Chemist Shows How RNA Can Be the Starting Point for Life

Recently, an english chemist has found, "The hidden gateway to the RNA world," the chemical milieu which life forms were thought to have emerged from earth, billions of years ago. For twenty years, this question of the origin of life has puzzled, even thwarted both scientists and researchers. It is only now that we know how the building blocks of life, as known as RNA, spontaneously assembled themselves in the conditions of the primitive earth. If correct, these finds could solve countless other mysteries about the origin of life. The english chemist, John D. Sutherland, makes an analogy comparing RNA and evolution. He says that his research is like doing a crossword puzzle, and that it gets easier and easier as he finds more clues. Many call him a pioneer of perbiotic  chemistry. He also goes on to say that the spontaneous appearance of some nucleotides on the primitive earth had created life, and that it was, "a near miracle."

"http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/14/science/14rna.html"

Molecular Chemistry takes a New Twist

In a discovery that could have implications for biological research, new calculations show that a basic tenet of chemistry is wrong. The new finding indicates that in some molecules quantum forces trump the traditional explanation. The find focuses on ethane, which has two carbon atoms bonded to each other. On the other end of the carbon-carbon bond the methyl group, spins like a three-pronged turnstile, says chemist Frank Weinhold of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Scientist Vojislava Pophristic spent 5 years crunching calculations with a supercomputer to figure out what underlies the stability of ethane's staggered conformation. First, she mathematically modeled ethane and removed the parts of the calculations that relate to the steric effect. The ethane molecule remained staggered. She then looked at the other known influence on ethane twisting which is known as hyperconjugation. When Pophristic blocked the electron jumping by placing a hypothetical screen between the two methyl groups, ethane's structure finally assumed the eclipsed form. Hyperconjugation, not steric effects, makes staggered ethane stable, they conclude. Researchers can no longer assume that steric effects play the major role in determining stable forms.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1200/is_22_159/ai_76157728/

http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/3-27-2004-52238.asp
Chemistry of love

As it turns out love can be somewhat controlled by chemistry. The common symptoms of love, including sweaty palms, shaky knees and general restlessness, are caused by a natural chemical, Phenylethylamine. Its release from the brain can be triggered from deceptively simple actions like the meeting of the eyes or touching of the hands. Heady emotions, racing pulses and heavy breathing results, and all these are clinically explained as an overdose of this chemical. For instance, chocolate is known to have very high level of this chemical. The latest discovery in this field shows that the arrangement of molecules in this chemicals and the whole world is excited because now humans can actually concoct love potions. In other words, humans could isolate the chemical compound and making drugs that can induce love. What would happens is that an individual would take the drug, and than fall in love with the next person you see.
This new discovery is a large step for discovery the reasons of love and how in the future it might even be possible to control love with a set of drugs which would lead to humans even having more power over the world than ever before.

Self-Mending Plastic

Today most plastics that are recyclable such as water bottles and grocery bags are called thermoplastics. They are polymers that can be melted down and turned into something else. A second category of plastics called thermoset resins cant be turned into new plastics as easily. These resins include electrical insulation and epoxy glue. Most of these products made from these plastics end up as trash and are unusable again.

            Chemists at the University of Groningen in Netherlands have created a thermoset plastic that when heated heals it self instead of decomposing. They are composed of polyketones that are cross linked using bismaleimide which is an organic compound. The reaction is reversible as well. When the plastic is heated to about 300 degrees the material becomes unlinked but when is cools is become a polymer again. The metal can be used for the same uses many plastics are used for.

            This invention is a large step for the understanding of self-healing materials that will someday lead to the creation of recyclable thermoset plastics. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/28/science/28obheal.html?_r=1&ref=science

On a Hunt for Fishless Lakes, Teeming With Life

In Washington County, Maine, scientists are in search of fish along the Machias river; however, there are no fish. Biologists say fishless lakes are hubs of biodiversity but because of fisherman, the fish are being moved around. Maine woods have some of the last fishless lakes in the Northeast because of the acidity of the water. This acidity is too great for the fish to live in ergo these lakes have been fishless since the glaciers receeded. On the study was Dr. deMaynadier who found frogs, salamanders and damselflies that thrive only where fish are absent. With international concern about amphibian declines, fishless lakes have been receiving more attention elsewhere. A decade ago, Dr. McPeek often visited a fishless lake on a steep bluff above the Connecticut River in Vermont. “All of the zooplankton, all of the insects, all of the amphibians that bred there were completely different than the lake with fish that’s half a mile down the road,” he said. But somebody has since stocked it with carp. “Now this lake is just ruined,” Dr. McPeek said. The quote above displays how easy it is to ruin an ecological miracle. Fishless lakes are a beautiful thing and by simply adding one fish to a fishless lake, it can be ruined forever.