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Molecules: You'd better learn to live with them.
Category: Stinky
Yesterday, I discussed octenol, a lipid degradation product that's all over your skin. Ever wonder why a cut on your hand smells "like metal," or your hands smell "like metal" after handling some?...
Posted by Molecule of the Day at 9:00 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Stinky
Short alkanoic acids stink. Apparently hexanoic acid smells of goats:...
Posted by Molecule of the Day at 11:23 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Stinky
As you go down the group, the smells only get worse. You don't smell oxygen (you're soaking in it), sulfur compounds tend to be pretty stinky, selenium compounds are pretty rank, and purportedly, tellurium compounds are the worst....
Posted by Molecule of the Day at 9:00 AM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Stinky
As far as I know, selenocysteine is the only reason you need selenium in your diet (which you almost certainly get enough of; the requirement is vanishingly small,...
Posted by Molecule of the Day at 11:15 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Stinky
Butyric acid has been covered obliquely before - it's part of the nice-smelling amyl butyrate (which is eau de Juicy Fruit, pretty much). On its own, though, it's a foul vomit-smelling liquid (the Wikipedia article, however, notes that some intrepid...
Posted by Molecule of the Day at 11:59 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Stinky
DDQ is a benzoquinone derivative with some electron-withdrawing substituents, making it a bit more potent:...
Posted by Molecule of the Day at 10:51 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Stinky
Pyridine is simply benzene with a nitrogen substituted for one of the CHs:...
Posted by Molecule of the Day at 8:25 PM • 10 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Stinky
See, you're ahead of the curve when you MoTD. A story about popcorn lung came out today, and just last week, ConAgra announced they were removing diacetyl from their buttered popcorn....
Posted by Molecule of the Day at 7:24 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Stinky
Hydrazine, H2N-NH2 is the nitrogen analogue of hydrogen peroxide:...
Posted by Molecule of the Day at 7:21 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Stinky
At the blog's previous location awhile back, I covered an oligoamine; spermine - which helps to compact DNA in cells. Spermine isn't volatile enough to smell much, but a shorter amine, putrescine, is....
Posted by Molecule of the Day at 7:54 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
PZ Myers 11.08.2009
PZ Myers 11.08.2009
Tim Lambert 11.08.2009
Orac 11.08.2009
Orac 11.06.2009
