Monday morning after a kinda-long weekend (half day last Friday).
First year #chemistry is beginning electrochemistry, so starting with the basics of redox reactions and assigning oxidation numbers.
Second year chem is still in acids and bases. Today, we'll learn the theory behind buffer solutions and start planning their own buffers to prep in the lab this week.
#Webdev students are beginning their refactors of a school site based on a comprehensive audit.
A dinosaur mural hidden away on the side of the Chemistry building of Glasgow University where it faces the Zoology building across a narrow, dead-end lane. I've often wondered if the Chernistry Department even knows it's there!
By the way, before anyone points it out, I know the one with the sail on its back isn't really a dinosaur, but another type of ancient giant reptile!
Scientists just revealed how to cook the 'Perfect' Egg.
Hard-boiled, soft-boiled or poached. Scientists have studied how to cook the perfect egg and have come up with a new recipe that they say optimises its taste and nutritional quality.
Check my Image Description’s
![Cooking an egg is a delicate art because the yolk and the white do not cook at the same temperature. The yolk begins to solidify at 65 degrees Celsius and the white at 85C.
• In the case of a hard-boiled egg [cooked for 12 minutes at 100C] all parts of the egg have a final temperature of 100C, well above the ideal cooking temperature, particularly for the yolk.
• In the case of egg sous vide, which is cooked between 60C and 70C, the final egg is at a temperature of 65C.
But while this is the ideal temperature for the yolk, it is much too low for the proteins in the egg white to stick together. As for the soft-boiled egg, cooked for six minutes at 100C, the authors say the egg yolk is undercooked.
The Italian polymer specialists approached the problem by simulating the process with the help of computational fluid dynamics software, which was used to simulate and analyse the flow of fluids and their interactions with solid surfaces.](https://nerdculture.de/system/media_attachments/files/114/370/234/361/928/747/original/94871811e884a9ee.jpeg "Cooking an egg is a delicate art because the yolk and the white do not cook at the same temperature. The yolk begins to solidify at 65 degrees Celsius and the white at 85C.
• In the case of a hard-boiled egg [cooked for 12 minutes at 100C] all parts of the egg have a final temperature of 100C, well above the ideal cooking temperature, particularly for the yolk.
• In the case of egg sous vide, which is cooked between 60C and 70C, the final egg is at a temperature of 65C.
But while this is the ideal temperature for the yolk, it is much too low for the proteins in the egg white to stick together. As for the soft-boiled egg, cooked for six minutes at 100C, the authors say the egg yolk is undercooked.
The Italian polymer specialists approached the problem by simulating the process with the help of computational fluid dynamics software, which was used to simulate and analyse the flow of fluids and their interactions with solid surfaces.")
![[ImageSource: Pellegrino Musto and Ernesto Di Maio]
Photographs of the raw, hard-boiled (red), soft-boiled (yellow), sous vide (green) and periodic (blue) eggs.
The solution, they suggest, is to use a saucepan of boiling water at 100C and a saucepan of water at 30C and to transfer the egg from one to the other every two minutes for exactly 32 minutes in total.
"It is found that a stationary state at the centre of the yolk is reached at a constant temperature of 67C," namely the mean value between the temperatures of the saucepan of boiling water and the saucepan of lukewarm water, Pellegrino Musto, one of the study's authors, said.
"Conversely, the albumen alternatively sees temperatures in the range 100–87C and 30–55C during the hot and cold cycles respectively," which allows all the layers of the egg white to reach cooking temperature, added Musto, research director at the National Research Council of Italy's Institute for Polymers, Composites and Biomaterials.
The authors then tested this method of "cooking in cycles" and found that the result was "more similar to the soft boiled when analysing the texture of its albumen, while it is very similar to the sous vide sample when considering its yolk," the study says.
The chemical analysis showed that the yolks of eggs cooked in cycles contained more polyphenols [healthy micronutrients] than hard-boiled eggs, soft-boiled eggs or sous vide eggs.](https://nerdculture.de/system/media_attachments/files/114/370/235/239/110/922/original/719f7f981066b419.png "[ImageSource: Pellegrino Musto and Ernesto Di Maio]
Photographs of the raw, hard-boiled (red), soft-boiled (yellow), sous vide (green) and periodic (blue) eggs.
The solution, they suggest, is to use a saucepan of boiling water at 100C and a saucepan of water at 30C and to transfer the egg from one to the other every two minutes for exactly 32 minutes in total.
\"It is found that a stationary state at the centre of the yolk is reached at a constant temperature of 67C,\" namely the mean value between the temperatures of the saucepan of boiling water and the saucepan of lukewarm water, Pellegrino Musto, one of the study's authors, said.
\"Conversely, the albumen alternatively sees temperatures in the range 100–87C and 30–55C during the hot and cold cycles respectively,\" which allows all the layers of the egg white to reach cooking temperature, added Musto, research director at the National Research Council of Italy's Institute for Polymers, Composites and Biomaterials.
The authors then tested this method of \"cooking in cycles\" and found that the result was \"more similar to the soft boiled when analysing the texture of its albumen, while it is very similar to the sous vide sample when considering its yolk,\" the study says.
The chemical analysis showed that the yolks of eggs cooked in cycles contained more polyphenols [healthy micronutrients] than hard-boiled eggs, soft-boiled eggs or sous vide eggs.")
If there is a niche, Life will find it.
@briankrebs In #Tennessee every faculty member at every state #college or #university must confirm the attendance of every student. This can still be a problem for completely #online courses, but no bot will ever get a #chemistry degree here! 
Probably going to be buying an 1/3 size bjd doll in the near future, but am not sure if they are made of vinyl or resin.
I want to get some anti-stain underclothes.
Does anyone know what 'anti stain ' fabrics usually are?
I might try sewing my own as I have the potential dolls measurements...
Any help appreciated.
Maybe. There may be chemical reaction processes that we have not discovered.
Today in the classroom:
First year #chemistry students are doing a microscale titration of HCl and NaOH. This will end our unit on acids and bases.
Advanced chemistry students will have all taken the state standardized test this morning, so we're going on a walk outside to decompress and enjoy the atmosphere.
Comp sci students are turning in their scopes of work for a school website redesign based on their technical audits.
"Hypochlorous acid isn’t new. It’s listed as one of the World Health Organization’s essential medicines and is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use on food products and in certain clinical applications.
[...]
For all its benefits, hypochlorous acid solution has one major weakness: it’s highly unstable."
What does a galaxy taste like? That's the sort of question a flavorist might be asked. Atlas Obscura spoke to Illinois chemist John Heller about how he got into this profession (it was this or an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico), the kind of skills required, and how he might design a "unicorn" flavor.
Happy birthday to #biochemist Marie Maynard Daly (1921-2003), 1st Black woman to earn a PhD in #chemistry in the US! She made important research contributions to our understanding of the biochemisty of the cell nucleus & cardiovascular issues & the chemistry of histones & protein synthesis. She established that “no bases other than adenine, guanine, thymine, and cytosine were present in appreciable amounts” in DNA - 
#womenInSTEM #BlackInSTEM #histsci #printmaking #linocut #histmed #MastoArt
Also, more of our new lab equipment has arrived~
- 7 step inline RO filtration for the teacher prep sink
- New burners/hose fittings
- Filtration flasks, Buchner funnels & aspirators
- Updated gigantic periodic tables
- analytical scale (!!!)
- Drying oven
More still to come, but I am getting _hyped_ for all the updates.
On the schedule for today:
First year #chemistry is taking a molarity and dilutions quiz. Then, we'll do some pre-lab work for their microscale titration tomorrow.
Second year chemistry is finishing up a pH data collection lab. They diluted acetic acid and ammonia, collected pH, and are now graphing the molar relationships.
#Webdev finished their technical proposals for an update to a school website and are now starting their coding for proofs of concept.
Chemical Science is excited to announce this year’s Chemical Science symposium, on the topic of imaging, biosensing and diagnostics!
Alongside celebrating 15 years of the journal, the winner of our first Chemical Science Lectureship will be presenting their research!
Find out more: rsc.li/chemscisymp2025
The symposium is being held in London, and online, on the 18th and 19th of November 2025.
Speakers include James Basilion (Case Western Reserve University), Angela Casini (Technical University of Munich (TUM)), Jason Davis (University of Oxford), Gilles Gasser (Chimie ParisTech, PSL University), Maryellen Giger (University of Chicago) and Xingyu Jiang, (Southern University of Science and Technology).
Our speakers will be sharing their experiences and findings in metal complexes for biological applications, molecular imaging, radiopharmaceuticals, and many other topics, as they apply to furthering the chemistry of imaging, biosensing and diagnostics.
The symposium will be a hybrid event: join us in London or take part online, including by presenting a poster of your research.
See the latest information: rsc.li/chemscisymp2025
Field trip to gather some first VOC samples of the invasive Asian hornet (Vespa velutina).
Really productive day, thrilled to get the data in the lab later.
#Chemistry #Data Days 25 
This year we have two clear topics: the first day is about ' #Research #Data #Management in #teaching’ with many practical contributions from lecturers who are successfully working in this field. The second day deals with ‘Tools for the entire digital life cycle’ and is aimed specifically at #chemists and related disciplines.
Mainz, 
3 and 4 June 2025
Free of charge, register:
https://bit.ly/4hV4brK
#chemistry people:
We're working on pH and acid base equilibria in one of my classes. If I had them do a lab where they prepare two solutions - acetic + ammonium hydroxide - at known concentrations, measure pH, and then calculate Ka/Kb, are there other extensions that would make it more rigorous?
We have not done buffers or weak titrations yet - I'm slowly working my way there.
I've created _so many_ new labs from scratch this year just because I want my students to _see_ and _do_ chemistry in approachable ways. For some, it's simplifying to look at qualitative patterns. For others, it's creating a more meaningful lab by adding in things that are normally skipped, like solution prep and cross-connecting ideas in the analysis.
But dang, it takes a lot of time.
