Quirky Science

Vince – Image 5-9-2013 by Robert McNeish

I’m Vince—a retired chemist, a genealogist, and a public Bible instructor. My cousin, Ellen, is a traveler, a mathematician and a computer programmer… We love all things technical. I am 64 this year and my wife says she will “still feed me.” My cousin is sharper than the proverbial tack, although she was an adult when I was born! Science isn’t cut and dried as some suppose—there’s QuirkyScience! We hope you’ll enjoy our offerings.

Your hosts,

• Vincent E. Summers BS ’73 Drexel Univ.
• Ellen H. Fenwick PhD    ’76 Temple Univ.

The one who coined the phrase, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” was correct. Sometimes quirky can be beautiful—at least in science and mathematics. Anyway, we hope you’ll think so.

Now we realize tastes vary: for those of you who stumbled here accidentally and loathe technical topics, we include a smorgasbord of non-science articles.

Feature Articles

We hope you will enjoy the quirky fare, below, and under each of the tabs, above. But perhaps quirky is too gentle a term?

• Ötzi the 5000 Year Old Mummy – a Different Perspective
• Atoms, Molecules, Hybridization and Symmetry
• Decarboxylation of Carboxylic Acids Useful in Synthesis
• Epoxide Ring Preparation from Oxidation of Alkenes
• The Stalked Ciliate Vorticella – a Living Spring
• Does the Brain Keep Secrets from Itself?
• The Y-Chromosome: Is It in Danger?
• Aquaponics—Symbiosis of Plant and Fish
• Nitrogen Tri-Iodide: A Schoolboy Explosive?
• What is an Aerogel? What are Its Properties and Applications?
• Graphene—Production, Properties and Application
• The Permanent Wave—Chem-mystery of the Curl
• In Your Food: Locust Bean Gum
• Do You Heat with Propane? Do Your Eyes Burn?
• The Russians had “American” Tumbleweed First
• Why Dental Fillings don’t cause MRI Lab Test Difficulties
• Is the Neutron a Stable Particle?
• The Science of Golf Ball Dimples
• Spin that Egg!

So email me already with suggestions for articles you’d like to see or quirky science you’d like linked. You can contact me via the account:

vsummers@gmail.com

Updated: May 13, 2013