meta-roj

this bbc article shares some research on the antioxidant content of chocolate, and just in time for winter, suggests hot cocoa is the better option (less fat).

this is just more continuing evidence that the “brown food group” is good for you, so enjoy your chocolate.

some time ago, i directed your attention to biolabs on cds – one of the earliest posts here, and it was exceedingly cool to have james la clair drop in and comment.

they’ve been working hard, i suppose, and spaceflight now is reporting that the labs-on-a-cd are being studied and adapted for applications on the international space station (and beyond!).

no word on the media-tax question yet…

a few penn state researchers have published a little research on music and mood…

so, put on something you like and go spend a couple minutes reading it…

an interesting study of ancient biomass-to-gasoline conversion…

at least they spell out the methodology.

the edmonton journal is reporting the potential discovery of a whole new kind of blue gemstone.

way way up in the yukon, and prompted by the re-discovery of a sample collected in the 70’s, the official press releases are at the true north gems website.

i do hope this turns out to be a new kind of stone. blue rocks are sexy.

[update: title changed to limit spam targeting]

Thomas Jefferson, 1785, correspondence with John Adams

The superiority of chocolate, both for health and nourishment, will soon give it the same preference over tea and coffee in America which it has in Spain…

fresh off the chocolate, i think i stumbled into this bbc story following a link from pseudorandom.

the common thread here is the polyphenyls. live forever with low blood pressure on the chocolate-and-red-wine diet. maybe.

the boston globe (among many others – this one is just to sweet for news outlets to pass up) is
reporting that chocolate may help lower blood pressure.

the skeptic in me notes that it’s based on a two-week study of 13 people. but hey, any excuse for some good chocolate. i recommend valrhona.

this press release announces what is probably the coolest thing ever done with a cd (and yes, this includes high-rpm failure demonstrations).

in the journal Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry, James La Clair and Michael Burkart describe a method “to screen the recognition between small molecule ligands and biomolecules using a conventional compact disc (CD) player.”

the full text of the paper is available from the abstract.

the project site doesn’t have much content, but if you want to get in touch with the researchers…

very cool.

one question: will cd-r’s used for biomolecular screening be subject to riaa-sponsored blank-media taxes?