How Water Freezes (and Why It Matters) Ice—Simple Yet Strange Ever wondered why ice cubes float or why sidewalks become slippery when they’re covered in frost? Ice might seem ordinary, but it’s packed with fascinating mysteries. In our recent post, we introduced Isabel Pulido’s groundbreaking invention, NanoFreeze, which uses special proteins to freeze water at… Continue reading Ice is Cool!
Category: Chemistry
Colder Ice:
Isabel Pulido’s Cool Innovation One afternoon in rural Colombia, Isabel Pulido watched a mother throw away half-eaten beans and rice. The family had no refrigerator—not because they couldn’t afford one, but because they had no reliable electricity. “I realized then that the biggest problem wasn’t just access to power,” Pulido recalls. “It was about food… Continue reading Colder Ice:
Heman Bekele and his Skin Cancer Fighting Soap
“The average price of skin cancer treatment in the U.S. is almost $40,000, but my bar of soap only costs $8.50 to create, and it can replicate the same effects as something that people pay thousands and thousands of dollars for.” Heman Bekele, a 14-year-old ninth grader from W.T. Woodson High School in Annandale, Virginia,… Continue reading Heman Bekele and his Skin Cancer Fighting Soap
A Tale of Two Elements:
Marie Curie and Lise Meitner November 7th marked the shared birthday of Marie Curie and Lise Meitner, pioneers whose discoveries transformed our understanding of the atom. These two are the only women with elements of the periodic table named after them: Curium and Meitnerium. They also shared both the brilliance and tenacity to succeed when… Continue reading A Tale of Two Elements:
Jennifer Doudna:
Rewriting the Code of Life with CRISPR-Cas9 Few discoveries in modern science have generated as much excitement and promise as CRISPR-Cas9, a revolutionary gene-editing system. Standing for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats, CRISPR is a powerful tool that allows scientists to make precise changes to DNA, revolutionizing the field of biology. UC Berkeley biochemist… Continue reading Jennifer Doudna:
Kate the Chemist
Kate the Chemist ignites a series of colorful explosions of brilliant red, bright yellow, and vivid green on the Stephen Colbert TV show. The half dozen balloons filled with hydrogen gas and fireworks chemicals made a rainbow of fireballs. “Now, let’s do something exciting!” says the self-described pyromaniac. She then spews a mouthful of cornstarch… Continue reading Kate the Chemist