The amyloid tie-rack

I am really amused at how these polypeptide strands end up looking remarkably like ties on a tie-rack.



Reference: Anselm H. C. Horn and Heinrich Sticht, "Amyloid-β42 Oligomer Structures from Fibrils: A Systematic Molecular Dynamics Study", J. Phys. Chem. B, 2010, 114 (6), pp 2219–2226, doi:10.1021/jp100023q

Explosives go boom

The chemistry of explosives is always a fascinating subject. What better way to convey explosiveness than with concentric circles of orange, yellow and white?



Reference: Martin Rahmm and Tore Brinck, "On the Anomalous Decomposition and Reactivity of Ammonium and Potassium Dinitramide", J. Phys. Chem. A, 2010, 114 (8), pp 2845–2854, doi:10.1021/jp911277r

Hits!

Bam, hits!



Reference: Valérie Campagna-Slater, Andrew G. Arrowsmith, Yong Zhao and Matthieu Schapira, "Pharmacophore Screening of the Protein Data Bank for Specific Binding Site Chemistry", J. Chem. Inf. Model., 2010, 50 (3), pp 358–367, doi:10.1021/ci900427b

Take the blue pill...

"Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself. This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back.

"You take the blue pill and the story ends. You wake in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the, erm, other blue pill? Crap, CUT SCENE!"



Reference: Christine E. Hay, Frank Marken, G. J. Blanchard, "Solvent-Dependent Changes in Molecular Reorientation Dynamics: The Role of Solvent−Solvent Interactions", doi: 10.1021/jp912217r

????

The question marks really say it all:



Source: N. Wood and G. Stephens, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2010, 12, 1670 - 1674, doi: 10.1039/b923429b

The fortune-telling porphyrin

Today I learned that porphyrins have secret desires to be ancient Chinese fortune-telling devices.



Reference: Mi Zhou, Zuowei Li, Tiecheng Liu, Peng Zhang, Dapeng Xu and Shuqin Gao, "Stiffness Tunable Molecular Spring Washers: High-Pressure Raman Investigations on Porphyrin Self-Assemblies", J. Phys. Chem. B, doi: 10.1021/jp910676y

Holiday special: Epic science tattoo

For today's holiday special, we look at illustrations of science, not on journal websites or on dead trees, but rather on a much more ancient medium. The Review posts this link to a blog at Discover Magazine that displays this epic science tattoo:


Clearly the tattoo artists have issued the authors of Graphical Abstracts a challenge. Consider this the body art equivalent of a thrown gauntlet.

Today's holiday is The Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Reference: Carl Zimmer, The Loom - a blog of Discover Magazine, That About Covers It, 2008-06-27.