video games into their coursework.

In a recent publication in the journal Nature Chemistry, researchers presented a modified version of the video game “Minecraft” called “PolyCraft World.” In this game, the player learns polymer chemistry by crafting materials in the game. Preliminary results showed that students learned real chemistry through the game even though they weren’t doing it for grades or getting regular classroom instruction.

In the popular game “Kerbal Space Program,” the player builds their own space program by successfully launching rockets into orbit. The game was not originally intended for educational purposes but implements rigorous orbital mechanics in its physics calculations. It is so accurate that NASA joined the game’s developers to create new missions, and it now has a teaching-ready standalone game that could be used directly in university physics courses.

A unique approach has been taken with the biochemistry-based game “FoldIt.” This game serves as both an educational as well as a citizen science platform. In the game, players manipulate the structures of real proteins to search for the “best” or lowest energy structures. Results published in the journal Nature showed that the player’s search methods can be successfully combined with computer-based algorithms to solve actual scientific problems.

The use of video games in higher education is a real possibility and could even have a promising future in higher education given the advantages of delivering educational content through a video game format. These advantages include things such as remote access, personalized student progress and immediate feedback. However, creating an engaging video game from scratch is challenging, costly and time-consuming. As indicated by the creators of “PolyCraft World,” finding existing games to modify for educational purposes – like the research missions in “Spider-Man” – could be the best way forward.

About The Author:

Aaron W. Harrison is a Teaching and Research Fellow at Chapman University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.

#science #physics #Marvel #spider-man #NASA #chemistry #isaac newton #video games #science education #spectroscopy

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transhumanitynet · 6 years ago

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Thinking Outside of the Evolutionary Box: How Arzeda is Re-Imagining Proteins, the Building Blocks of Life

This article is part of a series about how OS Fund (OSF) companies are radically redefining our future by rewriting the operating systems of life. Or as we prefer to think about it: Step 1: Put a dent into the universe. And Step 2: Rewrite the universe. You can see the full OSF collection here and read more about Building a Biological Immune System.

In contemplating the future, I love imagining how our daily lives today will be thought of in the future. What appears sci-fi to us today but will be “normal” 50 years from now? What inefficient and boneheaded things do we do today that future generations will look back and laugh at?

Seeing beyond what’s possible is a rare skill. Being able to design and build beyond what’s possible is even more rare. Put together, this is the unique set of skills and abilities that OSF founders all have in common. Most importantly, they’ve chosen to focus their abilities to tackling the biggest problems humanity faces.

But who are they? What makes them tick? Why do this versus other things? And how might their technologies change the world? I set out recently to learn a little more about the companies I invest in. These are their stories.

I. Introduction: Rare Proteins, Worth Their Weight in Gold

I’d like to start with a small quiz. Take these five facts:

1. The only non-government plane which flew in the U.S. the day after September 11, 2001, went from San Diego to Florida.

2. A “Golden Arm” blood donor in Australia saved an estimated 2.4 million lives.

3. Scientists recently trawled the oceans for ancient bacteria.

4. Doctors across the U.S. scrambled in emergency rooms as summer, also known as “trauma season”, started.

5. Virologists injected chicken eggs with a virus, like they do every year on the dot.

Q: What do these Herculean labors all have in common?

A: Heaven and earth is moved in order to find, capture, or replicate one and only one thing in all five of these scenarios: Rare proteins. All to get the right protein in the right place at the right time.

1. The plane flew in the empty skies after 9/11 because a snake handler had been bitten in Florida and was rapidly dying. The only good vaccine was in California, so the FAA approved the small private plane to fly all the way across the country to save the man’s life. Protein.

2. The “Golden Arm” guy in Australia has a unique protein in his blood which almost no one else has and which is necessary to treat a certain medical condition, so he donates as much blood as he can. Protein.

3. Molecular biologists looking for new types of photosynthesis can in theory design them in labs, but it is today so difficult that it makes more sense to just “steal” highly-evolved and specialized proteins from nature’s wet lab — the ocean. Hence scientists trawling the oceans with nets. Protein.

4. Hospitals across the country are running low on some drugs because of “manufacturing problems” at one of its major pharma suppliers. What are they having trouble making, which modern chemistry can’t quite get perfect? Protein.

5. And those chicken eggs? They are a step in one of the most common ways to make the seasonal flu vaccine, because nothing we can make in the lab can quite mimic the energy and protein-rich environment of a good ol’ fashioned egg. Protein.

My point?

All these efforts — the time, the money — will look crazy in retrospect, if a company I recently invested in, Arzeda, has its say.

Many of today’s medical processes — chemotherapy, vaccine production, blood donation — will look as backwards to future generations as leeches, bloodletting, lobotomy, and trephination do to us now.

I recently sat down with Arzeda co-founder Alexandre Zanghellini, who explained a world where cancer could be targeted by bespoke treatments, where plants are more efficient, and where manufacturing could be done with little to no waste, anywhere in the world.

It seems to me that our ability to computationally design new proteins will be equally important as engineering DNA.

I. Arzeda Hopes to do for Biology what Gutenberg Did For Paper: Invent the Printing Press

Tl;dr: We can design new proteins that would never occur in the evolutionary process, even if evolution was given perfect conditions and infinite time.

We all know that DNA is special because small DNA differences are the differences between all of us. Large differences are the differences between species.

But it’s not actually the DNA that makes us different, it’s what the DNA makes — proteins. (And no, I’m not talking about the powder you put in smoothies, but rather the most basic molecules that make up every cell in living organisms. Almost everything organic and biological is made up of proteins. Every cell, every virus, every person. Proteins.)

Everything that’s alive, whether plant or human, is run by these small nanomachines. If we had better, more efficient proteins to do our biological work for us in fields like agriculture, medicine, and manufacturing, some of the intractable problems threatening our future suddenly become solvable.

The work that Arzeda co-founder Alexandre Zanghellini and his team are doing is prompting a paradigm shift in the way we create and cultivate proteins. Rather than relying on natural selection and serendipity, Arzeda is rewriting the operating system of protein synthesis by asking: How can we make proteins more efficiently than would ever be possible through evolution?

“What we bring is that by computational design, you don’t need to use the fishing net to find the protein in the first place,” said Zanghellini.

Making a new protein in nature is slow: a mutation arises over generations that provides a benefit to the organism, and so it propagates into future generations.

“The ability to design proteins, or change them at will, can impact every living organism. That means we can make better plants that help us solve global warming and improve food production. We can make better therapies that are a lot more specific and tailored. And we can also transform manufacturing because pretty much everything that we make is indirectly, ultimately, made from biology,” Zanghellini told me.

Leveraging new protein design algorithms and massive compute power, Arzeda can design novel proteins with function not evolved in Nature, such as the one represented here. It catalyzes (= accelerates about 1 billion times) one of the most fundamental reaction of synthetic chemistry, and it does so in water and at room temperature, without the use of toxic solvent and coproducts.

A company would typically spend months or even years scouring the far corners of earth, from the Arctic to the Amazon, gathering thousands of samples of animals and plants, culturing them, screening possible candidates, subjecting the best bets to random mutations, then screening some more. This was the state-of-the art in the 20th century, just looking and hoping.

The old methodologies are extremely risky from an investment standpoint. They required dozens of people working around the clock, resulted in 98% false positives at best, and were in general incredibly expensive.

“Biology, and even synthetic biology, today still uses the approach of early humans, which is, ‘I’m just going to go around and pick whatever nature has to offer, and come back and see if I can make something that works.’ But progress comes when we carve our own tools. We didn’t get where we are by just using the tools and the stones that we found in nature. What got us out of living in a cave was the ability to manufacture our tools for the job, whether it was hunting, or cutting, and it’s exactly right. We are rationally cutting the best tool for the job, not relying on what nature has provided us.”

“In the future, I think people will look back at the techniques that we used, that were used today, and say, how could we ever get anything done that way?”

II. How to Print Proteins

Arzeda is moving past the evolutionary process by designing better software tools to do the heavy lifting of design, chemistry, and synthesis.

“It’s the difference between hacking the system versus designing a new system from scratch,” Zanghellini said.

At Arzeda, they use software to simulate new proteins, greatly reducing the time and energy required to sift through nature’s versions. It also helps with production. Chemistry is hard, and synthesizing proteins is not 100% every time. But Arzeda uses their pipeline to increase efficiency for error-free synthesis to 98 or 99 percent. They’ve honed in on a much better way to make chemistry happen.

By combining designer proteins in a smart and new way, Arzeda can extend the function of living cells to turn them into efficient cell factories producing virtually any molecule of industrial and societal interest. Arzeda has developed a software tool that acts as the ‘google maps’ of synthetic biology, enabling the computer to find the best routes to manufacture a target molecule of interest in an engineered cell factory.

“We understand the physics, and we use that physics and the generative potential of algorithms to create artificial proteins that nature would probably never evolve — or that any evolution-based scientific technique would not produce,” said Zanghellini.

With new proteins, we can make better technology in all spheres of life. We may forget that living systems are involved in everything we do and use, sometimes staring us right in the face.

“Because the proteins we design control the molecular details, we are able to get the right molecule nearly 100 percent of the time — and without requiring additional energy,” Zanghellini explained.

“Chemists actually, forever, have been trying to replicate what nature does, which never really worked all that well. So the way we see it is, Why spend the time mimicking what nature does? Why use the same tools as nature? Let’s take the molecules that nature makes, but redesign them so that they’ll do what we want.”

III. What Can We Do With Designer Proteins?

Example 1: More Efficient Plants

Tl;dr: “The ability to design proteins, or change them at will, can impact every living organism.”

Plants are humanity’s lifeline on Earth, providing directly or indirectly the food we eat and the air we breathe. If we want to sustain population growth long into the future, we will almost certainly have to make better plants. Arzeda is working on this from multiple angles.

I asked him to get a little sci-fi. What did he mean, improve plants? Make them taller, faster, stronger?

He was thinking much bigger than that.

“You can imagine that in 20 years from now, or even 10 years from now, we will have plants that capture carbon (CO₂) from the atmosphere much much better, but can produce more food with less fertilizer,” Zanghellini speculated.

One target is RuBisCO, which captures CO₂ from the air (technical term is “fixate”) so that they can make energy and release oxygen into the air. RuBisCo is the most abundant protein on earth, partly because it is so inefficient.

Crazily enough, it is inhibited by oxygen, which was not very abundant in the atmosphere when the protein evolved. To overcome this inhibition, up to 40% of plant biomass is RuBisCo. (Estimates put up to 40 million tons of RuBisCo in the biosphere, about 5kg per person on earth). This is ancient tech folks! And it’s in every plant on our planet.

“How could we improve the key protein that fixates the CO₂? How can we improve, make a new protein, that provides a resistance to drought? And, when we design these, how can we put them into plants in a directed way — an engineering way — as opposed to this serendipitous way of nature?” said Zanghellini

If we could, for example, make a RuBisCo 2.0, we could immediately produce modified plants more able to take advantage our current atmosphere. Plants which would be able to grow faster with the same amount of resources or less.

432 million year old plant fossil. It most likely had the same RuBisCo protein as modern plants.

Previous techniques to modify plants seem primitive even to today’s standards: take a plant, irradiate it, try to cross breed it, and hope to find the trait. What Arzeda is doing is using machine learning to create a new and improved protein to replace RuBisCO altogether. (They’ve already used similar techniques to engineer proteins that can improve corn so that farmers use less herbicide and can obtain higher yields)

Example 2: Sidestepping Oil: A Revolution in Manufacturing

Tl;dr: Everything is made from a small amount of ‘building block’ chemicals that are made from oil. A huge percentage of our entire manufacturing ecosystem is based on oil. Arzeda could one day break this dependence.

In the long term, Zanghellini believes we will not see large buildings with smoke billowing into the atmosphere like we see today — they will have all disappeared, because companies like Arzeda and others in the OS Fund family will have found better ways to produce chemicals.

“Sometimes we forget that oil is a biological product, and we don’t realize how much of the materials around us are actually made from oil,” he pointed out. 5–8% of every barrel of oil extracted end up making the plastics in our car dashboards, nylon in our running gear, LCD displays, and even the gum we chew — it’s all dependent on the synthetic chemistry of the 19th century and, crucially, on the availability of oil.

But in the future with Arzeda’s neo-proteins to direct chemical synthesis, we won’t need natural oil as an input.

“The way we make chemicals would be just a couple of flash fermenters that would look like what you see when you go into Iowa or somewhere in the middle of a country, just these nice little silos, and that’s pretty much it,” Zanghellini speculated.

“All the chemistry, all the compounds, all the materials that you have in your life would be made that way. No more smoke, no more vapor, no more complex chemical processes, because everything would be actually done in the cell, or by proteins that were designed. You would just enter what you want to produce into your computer.”

This could actually change the pace of the world. And in the future, people will look back and say: “Can you imagine when we used to have to drill several miles under the ground just to extract something in its raw form, then take that thing and subject it to high temperature and pressure, just to get a simple molecule?”

The world’s manufacturing system could be entirely microbe-based, or at least microbe-inspired!

That’s why organizations and companies like DARPA, INVISTA, Mitsubishi, and Amyris have all already invested in its ability to rapidly design new enzyme pathways.

Arzeda is bringing the manufacturing industry into the future, and the future to the manufacturing industry.

to learn more go to https://medium.com/future-literacy

Thinking Outside of the Evolutionary Box: How Arzeda is Re-Imagining Proteins, the Building Blocks of Life was originally published on transhumanity.net

#bryan johnson #companies #future literacy #OS fund #crosspost #transhuman #transhumanitynet #transhumanism #transhumanist #thetranshumanity

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realtalk-princeton · 4 years ago

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Hi! I am a rising sophomore interested in majoring in chemistry and perhaps going to grad school. I wonder what math courses should I take? I have only done MAT201/202 and I wonder if MAE305 would be sufficient? Would I need to take statistics or even analysis, alegbra, etc.? (I am mostly interested in the organic & catalysis side) Also what COS would I need except for 126? Thanks!

Response from Soup Cat:

201/202 should be pretty sufficient, and mae305 is great but definitely not necessary. lots of chem majors won’t even take 201/202, and i’d say that most won’t take 305, but i’m pretty sure this is because most chemists kinda hate math (despite the general public being like ‘wow!! chem!! thats a kinda mathy major right??’), and not because the classes aren’t useful. i guess it depends on your interests? you can definitely get through the major with minimal math (linear alg/diffeq are useful for quantum and multi is useful for thermo, but you can also just take the non-math version of the courses), but if you’re interested in IW/thesis/grad school in physical and/or theoretical chemistry, you should take those 3 courses you’ve listed (i can’t really think of any more you’d need immediately, but if you start working with a prof in the dept they can probably advise you better than i can -- i’m an organic chem kiddo so we rly don’t do math at all).

re: analysis/algebra, i’m the only chem major that i know of that has taken either of those LOL they’re pretty useless in terms of chemistry so don’t take them if that’s what you want, but if you’re interested in the material then go for it! (i personally think analysis is hell and algebra is fun, plus you can pretend that algebra has applications in inorganic chem, but they’re really quite minor/surface-level) ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ stats and coding are useful if you’re interested in more computational research, but plenty of people just pick up the skills when they start a project rather than taking a formal class, so it’s up to you whether you want to have a general understanding of statistics/basic cs or just enough working knowledge to get your project done

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sp4c3-0ddity · 7 years ago

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i actually wrote college AU fluff that’s gen, for once. i would like to thank everyone in the Pidgance Positivity Discord for enabling my chemist Hunk headcanons

and I would like to apologize to Hunk for having to deal with Lance in lab

Read it on Ao3

or read all ~2500 words below!!

Hunk regretted telling Lance his lab section number approximately three minutes into the first experiment.

“Hey, Hunk,” Lance said from his own hood, “can I borrow your scoop?”

Hunk, scanning his procedure for the third time since he wrote it, glanced towards him and asked, “What’s wrong with yours?”

Lance held up the metal scoop. “It’s got these white spots on it,” he said, pointing to one. “What if they contaminate my experiment?”

Hunk raised an eyebrow, surprised by Lance’s concern, but rather than pass over his own scoop, he took Lance’s and looked at it more closely. “Uh, Lance,” he said, “these spots are calcium carbonate.”

“Which is…?”

Hunk pinched his lips together and carefully asked, “How the heck did you pass general chemistry?”

Lance stared at him for a beat before snatching the scoop out of Hunk’s hand and walking over to the sink, mumbling something about all his friends being jerks. And Hunk took advantage of his temporary absence to start setting up his experiment.

“You doing okay, Hunk?” Shiro, the TA, asked when he came over.

“Yep,” Hunk said. Now he held the separatory funnel in his hand, prepared to shake it.

“And you, Lance?” Shiro prompted.

“Peachy,” said Lance.

Shiro crossed his arms as he eyed Lance. “Then why aren’t you wearing your safety goggles?”

Lance’s separatory funnel almost slid from his grip, but he recovered it before it could fall. “I’m fine though,” he said.

“Then make sure you stay that way by putting on your goggles.” Shiro patted Lance’s shoulder as he passed, approaching another pair of students in the middle of their experiments.

Lance looked at Hunk. “You…wouldn’t happen to have an extra pair of goggles I can borrow, do you?”

Hunk sighed as he vented gas from his funnel and set in place, turning the stopper and draining the bottom layer of fluid. “I thought I reminded you to bring your own pair.”

“Yeah, well…I forgot. And then I thought hey, at least I avoid those red lines I get after lab.”

Hunk rolled his eyes. “Lance, one day you’re gonna be that guy that people tell stories about.”

“Sounds good to me,” Lance said, already busy with draining his own separatory funnel.

They worked in blessed silence for a good few minutes, at least until Lance said, “Hey, Hunk, I think I threw the wrong layer away.”

It wasn’t that Lance was completely inept, exactly. It was that Lance was inept at certain things…like chemistry, and Hunk, for the life of him, could not figure out why the hell Lance chose a major so heavy with it.

“I like marine biology,” Lance said once when Pidge asked him, “and marine biology needs it.”

Pidge, for her part, did not like chemistry and did her best to avoid it, though luckily her interests did not align with it beyond a single semester of general chemistry that she currently procrastinated. “I’ll take it next year,” she said if anyone asked, and then mimed gagging whenever she caught sight of Hunk’s and Lance’s organic chemistry textbooks.

“Chemistry is just applied physics, Pidge,” Hunk told her.

“Well, keep it away,” Pidge retorted, holding her computer over her head as if chemistry was contagious.

Hunk glanced at her computer screen, curious about what she worked on. “Pidge, is that file’s name Mordor?”

“Yup,” she said, glaring at him.

“What is it?”

“It’s the worst coding assignment ever,” she explained.

“And it does…?”

“Well, one does not simply code for Mordor, that’s for sure.”

Hunk took that as a pointed sign that he was invading her privacy and didn’t press her for more details. Odds were it was a differential equation solver…or something like that.

Lance, for once, elected not to participate in their conversation, instead keeping his eyes on the chemistry textbook open in front of him. He pressed his hands to the back of his head, looking focused, at least until Hunk noticed that his eyes weren’t moving and had glazed over.

“What’re you stuck on, buddy?” Hunk asked.

“Huh?” Lance glanced up at him. “Oh, hybridization. Why is a carbon with a double bond sp2 hybridized again?”

Hunk set to explaining, but Lance interrupted him, “Wait, wait, wait. What’s this about pi bonds?”

He looked at Pidge, though he knew beseeching her for help was pointless, and sure enough she focused on her computer again, mumbling something about for loops and iterations.

“You know what?” Lance said after Hunk tried yet again to explain the finer points of hybridization. He stretched across the table until his arms were on either side of Pidge’s laptop, forehead pressed to his open book. “Why don’t we take a break and get some coffee?”

“It’s four o’clock,” said Hunk.

“You don't even like coffee," Lance said.

Hunk looked between his friends: from Lance, unfocused and annoyed, to Pidge, frustrated and open to his idea. So, despite the knowledge that he and Lance had a midterm in two days, he agreed.

“See, Hunk, here’s the thing,” Lance said as they left the lecture hall, their exam behind them, out of sight and out of mind, at least until the professor graded it. “This isn’t the right kind of chemistry.”

“Oh, yeah?” said Hunk, raising an eyebrow at him. “What’s the right kind then?”

“Well, you know…” Lance waved a hand dismissively. “The kind you have with someone, like romantic chemistry. Like what you and Shay have.”

Hunk rolled his eyes and said, “For the last time, Shay is just a person I met and admire.”

“She gave you a rock,” Lance pointed out with a smirk.

“She’s a geology major,” Hunk said.

“It was a very pretty rock,” Lance said. “There were those crystals on it.”

“Quartz.”

“See?” Lance elbowed him in the side. “You even remember! And I know for a fact you keep it on your desk.”

“All right, fine,” Hunk said with an impish smile of his own. But before Lance could gloat about being correct, he added, “I admire the rock she gave me too.”

“You—” Lance lightly punched his arm, and they both laughed.

Lab got even worse after the midterm when Keith switched into their section.

“What happened that you had to switch this late in the semester?” Hunk wondered.

To his amazement, Keith flushed red and admitted, “I…went out with the TA.”

Lance’s jaw dropped, and Hunk stared at him incredulously. “Like…on a date?”

“Yes,” Keith said tersely, but from the way he very pointedly set up his experiment without even glancing towards Hunk or Lance, he refused to speak further on the matter.

“Now Keith and his old TA had chemistry,” Lance grumbled under his breath.

“We have chemistry now,” Hunk said when he noticed how far behind Lance was in his experiment. He’d only just finished setting up his reaction in the sand bath, but Hunk’s was nearly done, the color inside the flask already changing.

To be fair, today’s experiment was fairly short.

But within a few weeks, Hunk noticed a pattern emerging: Keith finishing first, and Lance’s work turning sloppier while he tried to catch up.

“You know it’s not a race, right?” Hunk told him.

“I know but I’m still gonna win,” Lance retorted as he scooped his reaction’s product onto a piece of weigh paper while it was still damp.

“You’re gonna get over a hundred percent yield if you weigh it like that,” Hunk pointed out.

“Even better.”

“So you’re okay claiming to create matter?” Hunk asked.

“Shiro doesn’t care,” Lance said. He put the paper on the balance and, without waiting for it to stabilize, jotted a number down in his notebook. “He only cares that we have a number.”

“Okay, this is true,” Hunk conceded, “but you do know that scientific accuracy is kind of…important?”

“Oh, now you sound like Pidge.”

Hunk rolled his eyes and gave Lance up for a lost cause, but he had his revenge when he ‘forgot’ to reply to a text message asking him to correct his post-lab report.

Somehow, Lance survived the lab that semester with decent grades on all of his reports – though Pidge predicted that it was all thanks to Hunk.

“You’re not even in our class,” Lance grumbled.

“I don’t need to be there to know it’s true,” Pidge retorted.

“Well, Pidge, I guess I can’t see that movie you wanted to see on Friday after all,” Lance threatened, arms tightly crossed.

“That’s okay,” Pidge said, sounding unbothered. “I’ll take Matt with me instead since he’s visiting.”

Lance narrowed his eyes at her. “Then I’m changing my Netflix password.”

Pidge’s eyes snapped from her physics textbook to his face. “You take that back!”

“Only if you take back what you said about Hunk enabling my grades!”

“Why would I take back the truth?” Pidge demanded. “What are you, the Catholic Church?”

“Oh, comparing yourself to Galileo again? How high and mighty of you, Pidge!”

“You understood that reference?” Hunk wondered, interrupting their budding argument and surprised despite himself.

Lance gestured towards Pidge, who rolled her eyes before returning her attention to her studying. And he said, “She’s used it before. I’m just adapting to her.”

“Then why can’t you remember what the Grignard reaction is?” Hunk asked, pointing to the organic chemistry notes spread out over the table between them. “We’ve been over it so many times.”

“Grignard?” Lance narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. “That’s the one with manganese, right?”

“Magnesium,” Hunk corrected, “but that’s closer than your last guess.”

Lance grinned. “Ha, I’ll ace the final then. Wait and see, Hunk.”

“There’s a really big difference between manganese and magnesium,” Pidge then pointed out. “I don’t have to have taken chemistry to know that.” But when both Hunk and Lance glared at her, she smiled sheepishly and added, “But good job, Lance.”

“Thanks, Pidge,” Lance said wryly. “I guess I won’t change my Netflix password after all.”

They had assigned seats during the final exam, so Hunk didn’t have to deal with Lance’s leg bouncing and vibrating the whole row of desks. But he did have to deal with the stress of seeing Lance finish before him, and wonder if he managed to answer every question on the exam or simply gave up.

Then again, it wasn’t like Lance to give up, even if he had no skill at something, which, well… They’d studied together every day for hours at a time for almost two weeks, and though Lance spent half that time distracted by one thing or another – usually a game on his phone or a conversation with Pidge – he still learned something.

Probably.

Hunk ignored the anxious churning in his stomach as he returned his focus to the exam. He thought he’d paced himself quite well so far, but between the time on the clock and the questions he had left to answer, he started to doubt himself. It didn’t help that someone in the row in front of him kept swearing under his breath.

Chair, and…a boat, Hunk thought as he drew cyclohexane in its two most stable molecular configurations. He was careful to count sides on each shape, to make sure that the hexagons had six corners and the pentagons had five.

He would not lose points on mistakes that wouldn’t have happened if he’d paid more careful attention to detail.

Name the following organic compounds. Easy, Hunk thought.

Propose a synthetic pathway between the reagent and the product. Oh, and this one had suggestions.

By the time Hunk reached the last question, he was grinning, feeling better about this particular exam than he had about anything in the last eighteen weeks of the semester…at least until Shiro called time.

Hunk glanced up at his lab TA before writing his best guess for a question he’d barely scanned, then, after passing the paper over to the TA that collected them, he mentally calculated what his score would be based on questions he knew he got correct.

Well, at least he would pass, right?

Hunk walked with Keith out of the lecture hall; he tried to ask him what he got for that last question, but Keith said, “I’d rather not talk about it.”

“Why?” Hunk wondered, eyebrow raised. “Did your girlfriend tell you what was on the exam?”

“No!” Keith said quickly. “I just don’t like talking about exams after the fact.” He crossed his arms, and after a beat added, “And the TAs don’t know what’s on the test until we do.”

“I knew that,” Hunk said. “Shiro refused to tell us anything.”

He and Keith parted after that, and Hunk met Lance at the cafe on campus, where Pidge waited for them at a table in the corner. “What time did you have to get here to get a table?” Hunk asked her.

Pidge didn’t look up from the old history exam she held in her hand when she replied, “Two minutes ago.”

“Seriously?”

“Right on the hour, when people go to class.”

“Nice,” Hunk said appreciatively, sitting down right as Lance joined them with three drinks: hot chocolate for Hunk, who didn’t enjoy coffee, black coffee for Pidge, who didn’t like milk, and iced coffee for Lance, who didn’t know the meaning of the word ‘cold’.

“So how do you think you did?” Lance asked Hunk.

Hunk sipped his drink, considering. “Not too bad,” he said. “I think I’ll get at least an eighty percent.”

“Not too bad?” Lance said. “I’d kill for that.”

“You’ll pass,” Pidge said after shooting a brief glance at him. “You’ve been studying your ass off.”

“Look who finally noticed all my hard work!”

“Your lab report grades might bring you down though,” Pidge continued as if she hadn’t heard Lance. She stared straight at him as she emptied three sugar packets into her coffee and drank deeply from it.

“I got decent grades on those,” Lance whined.

“Shiro’s an easy grader then,” Pidge said. “I saw your reports, and I may not know what half those molecules are called, but reports are supposed to be easy enough to follow. And yours were kind of—”

“Don’t say it, Pidge,” Hunk beseeched her.

“—sloppy.”

Hunk sighed, but to his surprise Lance admitted, “I guess I could’ve done better, but I would’ve done a lot worse without Hunk’s help.” When Hunk threw a glance at him, he added, “I was in good hands.”

“That’s true,” Pidge agreed.

Hunk smiled, glad Lance could confess to needing his help in regular conversation, but the smile disappeared when Lance said, “Oh, yeah, that reminds me: which section are you taking next semester?”

Hunk wondered if it was too late for him to drop out.

#voltron #hunk #lance #pidge #reem writes fic #please give me feedback #we craves it precious #mildly inspired by real-life events #reem writes gen

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nmranalyzer · 5 years ago

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“Probe” into NMR

What is NMR

Speaking of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), the first reaction of many people is the examination we usually do in the hospital-magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Due to the lack of certain scientific knowledge, many of them believe that MRI has radiation and is harmful to the body. This is called nuclear color change. It is said that precisely because of this, medical experts in the United States during the Cold War renamed magnetic resonance imaging as magnetic resonance imaging to eliminate ordinary people’s fear of nuclear.

The above mentioned are the common views of people on MRI in daily life, basically staying at the cognitive level of health care. In fact, NMR itself contains very rich content, in addition to related experimental techniques, there are systematic and complete theories. It should be said that since the early physicists such as Rabi, Purcell and Bloch discovered the NMR phenomenon, NMR has been developed from an early emerging experimental technology to a cross-physics and chemistry through the joint efforts of countless scientists around the world. , Materials, biomedicine, electronics and other multi-disciplinary cross-disciplines with important influence. In its short decades of development, the Nobel Prize has been associated with it five times, and it has been reflected in physics, chemistry and biomedicine. According to related statistics, among the scientific and technological articles published worldwide each year, the article on NMR is the most, ranking first.

All these fully show that MRI has a strong academic vitality. At the same time, as an experimental technique, its scope of application is wide: from macroscopic objects to microscopic atomic and molecular states, NMR has become an indispensable “a pair of eyes” for us to observe and study substances. In addition, in view of the good two-way interactive relationship between MRI in basic research and applied research, its development will undoubtedly have a good demonstration role for the development of other disciplines.

What does NMR mean for scientific research and technical personnel

Specifically, for a nuclear magnetic detector, NMR may be a map. For this reason, they may only need to understand the operation steps of the instrument, simple maintenance, software use, and sample preparation process. It may also require the ability to parse the map. For organic chemists, in addition to the knowledge mentioned above, they must also master the knowledge of organic chemistry such as purification of organic compounds, organic reactions, and the role of some nuclear magnetic methods to help them better explain. The structure of organic compounds and understanding the mechanism of organic chemical reactions. Only in this way can we say that this organic chemist really has mastered NMR.

Of course, the above researchers only regard NMR as a characterization method similar to infrared and ultraviolet. For an NMR instrument engineer, NMR is a sophisticated and expensive large instrument. For this reason, they need to master more about the principle of the instrument itself and the electronic knowledge of electronic devices, so that the instrument can be in a relatively good state of use and ensure that it does not go wrong. More powerful engineers, they will customize nuclear magnetic instruments and related components (such as probes) according to customer needs. Of course, for those who specifically use NMR for research in the fields of catalysis, batteries, medicine, polymers, biology, and other related fields, NMR is an important scientific research tool in their hands. Their task is to continuously develop new nuclear magnetic methods or use existing methods to study matter and discover new phenomena.

These researchers are generally called NMR spectroscopy. The NMR we talk about basically refers to NMR spectroscopy. In general, NMR spectroscopy can be divided into two major directions of theoretical and methodological research and application: the former mainly includes the development of nuclear magnetic detection technology and pulse sequence, as well as the calculation and simulation of NMR spectra and the development of related software, which involves The essence of the principle of NMR-quantum mechanics. Therefore, mastering good knowledge of quantum mechanics and mathematics is indispensable, and it is best to have a certain knowledge of computer language. The latter is to use the existing nuclear magnetic pulse sequence and technology to study the structure, reaction mechanism and dynamics of substances such as catalysts, polymers, biological macromolecules, energy storage materials, organic substances and drug molecules, and discover new experimental phenomena from them. In order to make better use of NMR, it is necessary to understand the principles of relevant pulse sequences and methods and have knowledge in the corresponding fields.

Of course, some need to develop new experimental devices (such as in-situ and combined devices) to better study substances and related reaction processes. In addition, according to the type of spectrometer used, each direction can be divided into two branches: solid nuclear magnetic and liquid nuclear magnetic.

What is the research object of NMR, can any substance be tested?

It should be said that current NMR instruments can detect substances in any state. The most common are liquids and solids. Of course, liquid crystals, colloids and even gases between liquids and solids can be directly detected. But the premise is that the nuclear spin quantum number of the detected material element’s nucleus is not zero (most elements in the periodic table of the element meet this condition), which involves NMR research object-nuclear spin. Of course, this is only theoretical. Whether it can be tested on an instrument and whether an NMR spectrum with a good signal-to-noise ratio can be obtained. It also needs to pay attention to whether the Rama frequency of the nuclei of the tested element is within the specified frequency range of the instrument Inside, whether the natural abundance and relative sensitivity of the nucleus are high can be obtained from the NMR periodic table on the Internet. In addition, some instruments such as liquid NMR also require that the measured substance should not contain paramagnetic substances as much as possible.

What important information can we get from NMR?

To put it simply, an NMR experiment mainly obtains basic information by analyzing data such as peak position, peak shape, peak intensity, and relaxation time. This information can be obtained from the two aspects of “static” and “dynamic” mentioned earlier. For example, from the perspective of “static”, whether it is liquid or solid nuclear magnetic, the peak position generally refers to the chemical shift, which is an important basis for qualitative confirmation of the composition and type of substance. It is just that in liquid nuclear magnetic field, we generally see the information of the functional groups of organic substances. At the same time, combined with the two-dimensional spectrum, we can get the structure and spatial conformation information of the entire organic substance. In addition, for liquid nuclear magnetic, the peak shape should be concerned with the number of peak splits and the distance between the splits, from which the value of the J coupling constant can be obtained, which is also helpful for the judgment of the material structure. In addition, from the peak splitting situation, we can also indirectly know whether the magnetic field shimming is good or bad.

The information obtained by the peak position and peak shape in solid-state NMR is more abundant, and different information can be obtained by combining different disciplines and research directions. Here, in addition to the peak shape, the peak shape needs to pay attention to the linear shape and peak width of the peak. From the data of these peak shapes, NMR interaction parameters such as chemical shift anisotropy, dipole-dipole coupling constant, quadrupole coupling constant, etc. can be obtained indirectly to obtain substances such as bond length, bond angle, and spatial distribution of chemical bonds Important structural information. Of course, the difference between these chemical shifts and the peak shape is also due to the different bonding mode of the atoms and the chemical environment (for example, the surface and bulk phases, the free material and the adsorbed material, and the different spatial arrangements of the atoms of different crystal types). These nuclei The amount of NMR interaction caused by different Hamiltonian.

In addition, in order to prove the reasonableness of the spectrum judgment, it is necessary to use multi-dimensional nuclear magnetic and nuclear magnetic experiments of a variety of related nuclei, computational simulation of nuclear magnetic spectrum and other related characterization techniques to further confirm. As for the peak intensity, whether it is liquid or solid nuclear magnetic, it can be used to qualitatively compare the relative amount of a certain component or to quantitatively calculate the content of a certain component or substance by adding a certain amount of standard material.

From the perspective of “dynamic”, NMR is a very useful and important technical means to study molecular dynamics. Through variable temperature experiments, two-dimensional exchange experiments, cross-polarization and other methods to study the spectral line shape, peak width and peak intensity changes and nuclear magnetic relaxation time, etc., NMR can study molecules on the order of picoseconds to tens of seconds Movement, such as molecular vibration, rotation, diffusion, and chemical exchange. Here are two more classic examples. For example, in liquid NMR, it is found that the speed of the chemical exchange rate often affects the change in line shape. In solid NMR, the movement of molecules can be studied by analyzing the line change of 2H spectrum at different temperatures Happening.

Through further study of these molecular movements, we can not only obtain physical parameters such as activation energy, reaction rate and diffusion coefficient, but also re-understand the relevant properties of substances and some reaction processes from a macro perspective, such as the crystal form transformation of drug molecules , The glass transition process of polymers and the movement of some gas and liquid molecules in porous materials. So as to help us better design materials with unique properties.

As for why we can use the change of NMR spectrum to detect the movement process of molecules, the fundamental reason is that the movement process of these molecules affects the nuclear spin Hamiltonian of the nucleus, thus causing changes in the spectrum such as line shape, peak width and peak intensity. . The specific degree of influence depends on the relative size of the time scale of these motions and the NMR interaction. It’s like how fast a camera can capture some details of movement, it depends on the relationship between shooting speed and movement speed

(source:https://www.nmranalyzer.com/probe-into-nmr.html)

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lowkeynando · 2 years ago

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After 1600, using the scientific method alchemists became chemists. Chemists separated the air into many parts and isolated the noble gases from it. They also processed special minerals from a mine in Sweden to get rare earth metals. Radioactivity was also discovered. 118 different elements have been found. [1] Some are very common, like oxygen.

Many are very rare and expensive, like platinum.

Some cannot be found on earth and can only be made in labs, like rutherfordium.

Since the 1920s, the increased understanding of physics has changed chemists' theories about chemical reactions. With smaller and faster computers, chemists have built better tools for analyzing substances. These tools have been sent to study chemicals on Mars. Police also use those tools to study evidence from crime scenes. There are several types of chemistry.

Analytical chemistry looks at which chemicals are in things. For example, looking at how much arsenic is in food. Organic chemistry looks at things that have carbon in them. For example, making acetylene. Inorganic chemistry looks at things that do not have carbon in them. One example is making an integrated circuit.

Theoretical chemistry tries to explain chemical data with mathematics and computers.

A large area of chemistry is polymer chemistry.

This looks at plastics. One example is making nylon. Because plastics are made of carbon,JUNGLEWOODNETHERRACKNETHERWARTENCHANTMENTTABLECHORUSFLOWERAAAAAAAAREDSTONEREPEATERREDSTONECOMPARATORAATRiPWiREHOOKCOMMANDBLOCKSTiCKYPiSTONAAALiENSSPECiESFAiRiESDEiTiESGODSCLOWNSAAAROBOTSANDROiDSARTiFiCiALiNTELLiGENCESAAABRAiNSPOWERSiNTELLiGENCEQUOTiENTSAAAAAAWORMSTAPEWORMSTUBESTURMORSCANCERSAAHOSTSENTiTiESFUNGiSPARASiTESBACTERiASAAAMiCROORGANiSMSMUSHROOMSSIRGERiESAAAAASCiENCESPHYSiCSWiTCHCRAFTSMAGiCSAAAAAAAVOODOOSHOODOOSWiZARDSWARLOCKSAAAAAACULTSSECRETSOCiETiESALTEREGOSAAAAAAAAAAiNNERDEMONSCROSSROADDEMONSAAAAAAAAAMEDiCALTREATMENTS AND

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margueriteandrews92 · 5 years ago

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Molecular Designs at the Movies

A design scenario

David Bradley

You might have seen a current wave of glossy advertisements in the Sunday supplements and shiny “design” publications for smooth roller ball composing executes and unique walnut water fountain pens and so forth. It appears, intriguingly, that in spite of the billions upon billions of text, e-mails, and (nowadays) the periodic fax transmission there stays an ingrained desire to “compose”. What individuals compose, I will not hypothesize however a love letter in Indian ink is most likely not so enduring nor available to lawsuits as a spurious e-mail sent out spinning throughout a cordless network from a Bolivian cybercafe to a Barcelona coffeehouse.

This odd idea combined with a missive from Michael Engel of Dainippon Ink & Chemicals, Japan, concerning molecular designs got me thinking of a comparable scenario that exists in chemistry. There are now numerous chemical website that bring numerous diverse chemical structures displayable in marvelous and turning 3D. A great deal of additional info can be held within a virtual particle permitting clickable atoms and bonds to generate spectra and other marvels.

Where the pen may no longer be mightier than the sword, is the exact same real of those molecular modelling packages that interested us as trainee chemists? Maybe it is the nearly “back to essentials” feel of genuine molecular designs that enable users to acquire something that is lost in the flat world of computer system screen.

Phil Ray working towards his Master’s in physical chemistry in the United States described that he utilizes the similarity RasMol however “will constantly utilize my plastic ball and stick package since, although RasMol can make 3D structures, you can find out more by making the structure yourself.” Maybe that recommends that getting a feel for the chemistry is much easier with something concrete. “When I’m doing either stereochemistry or response website issues the plastic package is important,” Ray includes.

These design packages are extremely much still offered and Robert Mouk who worked for years in market and now teaches college chemistry concurs with Ray, “There is absolutely nothing like really holding something in your hand to get a feel for it, he states. The direct result on knowing can be effective too, the “hands on” technique suggests trainees, and others, can get a much better understanding holding and controling a design rather than merely nodding in contract at a display.

Engel describes the requirement for strong designs as individuals being tired of the speed of technological advancement, “People desire something they can count on - a design is absolutely nothing abstract, a (non-virtual 3D) truth, utilizing plastic designs does not require one to believe at high-speed, and there is no brand-new software application to discover,” he discusses. The genuine designs can, nevertheless, enhance gratitude of the software application options, “The understanding we have of a virtual design turning on a PC screen potentially depends upon our previous understanding of genuine 3D designs,” recommends Le Bail. Design packages can significantly assist with comprehending basic responses, making bond breaking and making procedures more instinctive.

Manchester University chemist Andrew Lund makes numerous essential points about ball and stick designs, “You can take B+S designs into a test, they do not “crash”, and you can actually feel the molecular stress in a plastic design,” he states, “Moreover, I still utilize them quite routinely, regularly than my Silicon Graphics Indy anyhow.” He includes that the ease with which bonds can be turned so that one can get a various view of a conformer is “fast and basic” with a ball and stick design. Stephan Logan of Indigo Instruments echoes the belief, “Although you can reveal stereo sets on a computer system screen, it might not be as simple to turn them individually or move them forward and back,” he states, “Being able to take a look at one and after that the other while doing this can make it simpler to value subtle distinctions.”

Logan highlights a fascinating spin on molecular designs, “There is no doubt that computer systems are a terrific property and deal particular benefits that physical designs can not however the exact same argument can be made in reverse,” he states. Developing the design was, of course, half the story in the discovery of its structure in the 1950s, today, software application will connect atoms with the right bond lengths and angles with essentially no user intervention.

Develop a design of diamond with Indigo Instrument’s Wobbly bonds and it provides method really bit when you attempt to squash it. Possibly the greatest benefit for science teachers of molecular design sets is that they are economical. Attempt validating in a school budget plan a Pentium desktop maker total with the most current chemical modelling software application for every trainee, much easier to purchase them the design sets to make their own and let them hand them round.

David is a self-employed author with nearly fifteen years composing and modifying experience. You can call him through his sciencebase site with remarks on this post of if you ‘d like to commission news, views, or interviews from him in nearly any field of science.

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didanawisgi · 7 years ago

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Chemists have largely ignored quantum mechanics. But it now turns out that this strange physics has a huge effect on biochemical reactions.

by Emerging Technology from the arXiv

August 1, 2017

One of the strange consequences of quantum mechanics is the phenomenon of indistinguishability—that two quantum particles can be impossible to tell apart, even in principle. This happens, in part, because it is impossible to determine the precise position of quantum particles. So when two particles interact at the same location, there is no way of knowing which is which.

That gives rise to some exotic behavior, particularly at low temperatures when large numbers of particles can behave in the same way. The indistinguishability of photons makes lasers possible, the indistinguishability of helium-4 nuclei at low temperature leads to superfluidity and the indistinguishability of other nuclei like rubidium leads to Bose-Einstein condensates. Indistinguishability is rich in mysterious phenomena.

But some quantum particles are not indistinguishable in this way. Electrons, for example, are forbidden from sharing the same state by a law known as the Pauli exclusion principle. And that leads to a different kind of physics. The interactions between electrons, governed by this Pauli exclusion principle, is called chemistry and it is equally rich in exotic behavior.

The worlds of chemistry and indistinguishable physics have long been thought of as entirely separate. Indistinguishability generally occurs at low temperatures while chemistry requires relatively high temperatures where objects tend to lose their quantum properties. As a result, chemists have long felt confident in ignoring the effects of quantum indistinguishability.

Today, Matthew Fisher and Leo Radzihovsky at the University of California, Santa Barbara, say that this confidence is misplaced. They show for the first time that quantum indistinguishability must play a significant role in some chemical processes even at ordinary temperatures. And they say this influence leads to an entirely new chemical phenomenon, such as isotope separation and could also explain a previously mysterious phenomenon such as the enhanced chemical activity of reactive oxygen species.

In short, Fisher and Radzihovsky are turning chemistry on its head.

The key question behind this new thinking is whether quantum properties can really be ignored in most chemical reactions. Fisher and Radzihovsky say that while it may be generally true that quantum properties are lost at high temperatures, certain quantum phenomena endure.

They point in particular to the quantum coherence of atomic nuclei. Physicists have long known that the spins of nuclei can remain coherent over timescales of minutes or hours. Indeed, they exploit this phenomenon in a wide range of quantum computing experiments that rely on nuclear spins to store quantum information.

It’s easy to think that nuclear spins have no significant effect on the way that electrons interact with each other in chemical reactions.

But that isn’t the case, say Fisher and Radzihovsky. Nuclear spins can easily become coupled to other physical states, such as the way a molecule vibrates. When this happens, the properties of indistinguishability that are normally confined to nuclei leak out and influence the molecule as a whole.

Fisher and Radzihovsky say this has a particularly strong effect on small symmetric molecules, such as water or hydrogen. The reason is that when the spins of two nuclei interact, symmetry dictates that they can take on certain configurations but not others.

When that symmetry leaks into the chemical world, it means that the molecule can interact only in situations with similar spin symmetry.

For example, a hydrogen or water molecule contains two hydrogen nuclei which can either spin in the same direction, in which case the molecule is known as ortho-water, or in the opposite directions in which case the molecule is known as para-water. These different arrangements of the same molecule are known as spin-isomers.

That has implications for the way molecules interact with each other. In many chemical reactions, the way molecules lock together is important. If the molecules can’t fit together like a key in a lock, the reaction can’t happen.

Fisher and Radzihovsky show that quantum indistinguishability influences the way molecules fit together because it prevents interactions that don’t match the symmetry of the of nuclei.

The researchers go on to show that this effect causes para molecules to be significantly more reactive than ortho molecules, because their symmetry matches that of a wider range of other molecules.

One area where this may play an important role is in enzymatic catalysis. Many enzymes rely on hydrogen to do their work. Now Fisher and Radzihovsky show that quantum indistinguishability must have a significant influence on this process.

Testing this prediction will be tricky. The obvious way is to measure the outcome of the same reaction performed with ortho- and para-versions of the molecules. But this is easier said than done. Ortho and para versions of the same molecule are hard to separate. Chemists achieved it for water for the first time only in 2014.

The chemical behavior of water and hydrogen is just the beginning. Fisher and Radzihovsky give numerous examples of other chemical processes that should also be influenced by quantum indistinguishability. These include isotope fractionation for which quantum indistinguishability provides a new mechanism, the phenomenon also explains the enhanced chemical activity of reactive oxygen species and provides a way for the spins of nuclei to influence biochemical molecules in general.

There is a rich trove of exotic behavior to study here. Testing these ideas will be hard but the rewards—a better understanding of some of chemistry’s most subtle and important biological phenomenon—will provide substantial motivation. Expect to hear more.

Ref: arxiv.org/abs/1707.05320: Quantum Indistinguishability in Chemical Reactions

#quantum physics #reactive oxygen species #ros #chemistry #quantum chemistry #quantum biology #quantum consciousness #quantum crystals #water #nature

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this-is-my-inner-nerd · 8 years ago

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Give me brains behind the brawn

TL;DR, Steve is a precious nerd who needs to be protected from the idiots in the world who think he’s a thug with nothing but muscles and a gun. Giving him the time and encouragement to just study things because he wants to could seriously change the way he lives, because he may be a Navy SEAL-turned-cop but that doesn’t mean he’s stupid. Far from it, in fact, and I have feelings about how he handles it.

Give me Steve McGarrett who is more than a gun-carrying, in-your-face, BAMF, going-where-angels-fear-to-tread meat-head with nothing between his ears.

Give me Steve McGarrett who loves to exercise his mind just as much as–if not more than he loves to exercise his body.

Give me Steve McGarrett who spends nights and weekends thumbing through old biographies and war histories because they’re relevant, but also reads classic literature in all the languages he speaks and buys used Chemistry and Calculus and Psychology textbooks because he’s always on the lookout for something new to learn about.

Give me Steve McGarrett who made a deal with UH or some local college when he came home to let him take a class or two online every semester. It started out as a way to take the loneliness out of his downtime, but it turned into this love of learning that he thought had died out long ago, so he kept at it.

Give me Steve McGarrett who keeps whatever novel he’s on tucked under the passenger seat of the Camaro, next to the first aid kit, because getting hurt and having time to read generally go hand in hand.

Give me Steve McGarrett who hated to send Danny undercover at UH instead of going himself, because he’d had dreams of being a teacher or a chemist or a thousand other things once upon a time, before everything went to hell, except it did and then the Navy happened and it’s kind of late now and business was never his forte anyway and he really wants this guy caught, so Danny’s the obvious choice.

Give me Steve McGarrett who spends rainy Saturdays when he can’t workout on the upstairs lanai (because it’s the only one that’s covered) with an entire sheaf of papers, a computer, and at least three textbooks, working on whatever problem caught his eye.

Give me Steve McGarrett who gets flustered on one of those days because Danny wasn’t supposed to show up here until three but of course he’s early and Danny’s about ready to start laughing and making jokes when he realizes his partner–his best friend–is standing there staring at him with his shoulders bowed just slightly, like he’s expecting to get mocked for liking things any second now and Jesus Christ, that’s never what Danny intended and it stops now. So he pauses, takes a second to seriously look at what his partner is doing, and asks.

Give me Steve McGarrett who lights up like the sun at being asked a genuine question and goes on for like ten minutes about what he’s been reading and studying up on and how amazing it all is and Danny can’t think of a time when Steve talked this much and he knows he’s never seen his friend look this excited about anything, smile this brightly and look so happy in the seven years they’ve known each other and he kind of feels like shit for not realizing this side of Steve existed at all. Danny doesn’t really understand one word in ten that his friend is saying, but it’s right there that he decides that he’s going to be more supportive.

Give me Steve McGarrett after the liver transplant who uses the time to go back to school for another degree–this time in Anthropology, for the hell of it and because humans are absolutely fascinating--and give me Danny who drives him to all the classes he has to be on campus for.

Give me Steve McGarrett who shies away from the rest of his team when they inevitably find out–he hadn’t answered his phone and they’d been worried–because they give him shit like he knew they would and it’s not supposed to sting but it does, the genuine surprise that he could like things besides sports and explosions laced with teasing that was probably harsher than it needed to be. And when he leaves a little too fast to be not upset, give me Danny Williams rounding on all three of them with his I Will Fight You expression on his face and he absolutely goes off on them for it. It culminates in him yelling at them–full voiced and angry, not ranting, legitimately yelling–about how sure, Steve uses his intelligence in different ways, but those way have saved their asses more than once. Like all the times he was the only one to remember the layout of a building or some vital detail of their suspects or how to defuse a bomb. And how about the fact that he’s been taking classes for years and has a near-perfect GPA while working longer hours than any of them to boot. How dare they criticize him for having a brain, for liking things, knowing that he considers them family?

Give me Steve McGarrett who’s already a mile out from shore when they finally make their way downstairs to apologize to him, swimming smoothly and so quickly they would have no hope of catching him, so they wait and wonder how they could possibly have missed this.

Give me Steve McGarrett who approaches them with tense shoulders and a head held upright with only sheer willpower when he finally comes back, hours later, panting and nearly stumbling up the sand. Give me Steve McGarrett who has this look in his eye that they haven’t seen since the first few months of being thrown together and dubbed a team, when he was fresh off active duty and closed-off and angry at the world. It’s like he’s already resigned himself to more comments he doesn’t deserve, but he’s not about to stop them because it isn’t worth it and hell if that isn’t the worst part of the whole damn thing.

Give me Steve McGarrett who, after that day, could almost always be seen wandering around Five-0 with a notebook tucked under his arm and his nose stuck in a book, especially when they weren’t busy. Give me Steve McGarrett who started to look happier, like he was sleeping better, like he was less ready to explode at any given chance. Give me Steve McGarrett who takes over the tech table one day, promising not to break it, and somehow comes up with an algorithm that, when added to their facial rec system, makes the search for suspects, witnesses, and victims almost twice as fast.

Give me Steve McGarrett who absolutely flourishes when given the chance, who finally seems to have found a balance, a way to escape what they see all day. Physics doesn’t lie to him and Calculus doesn’t kill people and Chemistry is predictable in a way most things aren’t and people who died a few thousand years ago can’t shove his life through a meat-grinder. Again.

Give me Steve McGarrett who just wants to learn things for the sake of it, and it’s something he’s never had the chance or the encouragement to do before now.

#h50 #steve mcgarrett #oh my baby #he's such a precious nerd and he needs to be protected #who better for the job than his husband?#danny williams #i've thought about this a lot

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kingofthewilderwest · 8 years ago

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I think you might have answered a question like this before, but if the gang was in a modern day environment, what type do you think they'd want to go to college for (if they did)? And why?

Huh, I don’t think I actually have officially talked about this! Let’s go!

Hiccup: Computer Science.

Hiccup is an extraordinary inventor canonically. He creates technology that is well beyond his time. For this reason, I truly believe that a modern AU Hiccup would delve deep into the technology of this time, too. There are of course many different types of technologies in our contemporary society, but I feel as though computers are where Hiccup is going to be.

First off, we know that Hiccup is someone who is talented with the physical sciences. His inventions require a lot of knowledge of physics. While Hiccup does have interest in biological sciences as well (his love of dragons!), I feel as though one of the fields in the physical sciences is where he can apply his love for invention the most. The things Hiccup creates - shields, saddles, weapons - fall more into a physical sciences category.

Computer technology is also where many incredible advancements are being made currently. Hiccup would be able to start playing around with computers at a young age (another reason why he’d be interested in this field specifically). Just as Hiccup started working at Gobber’s shop at a young age and that influenced how he invented things canonically, so Hiccup would at a young age begin to tamper around with computer technology. He would be able to learn how to program things in the middle school and high school. He could craft his own monumental ideas right from home with the resources he has.

It’s incredibly easy for me to see Hiccup as a techie. He could be that nerd who gets hired by his university’s IT department to help debug other student laptops or show teachers how to turn on their darned projector. He could work for some company like Google or HP or Apple or Android or who-knows-what. But since computer technology is changing so rapidly in this day and age with the latest creative inventiveness, it seems like this is exactly the place where Hiccup would go. So Computer Science major it is!

Fishlegs: Zoology –> Veterinarian Medicine.

Other life sciences like Botany, Ecology, or Biology would also work very well for Fishlegs. We know he likes plants and learning all sorts of things about how living things work. But being as we see Fishlegs’ greatest excitement focusing around dragons, I imagine that Zoology could be a good match for him in his undergraduate years. In this sort of degree, Fishlegs could specifically study non-human living creatures and all their wonderful adaptations.

I could see Fishlegs going along a Pre-Vet track. Various degrees could get him to his eventual goal of vet school. I know people who have entered vet school with degrees like Microbiology, for instance. But I feel like Fishlegs would get straight to the point - there are certain species of animals he loves, and he wants to learn about them now. It is to note that entering vet school is extremely competitive… but being as Fishlegs is a bit of a scholar, I imagine he’d still try and go for it. He has enough passion for animals and a lot of academic things going for him that he could successfully enter veterinarian medicine for his graduate studies.

I imagine Fishlegs would be best suited as a small animal vet as versus large animal or exotic. I’ve got several reasons for this… First, Meatlug acts rather dog-like. This could translate to Fishlegs adoring dogs in a modern AU. Second, large animal veterinarians have a different approach to treatment than small animal vets. Large animal has to take care of entire herds of livestock… small animal is about taking care of pets. Though it’s harder to get into small animal, Fishlegs is happiest when he’s around his companion Meatlug, so pets is where he’d be. I could maaaaybe see a variation where he goes into exotics and tries to work in a zoo setting, given as he does have interest in dragons in their natural habitats, but by and large I think small animal fits his personality and interests best.

So Fishlegs has a long academic road ahead of him! Let’s wish him luck. ^.^

One more thing: Fishlegs in his undergraduate years has the potential to double major or get a minor. Fishlegs is also someone who would have a strong appreciation for the arts and humanities. We know he tries to write poems for Meatlug. An English or Creative Writing minor? It’s a possibility. Even something like History wouldn’t be out of scope (though I imagine he probably just takes one or two electives on that topic for that one).

Heather: Chemistry.

This admittedly is mostly going after Heather’s characterization as she appears in School of Dragons. I know that it’s a bit divergent from her choices, experiences, and characteristics in DOB/RTTE, but putting her as a chemist still doesn’t seem that odd to me.

Heather doesn’t strike me as a life sciences, humanities, business, or arts individual. She doesn’t seem to have inclinations towards those sorts of interests. Physical sciences seem more up her alley to me.

I also suspect that “will I get a job” will factor into Heather’s choice of major. Heather’s had a tough canonical life and she wants to fight for something better. Though she gets emotionally wearied, we do see that she’s willing to even do things like steal from others to “donate” to the people who lost their homes. This suggests she could be willing to drive herself hard, and she is someone who doesn’t want her life to be terrible forever. Her solution would be to pick a degree that she thinks is “practical,” has some reputation, but also isn’t what she would consider “intimidating.” (Note: majors are not actually harder based upon society’s strange perceived notions of value and whether or not it’s science. Don’t get me STARTED on the rigor of my Music Composition degree!)

For an alternate, I could see Heather pursuing Journalism. Heather has first-hard experienced some terrible things about society. Maybe, with the right circumstances in a modern AU, she would want a job in journalism to expose the injustices she has seen and lived.

Eret: Accounting.

I don’t know exactly which business degree Eret would attain (Accounting sounds best to me right now), but I do feel as though business makes sense for him. Eret in HTTYD 2 works as a dragon trapper. He’s got a sense of negotiation and doing what needs to be done to get business continuing smoothly between himself and Drago. Eret is about doing the work at hand and translating that into the best possible resources and security for himself.

Business can of course be very cerebral, but one of the things that is attractive about it is practicality. It’s a degree with a set goal of going into business and doing work to directly translate practice into financial success. Eret would like to get straight to the point. Something like History would likely feel irrelevant to him - what would he do with it? But he’d know what he could do in the school of business and how to make that work out nicely for him.

Astrid: Anatomy and Physiology -or- Engineering.

I’m going to give two answers based upon two different lines of reason.

The one that people might be most comfortable with, and feel resonates most with her current character, is that Astrid gets a degree in Anatomy and Physiology or some other related Health degree. With this degree, Astrid can be a physical trainer, physical therapist, or some other related profession by which she helps people become stronger physically. As a trained athlete but someone also with the ability for empathy and compassion, this sort of field could work well with her. She can’t exactly fight people as a warrior in our modern society, but she can help other people fight to become in better shape. That’d work great for her.

So that one might be the most intuitive and comfortable response to give Astrid for a major. I’ll give one alternate suggestion along a different line of reasoning. I feel a little weirder saying “Engineering” for her, but I’ll explain why that’s the other possibility I’m suggesting. If you don’t like it, just chill with Anatomy and Physiology.

Now, Astrid is someone who fits in well within society’s current parameters. She can adjust to become successful based upon what society values. Both intelligent and smart, I feel like Astrid is someone who could succeed at whatever she wants to do. This means that I suspect that Astrid, in a modern world, would select a degree that she feels contributes greatly to the community and is widely respected by society.

I also suspect that family history could play into a role for what Astrid chooses degree-wise. Fearless Finn Hofferson probably was a big deal before the Flightmare. The Hoffersons could have been esteemed warriors for all we know - and in fact, maybe there are some hints that they are? Astrid takes pride in wielding her mother’s axe during Dragon Training, and she already seems to have been trained by the time she enters the ring. How could Astrid have already known how to handle an axe? It would probably be family teaching her and honing her abilities, training her well from a very young age. Astrid is aware her parents’ war is about to become hers, she takes a lot of time and effort training… one reason Astrid is so dedicated in Dragon Training could be because that’s how she was brought up.

Astrid’s family in a modern world would want to instill hardworking values on their daughter at a young age, just as they might have done with her axe training in canon. From the engineering families I know (and I guess I know a lot of them), they tend to take a lot of concern about their kids’ education. They want to train their kids to be successful in school, even if the kid doesn’t end up following the same occupational course they do. But since canon Astrid cares that “our parents’ war is about to become ours,” it could be the case that Astrid’s engineering occupation instills her with the interest to carry on that work, as well.

If you’re anything like me, you probably think this degree assignment feels weird. Maybe even very weird. I admit that even as I am giving reason for why Astrid would get a degree like this, I feel awkward saying so. It’s potentially because it’s so different from the Astrid we know on Berk. She’s a warrior on Berk. How could a warrior end up with a degree like this? For me, even though it feels odd, I’m still giving this answer because context, context, context is important. In a modern AU context, being a warrior isn’t what pays. Sure, Astrid probably really enjoys athletics, but I don’t think she would be comfortable with the idea of trying to become a professional athlete (while some people definitely laud young athletes, lots of other people would poo-poo the idea for this as a career, and Astrid wouldn’t like that). In a modern AU, where Astrid can do her best fighting and succeeding is in very different occupations. I’m not saying she’d like the degree, but her motivation for choosing it I think is solid enough, even if we feel a little odd associating her with “engineer.”

As far as what type of engineering? Take your pick. There are so many types of engineering out there, but I can see her going different routes, so if you want aerospace or civil or mechanical or whatever, sure! I think it’d fulfill Astrid’s desires of college whichever one you pick.

Snotlout: Open Option –> College Dropout.

Frankly, I imagine that the reason Snotlout would enter college at all is because of familial pressure. Snotlout does care what Daddy thinks, and while Spitelout isn’t some raging academic, he’s someone who cares about success and status. In our modern society, success has been oddly coupled with “your kids go to college.” Snotlout would have a better chance of getting a high-paying job, yada yada yada, aka, Snotlout should go to college. So because of the pressure, that’s what Snottykins does. He applies, gets accepted, starts college.

I don’t think that Snotlout would finish his degree. Snotlout might drop out of college before he even chooses what his degree will be. I could see Snotlout entering college as an open option, thinking that he’ll figure out his degree as he goes along and becomes “inspired.” He takes a disparate selection of classes, lots of random topics that fulfill general graduation requirements, everything from History of Hip Hop to Philosophy of Science Fiction. He avoids the hard classes (no Calculus II for this guy). While the hip hop class is sort of fun, nothing grabs him. He parties a bit too much, screws up his sleep schedule, slacks off, procrastinates, watches his grades drop. Eventually, Snotlout can’t care enough about college. He drops out within a few semesters.

Tuffnut: English Literature.

Tuffnut could be an individual who chooses not to college. I could certainly see him as someone who doesn’t enter the university. But, if he does, I think it would be in English Literature. Theatre is another option. Maybe a minor in Philosophy if he actually extended the effort, though I doubt he would.

Tuffnut is an individual with a notable amount of vocabulary. He’s actually very good with words - the more you study him throughout the franchise, the more you realize this is an area in which he is very strong, intelligent, and talented. A language-centric field is where he would find his (relative) interest and strengths.

English Literature sounds like the best bet for Tuff. I don’t think Tuffnut would be as interested in doing something like Creative Writing where he has to do a lot of original writing himself, but reading up on others’ works and making opinionated comments about it could be his thing. I don’t find it that hard for Tuffnut to enjoy and start gallantly shouting Shakespeare. I think that English Literature makes sense over other types of literature… he’d stick with a field that’s in his own language and relatively close to home.

Whether or not Tuffnut finishes his degree is up in the air. I think he could finish it. He’ll never take his major extremely seriously, he’ll probably take minimal required classes, he’ll procrastinate and slack off, but he’ll get decent enough grades to pass. Tuff’s GPA won’t be spectacular, but it’d be enough to get him through the graduation ceremony. If Tuffnut decides that college is worth his time and actually enrolls, then I do think it’s possible for him to graduate.

Ruffnut: Finance.

Ruffnut would also be someone to go into a business school. I could imagine her wanting to get an Associates degree and then get out of college, but between the two twins, I imagine her more easily in a post-secondary setting. Ruffnut can be very glib and free, but she also is a little more practical minded than her brother. I could see her picking a degree that she thinks will get her a solid chance of a job, picking a degree that maybe she would think is “not objectionable” (as versus something like, say, Theoretical Mathematics… I don’t think she’d enjoy that one).

Let’s be frank. Putting her in the business school also gives us the chance in the modern AU for her to meet Eret and go gaga eyes over him. Can’t miss that storytelling chance, can we?

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fumpkins · 7 years ago

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Research reveals how order first appears in liquid crystals

Molecules in liquid crystals go from a disordered jumble to more ordered alignment with changes in temperature. But there’s evidence of an intermediate state (left) where order starts to emerge in discrete patches before arriving at the fully ordered state (right). New research by Brown University chemists helps to identify and understand that intermediate state. Credit: Richard Stratt / Brown University

Liquid crystals undergo a peculiar type of phase change. At a certain temperature, their cigar-shaped molecules go from a disordered jumble to a more orderly arrangement in which they all point more or less in the same direction. LCD televisions take advantage of that phase change to project different colors in moving images.

For years, however, experiments have hinted at another liquid crystal state—an intermediate state between the disordered and ordered states in which order begins to emerge in discrete patches as a system approaches its transition temperature. Now, chemists at Brown University have demonstrated a theoretical framework for detecting that intermediate state and for better understanding how it works.

“People understand the ordered and disordered behaviors very well, but the state where this transition is just about to happen isn’t well understood,” said Richard Stratt, a professor of chemistry at Brown and coauthor of a paper describing the research. “What we’ve come up with is a sort of yardstick to measure whether a system is in this state. It gives us an idea of what to look for in molecular terms to see if the state is present.”

The research, published in the Journal of Chemical Physics, could shed new light not only on liquid crystals, but also molecular motion elsewhere in nature—phenomena such as the protein tangles involved in Alzheimer’s disease, for example. The work was led by Yan Zhao, a Ph.D. student in Stratt’s lab who expects to graduate from Brown this spring.

For the study, the researchers used computer simulations of phase changes in a simplified liquid crystal system that included a few hundred molecules. They used random matrix theory, a statistical framework often used to describe complex or chaotic systems, to study their simulation results. They showed that the theory does a good job of describing the system in both the ordered and disordered states, but fails to describe the transition state. That deviation from the theory can be used as a probe to identify the regions of the material where order is beginning to emerge.

“Once you realize that you have this state where the theory doesn’t work, you can dig in and ask what went wrong,” Stratt said. “That gives us a better idea of what these molecules are doing.”

Random matrix theory predicts that the sums of uncorrelated variables—in this case, the directions in which molecules are pointing—should form a bell curve distribution when plotted on a graph. Stratt and Zhao showed that that’s true of the molecules in liquid crystals when they’re in disordered and ordered states. In the disordered state, the bell curve distribution is generated by the entirely random orientations of the molecules. In the ordered state, the molecules are aligned along a common axis, but they each deviate from it a bit—some pointing a little to the left of the axis and some a little to right. Those random deviations, like the random molecule positions in the disordered state, could be fit to a bell curve.

But that bell curve distribution fell apart just before the phase change took place, as the temperature of the system was dropping down to its transition temperature. That suggests that molecules in discrete patches in the system were becoming correlated with each other.

“You now have several sets of molecules starting to cooperate with each other, and that causes the deviations from the bell curve,” Stratt said. “It’s as if these molecules are anticipating that this fully ordered state is going to take place, but they haven’t all decided which direction they’re going to face yet. It’s a little like politics, where everybody agrees that something needs to change, but they haven’t figured out exactly what to do.”

Stratt says the work could be helpful in providing insight into what governs the effectiveness of molecular motion. In both ordered and disordered liquid crystals, molecules are free to move relatively freely. But in the intermediate state, that movement is inhibited. This state then represents a situation in which the molecular progress is starting to slow down.

“There are a lot of problems in natural science where movement of molecules is slow,” Stratt said. “The molecules in molten glass, for example, progressively slow down as the liquid cools. The protein tangles involved in Alzheimer’s disease are another example where the molecular arrangement causes the motion to be slow. But what rules are governing those molecules as they slow down? We don’t fully understand it.”

Stratt hopes that a better understanding of slow molecular movement in liquid crystals could provide a blueprint for understanding slow movement elsewhere in nature.

Explore further: Crystal to glass cooling model developed

More information: Yan Zhao et al, Measuring order in disordered systems and disorder in ordered systems: Random matrix theory for isotropic and nematic liquid crystals and its perspective on pseudo-nematic domains, The Journal of Chemical Physics (2018). DOI: 10.1063/1.5024678

Journal reference: Journal of Chemical Physics

Provided by: Brown University

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New post published on: http://www.livescience.tech/2018/05/22/research-reveals-how-order-first-appears-in-liquid-crystals/

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tugadar · 4 years ago

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Launch HN: PostEra (YC W20) Medicinal Chemistry-as-a-Service and Covid Moonshot Hey everyone! We’re Alpha, Matt and Aaron, co-founders of PostEra ( https://bit.ly/2CR0upc ). The title above is quite a mouthful (we used all 80 characters) so we'll begin by breaking down what it means. What is medicinal chemistry? It’s part of discovering new drugs. A drug hunter decides what disease to focus on and then selects ‘targets’: usually proteins whose activity is key to the disease. Then they look for a molecule that can ‘hit’ that target and stimulate a response which will hopefully have beneficial effects. Developing such a molecule that is potent and safe is medicinal chemistry. Despite it being a crucial part of drug development, this field has relied on trial-and-error approaches—a very expensive way to muddle toward a drug. Where computational tools have been used, they have emphasized the 'best' designs without any awareness of what it would take to physically make the drug in a lab and test it. Our approach is to apply computational methods that know how to make these designs. We’ve been working on developing machine learning tools to advance the field for the last 3 years. Alpha formed a lab at Cambridge in 2017 to apply machine learning to drug discovery. Matt joined the group and soon some exciting results began to emerge, particularly in the area of how to make molecules. We published the first model to outperform trained human chemists in predicting the outcomes of chemical reactions. Alpha then got Aaron, his former mathematics classmate and debate partner at Oxford to leave his job for the world of drug discovery. We decided to focus on the one challenge that exists at almost every step: molecules need to be made. No matter how clever it looks on paper, a molecule is worthless unless it can be tested in a lab. The task of actually making molecules, known as chemical synthesis, is often a challenging problem, involving the combinatorial explosion of games like Go with moves that can’t be defined in a simple rulebook. You start with a set of simple molecules which can be combined through chemical reactions (a ‘move’) to form more and more complex molecules, known as the ‘route’, until you arrive at your desired drug candidate. But how to combine these molecules? Trial and error is not an option, given the enormous cost of doing chemistry, and just enumerating all options to a client is unhelpful given that your average molecule can have hundreds of theoretically-possible routes. Searching this tree of routes and scoring the viability of such routes is where ML becomes very powerful. We developed a machine-translation approach which takes in reactants and outputs the product of a reaction; an approach very similar to how Google Translate operates. This allows us to score the viability of each move. We combine this with fast tree search algorithms, used in models like AlphaGo to efficiently search the large combinatorial space of possible reactions. To get this technology in front of users, we're building a cloud-based platform. Clients input the molecule they want to be made, our system designs a route for how to make it, and then the client can order this molecule through our platform. We don’t own a lab, but we partner with chemical manufacturers around the world who execute the routes we design. Combining automated chemical synthesis with compound ordering creates a better experience for the drug hunter who wants to focus on their science and just wants a vial with their compound without the cumbersome process of figuring out how to make it and where to get it from. All that is what we were working on until the pandemic hit... and now we can answer the second part of the title: COVID Moonshot. We had just finished YC W20 when a tweet from a team of scientists quickly changed our travel (and company) trajectory. A team of scientists at Diamond Light Source in the UK had shown that a selection of chemical fragments were effective at binding to a key part of the COVID virus. We realised there were hundreds of chemists sitting at home, with their projects on hold, who could help take these fragments and turn them into genuine drug candidates—an open-science approach to crowdsourcing a new drug. We created a platform where designs could be submitted and hoped for maybe 50 to 100 submissions. In the first few weeks, we’ve received over 4000 submissions from 200 scientists around the world. This was the start of a COVID Moonshot initiative that we are now helping lead. It is an international consortium of scientists drawn from academia, biotechs, and pharma, all working pro bono or at cost with no IP claims on any resulting drug candidates. The aim is to find an antiviral candidate for COVID-19 by the end of the year—a ‘moonshot’ of a time frame compared with the standard drug discovery paradigm. That standard paradigm is unfortunately broken when it comes to pandemic-related diseases. Biology and chemistry are hard enough, but things become even intractable when there are little or no commercial incentives to develop new therapies. Sadly, this explains why promising antibiotic companies like Achaogen go bankrupt and why, even after SARS-CoV brought the Far East to a halt in 2003, we still didn’t invest in coronavirus therapies during the last 17 years. For therapies that only become critical once every few decades, we need a new approach to developing drugs. We think that drug hunters can learn something from the CS community and its embrace of open source. Similarly to open-source software development, someone has to manage the roadmap and triage suggestions. For Moonshot, the candidate drug submissions are great but we obviously can’t make and test all of them, so how do you pick the most promising ones? Here is where our technology comes in: it can identify which candidates can be synthesized easily. Since in a pandemic you need to move quickly, prioritizing compounds that can be synthesized easily is a natural triaging mechanism. Where a human chemist would take 3-4 weeks, we were able to design synthetic routes for all submissions within 48 hours. The top route designs were then passed on to our chemical manufacturing partner for synthesis. We’ve now experimentally tested over 500 compounds and found several promising candidates which we are now testing further. All data is publicly available on the site: https://bit.ly/3dSDZNs Inspired by open-source software, we’re seeing advantages of open-science collaboration in areas where market incentives are lacking. We started with the opportunity to connect drug hunters with the latest ML, but have expanded this into a platform that helps connect scientists with each other. This is particularly needed when it comes to drug discovery logistics—the fragment screens are conducted in Oxford and The Weizmann Institute in Israel, computational methods are done by PostEra in California and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, and chemical synthesis is carried out across several countries. Many of the features we are rolling out, such as automated alerts on suggested drug designs, open forum discussions, and live data uploads, feel very akin to a ‘GitHub for drug development’. Identifying biological mechanisms of diseases and forecasting clinical outcomes are huge problems, but we believe that the chemistry stage of drug discovery can become a reliable industry rather than an artisanal craft. Machine learning tech is a key part and we're still working on it, but our clients have been constantly reminding us that just the logistical aspects of drug discovery are a great source of pain. Science software is also notoriously hard to use so we've learned that combining good UI with good ML should be our ambition. Our current mantra is: ordering a molecule through PostEra should be as easy as ordering a pizza! We need more researchers, coders and chemists to help us on this journey and we’d love to hear from you if our vision sounds like something you could get on board with! Here are the open positions within the company we are now actively hiring for: https://bit.ly/3gkhXon Over to you, HN! We're eager to hear your feedback, questions, ideas and experiences in this area. July 1, 2020 at 12:27PM

#News Updates #Launch HN: PostEra (YC W20) Medicinal Chemistry-as-a-Service and Covid Moonshot https:

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ladystylestores · 5 years ago

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Quantum computing will (eventually) help us discover vaccines in days

The coronavirus is proving that we have to move faster in identifying and mitigating epidemics before they become pandemics because, in today’s global world, viruses spread much faster, further, and more frequently than ever before.

If COVID-19 has taught us anything, it’s that while our ability to identify and treat pandemics has improved greatly since the outbreak of the Spanish Flu in 1918, there is still a lot of room for improvement. Over the past few decades, we’ve taken huge strides to improve quick detection capabilities. It took a mere 12 days to map the outer “spike” protein of the COVID-19 virus using new techniques. In the 1980s, a similar structural analysis for HIV took four years.

But developing a cure or vaccine still takes a long time and involves such high costs that big pharma doesn’t always have incentive to try.

Drug discovery entrepreneur Prof. Noor Shaker posited that “Whenever a disease is identified, a new journey into the “chemical space” starts seeking a medicine that could become useful in contending diseases. The journey takes approximately 15 years and costs $2.6 billion, and starts with a process to filter millions of molecules to identify the promising hundreds with high potential to become medicines. Around 99% of selected leads fail later in the process due to inaccurate prediction of behavior and the limited pool from which they were sampled.”

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Prof. Shaker highlights one of the main problems with our current drug discovery process: The development of pharmaceuticals is highly empirical. Molecules are made and then tested, without being able to accurately predict performance beforehand. The testing process itself is long, tedious, cumbersome, and may not predict future complications that will surface only when the molecule is deployed at scale, further eroding the cost/benefit ratio of the field. And while AI/ML tools are already being developed and implemented to optimize certain processes, there’s a limit to their efficiency at key tasks in the process.

Ideally, a great way to cut down the time and cost would be to transfer the discovery and testing from the expensive and time-inefficient laboratory process (in-vitro) we utilize today, to computer simulations (in-silico). Databases of molecules are already available to us today. If we had infinite computing power we could simply scan these databases and calculate whether each molecule could serve as a cure or vaccine to the COVID-19 virus. We would simply input our factors into the simulation and screen the chemical space for a solution to our problem.

In principle, this is possible. After all, chemical structures can be measured, and the laws of physics governing chemistry are well known. However, as the great British physicist Paul Dirac observed: “The underlying physical laws necessary for the mathematical theory of a large part of physics and the whole of chemistry are thus completely known, and the difficulty is only that the exact application of these laws leads to equations much too complicated to be soluble.”

In other words, we simply don’t have the computing power to solve the equations, and if we stick to classical computers we never will.

This is a bit of a simplification, but the fundamental problem of chemistry is to figure out where electrons sit inside a molecule and calculate the total energy of such a configuration. With this data, one could calculate the properties of a molecule and predict its behavior. Accurate calculations of these properties will allow the screening of molecular databases for compounds that exhibit particular functions, such as a drug molecule that is able to attach to the coronavirus “spike” and attack it. Essentially, if we could use a computer to accurately calculate the properties of a molecule and predict its behavior in a given situation, it would speed up the process of identifying a cure and improve its efficiency.

Why are quantum computers much better than classical computers at simulating molecules?

Electrons spread out over the molecule in a strongly correlated fashion, and the characteristics of each electron depend greatly on those of its neighbors. These quantum correlations (or entanglement) are at the heart of the quantum theory and make simulating electrons with a classical computer very tricky.

The electrons of the COVID-19 virus, for example, must be treated in general as being part of a single entity having many degrees of freedom, and the description of this ensemble cannot be divided into the sum of its individual, distinguishable electrons. The electrons, due to their strong correlations, have lost their individuality and must be treated as a whole. So to solve the equations, you need to take into account all of the electrons simultaneously. Although classical computers can in principle simulate such molecules, every multi-electron configuration must be stored in memory separately.

Let’s say you have a molecule with only 10 electrons (forget the rest of the atom for now), and each electron can be in two different positions within the molecule. Essentially, you have 2^10=1024 different configurations to keep track of rather just 10 electrons which would have been the case if the electrons were individual, distinguishable entities. You’d need 1024 classical bits to store the state of this molecule. Quantum computers, on the other hand, have quantum bits (qubits), which can be made to strongly correlate with one another in the same way electrons within molecules do. So in principle, you would need only about 10 such qubits to represent the strongly correlated electrons in this model system.

The exponentially large parameter space of electron configurations in molecules is exactly the space qubits naturally occupy. Thus, qubits are much more adapted to the simulation of quantum phenomena. This scaling difference between classical and quantum computation gets very big very quickly. For instance, simulating penicillin, a molecule with 41 atoms (and many more electrons) will require 10^86 classical bits, or more bits than the number of atoms in the universe. With a quantum computer, you would only need about 286 qubits. This is still far more qubits than we have today, but certainly a more reasonable and achievable number. The COVID-19 virus outer “spike” protein, for comparison, contains many thousands of atoms and is thus completely intractable for classical computation. The size of proteins makes them intractable to classical simulation with any degree of accuracy even on today’s most powerful supercomputers. Chemists and pharma companies do simulate molecules with supercomputers (albeit not as large as the proteins), but they must resort to making very rough molecule models that don’t capture the details a full simulation would, leading to large errors in estimation.

It might take several decades until a sufficiently large quantum computer capable of simulating molecules as large as proteins will emerge. But when such a computer is available, it will mean a complete revolution in the way the pharma and the chemical industries operate.

The holy grail — end-to-end in-silico drug discovery — involves evaluating and breaking down the entire chemical structures of the virus and the cure.

The continued development of quantum computers, if successful, will allow for end-to-end in-silico drug discovery and the discovery of procedures to fabricate the drug. Several decades from now, with the right technology in place, we could move the entire process into a computer simulation, allowing us to reach results with amazing speed. Computer simulations could eliminate 99.9% of false leads in a fraction of the time it now takes with in-vitro methods. With the appearance of a new epidemic, scientists could identify and develop a potential vaccine/drug in a matter of days.

The bottleneck for drug development would then move from drug discovery to the human testing phases including toxicity and other safety tests. Eventually, even these last stage tests could potentially be expedited with the help of a large scale quantum computer, but that would require an even greater level of quantum computing than described here. Tests at this level would require a quantum computer with enough power to contain a simulation of the human body (or part thereof) that will screen candidate compounds and simulate their impact on the human body.

Achieving all of these dreams will demand a continuous investment into the development of quantum computing as a technology. As Prof. Shohini Ghose said in her 2018 Ted Talk: “You cannot build a light bulb by building better and better candles. A light bulb is a different technology based on a deeper scientific understanding.” Today’s computers are marvels of modern technology and will continue to improve as we move forward. However, we will not be able to solve this task with a more powerful classical computer. It requires new technology, more suited for the task.

(Special thanks Dr. Ilan Richter, MD MPH for assuring the accuracy of the medical details in this article.)

Ramon Szmuk is a Quantum Hardware Engineer at Quantum Machines.

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