ChemiCool

There is much excitement among the scientific community as to who will be awarded the Nobel prize in the sciences. I am far more excited. In this article, we shall examine how the understanding of animal behaviour and patterns at both individual and social levels can contribute to our comprehension of human psychology and disease states. This was the subject of the Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1973 awarded to Nikolaas Tinbergen, Karl Von Frisch and Konrad Lorenz. In this article, we shall realize the mechanism and purpose of the waggle dance which is used by foraging bees to communicate with one another about the location of food sources. Meet the Nobel laureate Nobel laureate Karl Von Frisch. photo credit: Lot-Art Karl Von Frisch, a German-Austrian can be described as a pioneer melittologist who critically and deeply investigated the behaviour of insects, especially honeybees species. He was particularly curious about the mechanism through which bees disseminate informatio...

🔏The most hazardous dust to inhale: asbestos. One of the upshots of the industrial revolution is the construction of modern houses. One of the useful materials which were found to be very valuable and versatile was asbestos. Asbestos is known for its good insulating properties. It is heat resistant, durable, insoluble in acid, stable in air, and very workable. Indeed it was so  that it was spun into yarn and used to make cloth. This article portrays the science of asbestos and how this remarkable substance amassed an awful reputation. Asbestos materials are extremely poisonous. They are known to cause devastating diseases. Photo courtesy: istockphoto. 🔏Asbestos has been responsible for thousands of fatalities and contributed to cases of lung cancer. Asbestos has been recognized since antiquity. Its properties have been described in long past. There is knowledge that it has been used in making items such as earthenware in ancient times. Aggressive mining of asbestos ensued in the ...

 🔐 Charles Darwin's Origin of species  explains how survival instincts are acquired through adaptations and conveyed to generations by learning or by genetic transmission. Everyday life in the wild is a continual struggle to survive and remain in existence. Plants and animals have through time evolved to defend themselves against herbivory or predation. The predator-prey relationship is a perpetually dynamic one. Both kinds endlessly develop tactics and schemes by which they must survive. For example, if a predator discovers a strategy demonstrated by the prey, the predator modifies its tactics to overcome the challenge. In this article, we shall review mechanisms developed by preys that enable them to survive through time.  In the constant struggle for survival between predators and prey, prey has evolved traits and mechanisms to avoid being devoured. These behaviours include visual information-transmission techniques (such as camouflaging, cryptic and colour display, s...

🔑 Genetic engineering enhances biofuel production by producing strains with desired traits and better energy conversion. 🔑  Crude oil (fossil fuels) originated from organisms such as algae that died and decayed millions of years ago. Algae vary in size from microalgae (microscopic, filamentous and colonial forms of algae) to macroscopic kinds (such as seaweeds). They are absolutely ecologically important photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms and are the found af the aquatic food chain. They are the principal oxygen producers responsible for the production of over 50% of atmospheric oxygen. They are found almost anywhere in the world, dwelling on rocks, soils, water, and even on biological surfaces (epiphytes and epizoids). Microphytes are phytoplankton usually found in marine environments and are quite common. They exist in microscopic unicellular or colonial forms. Common examples of these algae are volvox, Chlamydomonas, and the euglena. Plants such as kelp  (a common plant ...

Death is culturally and socially commonly deemed as an extremely unfortunate circumstance. It could leave persons with familial or cordial relationships with the deceased in chronic psychological stress, deep emotional trauma, extreme grief, sorrow, and depressing conditions. It is what we live to avoid every day. In this article, we shall see what death means clinically and how biological factors determine and set the boundaries between life and death. The biomedical definition of death Death could be portrayed as a state in which all physiological processes which sustain life are terminated irreversibly. The process of death is undoubtedly a complex one. Because not all cells die at the same time, there is difficulty in establishing a death case. This is furthermore complicated as it is somewhat possible to restore a person who has been affirmed clinically dead. General clinical features which confirm that an animal is dead include: 1. Cardiac activity is non-existent and heart pulse...

Just recently, NASA revealed that the ISS is scheduled to retire in 2031. It will be crashing down into the South Pacific ocean (far away from the nearest habitation). What has that ISS ever done for us? The International Space Station (ISS) is a spacecraft which is located in the low orbit Earth. It can be described as a manned spacecraft kept in a fixed orbit at a relatively low altitude (a space station). A space station is a type of satellite that is capable of accommodating a crew of humans or any other form of life for an ample period. Space stations orbit around planets, collecting and analysing data, and conducting investigations on the space environment.  ISS originated as a result of a multinational partnership to design a productive space station.  The Soviet Union had earlier succeeded in launching two spacecraft. The ISS was prompted when NASA had drawbacks in funding a national space station and consequently proposed a coalition with other developed countries. Ru...