Brynn Hibbert University of New South Wales Introduction A tertiary course in chemistry may be seen as a bridge between secondary school and the workplace. Starting a course at a university brings a student into contact with working chemists whose task is to not only add knowledge about the subject, but to give an awareness of what it means to be a...

Peter O'Brien The University of York Asthma is a very common disease, affecting one person out of every 20. So, if you are not asthmatic, it is highly likely that you know someone who is. indeed, you have probably seen people using medication for asthma in the form of an inhaler. The usual symptoms of asthma are wheezing and breathlessness which ma...

C Ramsden Keele University Quinine belongs to the molecular elite. If chemical compounds won medals and prizes, quinine would be one of the most decorated molecules in the history of science. For over 300 years it has played a major role in chemistry and medicine and has not been associated with adverse properties such as addiction or toxicity. Bec...

Dr Mark Holmes Central Queensland University 2012 is an exciting time for sports fans. From July 27 to August 12, all eyes will be on London, the host city of the Games of the XXX Olympiad. The 2012 Paralympic Games will follow from August 29 to September 9. Logistically, the staging of these Games is huge. The London Organising Committee of the Ol...

Jolon Dyer University of Canterbury A mystery unveiled The year is 1990. the country the United States of America. A woman is brutally raped and murdered in her own home. Three men are linked to the crime through fraudulent use of the victims credit card the night before her death. Let's call these three men Mr. X, Mr. Y, and Mr. Z. One of these me...

Subramaniam Sotheeswaran University of the South Pacific Onion is botanically described as Allium cepa and belongs to the plant family Lillaceae. It has been used as a spice for centuries. Onions are cooked, used raw in salads or used in flavouring foods. Three varieties of onions are known. They are the white, yellow or the red varieties and they ...

Barry N. Noller Environment Division, Department of Mines and Energy, GPO Box 2901 Darwin NT 0801 ICP-MS (inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry) is a hybrid analytical technique utilising a plasma atomisation source and a quadrupole mass spectrometer as detector. The specific feature of ICP-MS which makes it a unique technique is its capabil...

Brian Wilkins Wearing hats and sitting under trees does not protect us from the significant amounts of ultraviolet radiation (UVR) reflected from most surfaces. We need extra protection in many situations. Chemistry has a role to play in providing harmless molecules that absorb UVR and dissipate its potentially dangerous energy into harmless longer...

Dr. Eva Todoroska Charles Sturt University - Mitchell History of the discovery of aspirin The history of aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) begins with common, folk herbal remedies that were used by early 18th century pharmacologists to reduce fever. Fever is symptomatic of many diseases. The bark of the willow tree (Salix alba) , meadowsweat plant (Sp...

William A. Denny University of Auckland The first useful drugs were complex mixtures of compounds of unknown structure, extracted from natural sources (plants or animals), and resulted from chance observations of useful effects, probably backed up by trial and error experiments on humans over many generations. A therapeutic drug is now defined as a...

Maureen Prince University of Canterbury By far the most commonly used sweetener is sucrose, usually referred to as sugar Awareness of health hazards associated with a high-sugar diet has not been sufficient to overcome the human predilection for sweetness. To ameliorate these health problems while allowing people to indulge their liking of sweet th...

Graeme O'Neill Australia is certified free of malaria by the World Health Organisation, but elsewhere it is a killer. Australian researchers are currently working on a vaccine against malaria. Malaria is one of the leading causes of illness and death in the world. According to the World Health Organization, between 300 to 500 million people contrac...