超新星コンデンセート
Supernova Condensate is a blog about our place in the Universe. Of astronomy, chemistry and life in the big bad bubble of academia.-
Invader Xan is a molecular astrophysicist and part-time alien invader, who spends life looking at very small things on very large scales, and trying to better understand the chemistry of interstellar space.
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Monthly Archives: November 2008
So you want to be a Postgrad?
It’s aimed at biologists, but I thought this was rather well said. Things to consier before you decide to do a PhD… (Click for the poster) Courtesy of Science Creative Quarterly.
Posted in academia, Imported from Livejournal
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Why space should taste like strawberries…
Glycolaldehyde is what everyone’s talking about. And when I say everyone, what I really mean is some astrochemists. To give you the background, glycolaldehyde is a fairly simple hydrocarbon molecule, and arguably the simplest known sugar (a “diose”). I say … Continue reading
InaDWriMo?
Well that’s interesting… It’s the end of the month and this is actually the first I’ve heard of this particular little writing fest. Nice idea actually, I must say — especially as anyone with a desk at a University (regardless … Continue reading
Cubane
It’s interesting what you find when you’re looking for molecular structure files. I found this… Now far be it from me to say anything about organic chemists having too much time and money, but you must admit that at first … Continue reading
Einstein and Eddington
BBC’s Einstein and Eddington aired last night. I quite enjoyed it! I’m sure they used a fair amount of artistic licence on the actual story, but it was certainly a good watch. Quite well written, too, with a couple of … Continue reading
Gromia sphaerica
I found this, courtesy of Mike the Mad Biologist. It’s around three centimetres (or one attoparsec) in diameter, perfectly spherical, leaves trails in the mud and was discovered off the coast of the Bahamas. Believe it or not, this is … Continue reading
Bizarre Measurements
Not all scientific measurements are particularly sensible. Or useful for that matter. Quite a number of them are, well, pretty useless… attoparsec (apc) A parsec is an astronomical measurement equal to a little over 30 triillion kilometres. An attoparsec is … Continue reading
I has molecules!
You’d be easily forgiven for thinking that chemists like playing with molecular models because it’s fun (because let’s face it — it is fun!). It can sometimes be completely necessary though. In fact there are a lot of times when … Continue reading
Virtual Molecules
Here at this illustrious University, researchers have access to some pretty hefty supercomputing capabilities. It was actually the second most powerful academic supercomputer in Europe when it was initially set up. As a matter of fact, there are three disciplines … Continue reading
Space to Think
As I’ve said before… I love XKCD sometimes.