newscripts
1
NANOCAT Superfine Iron Oxide only from MACH L Inc. ΜΛ(!ΙΙ Ι AcTospatv chemists haw developed and commercialized a CIRCLE 4 ON READER SERVICE CARD 56 MARCH 22,1999 C&EN newscripts Computer patois expands Computer patois acquired more new coinage recently when the International ElectrotechnicalCommission (IEC), with significant input from the National Insti- tute of Standards & Technology (NISI), adopted new numerical prefixes for kilo- byte, megabyte, and their kin. The com- mission writes international standards for electronic technologies. The problem has been that a kilobyte, for example, is not 1,000 bytes, as one might expect, but 1,024 bytes. The dis- crepancy arises because bytes involve bi- nary, or two-digit, code, whereas the met- ric system is based on 10 digits. Faced with the need to describe many bytes succinctly, however, computer people borrowed the handiest metric prefix. Now, to represent exponentially in- creasing binary multiples, IEC recognizes kibi (Ki), mebi (Mi), gibi (Gi), tebi (Ti), pebi (H), and exbi (Ei). Thus, a kibibyte is 2 to the 10th power, or 1,024 bytes; a me- bibyte is 2 to the 20th power, or 1,048,576 bytes; and so forth. NIST says the new pre- fixes "will increase precision in express- ing electronic information." Mebi so. Absinthe said to be coming back in Europe Two recent reports indicate that absinthe is coming back after having been banned in the U.S. and most of Western Europe since early in the 20th century. In the Feb. 21 Washington Post, Tara Mack re- ports that the green liqueur is quite the thing today in London. A British compa- ny, Green Bohemia, she says, found re- cently that absinthe had never been banned in England, which apparently re- lied on Victorian morality to damp the ex- cesses of the hoi polloi, who in any case seem to have preferred gin, if memory serves. Green Bohemia, knowing an op- portunity when it saw one, began to im- port absinthe from the Czech Republic and sells it at an Internet site and through bars and clubs in London and other major British cities. The second report came from Lisa Downey Merriam of Boston, who re- turned recently with her new husband from Lisbon, where both had a go at the Fee Verte (the Green Fairy), as absinthe once was known. It's afirst-classpop- skull, she recalled, but you have to be careful—it kind of creeps up on you. Countries that banned absinthe did so because of reports tying it to addiction, by K. M. Reese epileptic attacks, and delirium, according to Post reporter Mack. The toxic agent in absinthe is thujone, a hallucinogen that comesfromthe wormwood used in part to make the beverage. Wormwood also is the source of the santonin in absinthe. This compound, a sesquiterpene lactone, can cause yellow vision (xanthopsia), which brings us to biochemist Wilf Ar- nold of the University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City. Arnold is a big fan of Vincent Van Gogh's, and author of "Vincent Van Gogh: Chemicals, Crises, and Creativity" (Boston: Birkhauser, 1992, $49.50). He became intrigued by the link, if any, be- tween the dominance of yellow in some of the artist's later works and the santonin in the absinthe that Van Gogh drank so industriously (C&EN, Nov. 9,1992, page 56). Nobody knew how much santonin was in absinthe in Van Gogh's time. In the course of research with some col- leagues, therefore, Arnold grew some wormwood in his backyard and pro- cessed it in accord with an 1855 recipe for absinthe. He and his coworkers found that the artist would have had to drink 182 L of absinthe to acquire the 0.2 g of santonin needed to induce xanthopsia. Van Gogh may well have drunk 182 L of absinthe, but not fast enough to maintain the required level of santonin. Arnold and colleagues wrote later that 'We are in- clined to dismiss the possibility." Underwear glows in Tampa James Hyde writesfromTampa, Fla., to report a case of glowing underwear. Sometimes on cool nights, he says, he sleeps in an old pair of Saugutuck waffle long Johns. One night he hit the sack without them, but grew cold and rose to put them on in the dark. As he fumbled for the tag in the back of the waistband, to avoid donning the garment backward, he says, "I thought I saw glimmers of light Curious, I vigorously stretched the entire waistband, which produced a bright green instantaneous fluorescence." The event was not reproducible until after Hyde had washed and dried the gar- ment as usual. The undyed waistband fluo- resces only upon extension, he says. "None of my other garments have been induced to glow in this manner, so I favor an 'intrinsic elastomer conformational change with electron excitation' sort of explanation, but I am not a polymer scien- tist ... If you require proof of this phe- nomenon, I can mail you my underwear." FEATURES: new //rt/wstrueUnv Ιοπη oi lemc oxide- LWtimiMMHBWm spacoa^c technology advances lo iron oxide lornuilalors. 3 Nanometer size 250 m7» surface area Amorphous structure lli»h purity Premium «racle Transparent brown color BENEFITS: Sn/wior catalytic activity inique ultraviolet absorption and screening iffeciuv in low concentration Stable in colloidal dispersion I,vl your iron oxide needs reach MAOEI ΙΌΓ more information, phone: 610-279-2340 ()rl ; a\:()IO-r ( )-()(>()5 Or li-mail: machin niachichcniicals.roni MAC H F MACH I, Inc. 340 East Church Road · King of Prussia, PA 19406
Transcript of newscripts
NANOCAT Superfine Iron Oxide
only from MACH L Inc.
ΜΛ(!ΙΙ Ι AcTospatv chemists haw developed and commercialized a
CIRCLE 4 ON READER SERVICE CARD 5 6 MARCH 22,1999 C&EN
n e w s c r i p t s
Computer patois expands Computer patois acquired more new coinage recently when the International ElectrotechnicalCommission (IEC), with significant input from the National Institute of Standards & Technology (NISI), adopted new numerical prefixes for kilobyte, megabyte, and their kin. The commission writes international standards for electronic technologies.
The problem has been that a kilobyte, for example, is not 1,000 bytes, as one might expect, but 1,024 bytes. The discrepancy arises because bytes involve binary, or two-digit, code, whereas the metric system is based on 10 digits. Faced with the need to describe many bytes succinctly, however, computer people borrowed the handiest metric prefix.
Now, to represent exponentially increasing binary multiples, IEC recognizes kibi (Ki), mebi (Mi), gibi (Gi), tebi (Ti), pebi (H), and exbi (Ei). Thus, a kibibyte is 2 to the 10th power, or 1,024 bytes; a me-bibyte is 2 to the 20th power, or 1,048,576 bytes; and so forth. NIST says the new prefixes "will increase precision in expressing electronic information." Mebi so.
Absinthe said to be coming back in Europe Two recent reports indicate that absinthe is coming back after having been banned in the U.S. and most of Western Europe since early in the 20th century. In the Feb. 21 Washington Post, Tara Mack reports that the green liqueur is quite the thing today in London. A British company, Green Bohemia, she says, found recently that absinthe had never been banned in England, which apparently relied on Victorian morality to damp the excesses of the hoi polloi, who in any case seem to have preferred gin, if memory serves. Green Bohemia, knowing an opportunity when it saw one, began to import absinthe from the Czech Republic and sells it at an Internet site and through bars and clubs in London and other major British cities.
The second report came from Lisa Downey Merriam of Boston, who returned recently with her new husband from Lisbon, where both had a go at the Fee Verte (the Green Fairy), as absinthe once was known. It's a first-class pop-skull, she recalled, but you have to be careful—it kind of creeps up on you.
Countries that banned absinthe did so because of reports tying it to addiction,
by K. M. Reese
epileptic attacks, and delirium, according to Post reporter Mack. The toxic agent in absinthe is thujone, a hallucinogen that comes from the wormwood used in part to make the beverage. Wormwood also is the source of the santonin in absinthe. This compound, a sesquiterpene lactone, can cause yellow vision (xanthopsia), which brings us to biochemist Wilf Arnold of the University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City.
Arnold is a big fan of Vincent Van Gogh's, and author of "Vincent Van Gogh: Chemicals, Crises, and Creativity" (Boston: Birkhauser, 1992, $49.50). He became intrigued by the link, if any, between the dominance of yellow in some of the artist's later works and the santonin in the absinthe that Van Gogh drank so industriously (C&EN, Nov. 9,1992, page 56). Nobody knew how much santonin was in absinthe in Van Gogh's time. In the course of research with some colleagues, therefore, Arnold grew some wormwood in his backyard and processed it in accord with an 1855 recipe for absinthe. He and his coworkers found that the artist would have had to drink 182 L of absinthe to acquire the 0.2 g of santonin needed to induce xanthopsia. Van Gogh may well have drunk 182 L of absinthe, but not fast enough to maintain the required level of santonin. Arnold and colleagues wrote later that 'We are inclined to dismiss the possibility."
Underwear glows in Tampa James Hyde writes from Tampa, Fla., to report a case of glowing underwear. Sometimes on cool nights, he says, he sleeps in an old pair of Saugutuck waffle long Johns. One night he hit the sack without them, but grew cold and rose to put them on in the dark. As he fumbled for the tag in the back of the waistband, to avoid donning the garment backward, he says, "I thought I saw glimmers of light Curious, I vigorously stretched the entire waistband, which produced a bright green instantaneous fluorescence."
The event was not reproducible until after Hyde had washed and dried the garment as usual. The undyed waistband fluo-resces only upon extension, he says. "None of my other garments have been induced to glow in this manner, so I favor an 'intrinsic elastomer conformational change with electron excitation' sort of explanation, but I am not a polymer scientist . . . If you require proof of this phenomenon, I can mail you my underwear."
FEATURES:
new //rt/wstrueUnv Ιοπη oi lemc oxide- LWtimiMMHBWm spacoa^c technology advances lo iron oxide lornuilalors.
3 Nanometer size 250 m7» surface area Amorphous structure lli»h purity Premium «racle Transparent brown color
BENEFITS:
Sn/wior catalytic activity inique ultraviolet absorption and screening iffeciuv in low concentration Stable in colloidal dispersion
I,vl your iron oxide needs reach MAŒI
ΙΌΓ more information, phone:
610-279-2340 ()rl ;a\:()IO-r ()-()(>()5
Or li-mail: machin niachichcniicals.roni
MAC H F MACH I, Inc.
340 East Church Road · King of Prussia, PA 19406
