The science behind apple sweetness and tartness

 
download image >>

Braeburn, Bramley, Clivia, Dabinett, Gala, Jonagold and Reinette. No, not an excerpt from the class list at your local private school, but a selection of the names of the over 7,500 different cultivars of apples. Each of these cultivars has its distinct flavour and character — and a bit of biochemistry can help us understand why.

Apple festivals are a regular autumn occurrence across England, and it was at one last weekend that I got thinking about the chemical variety in different apple cultivars. I confess to not being a huge apple fan unless they’re juiced, baked in a pie, or in the form of cider. Consequently, I’m aware that the delights of all of these varying cultivars are mostly lost on me. However, I was still curious as to what molecular differences underlie the contrast between sweet and tart apples, and whether there are straightforward chemical explanations for the varied flavours of differently named apples.

Celebrating 40 years of chemical drawing with ChemDraw

 
download image >>

The year is 1985. Windows 1.0 has just been released in North America, and the first Back to the Future film is playing in cinemas. Chemists worldwide who need to draw chemical structures have no choice but to use a combination of freehand drawing, stencils, and dry-transfer letter decals. However, a former high school science teacher, a Harvard PhD student and a chemistry professor are about to revolutionise how chemists depict molecules.

The chemistry professor is David Evans, a prominent organic chemist who moved to Harvard from Caltech in 1983. Sally Evans, a high school teacher, moves with him and becomes his research group’s administrator, laboratory architect, and graphic designer. The latter involves drawing the countless chemical structures the group are working on, a time-consuming task often requiring the repeated drawing of complex structures for reaction schemes.

Having a blast: The furnaces that forge iron and steel

 
download image >>

Industrial sabotage, government intervention, and a race against time to avoid devastating consequences — not a summary of a fictional political thriller, but the real-life drama that engulfed the UK steel-making industry in recent weeks. At the story’s centre were the formerly Chinese-owned blast furnaces in Scunthorpe, which were at risk of shutting down until they were brought under emergency government ownership.

A chemistry blog may not be the place to get into the politics of the situation, but it’s a topical opportunity to look at the multitude of reactions that transform ore to steel. After all, it’s not often that a topic commonly covered in secondary chemistry lessons makes international news!

What causes the colours of the aurora?

 
download image >>

A magical fox, running across the Arctic fells, its tail spraying snow and sparks into the air. The dead, playing football in the heavens with a walrus skull. Or the souls of dead children, dancing in the sky.

These are myths surrounding the aurora, stories ancient cultures close to the North Pole told to explain the ethereal lights they saw flickering in the night sky above their heads. Now, we know that these breathtaking displays aren’t of supernatural origin but due to chemical processes high in the atmosphere. This graphic explains how auroras form and what causes the different colours.

Kaleidoskop Magang Program Studi Kimia Tahun 2024

Praktik Kerja Lapangan (PKL/Magang) merupakan salah satu mata kuliah wajib dan penerapan seseorang mahasiswa pada dunia kerja nyata yang sesungguhnya. PKL bertujuan untuk ¹mengembangkan keterampilan dan etika pekerjaan, serta untuk mendapatkan kesempatan dalam menerapkan ilmu pengetahuan dan keterampilan yang ada kaitannya dengan kurikulum pendidikan. Sebagai bagian penting dari pendidikan tinggi, program PKL (magang) ²memberikan kesempatan bagi mahasiswa untuk memperluas wawasan mereka melalui pengalaman langsung di lingkungan kerja yang sebenarnya. Selain itu, mahasiswa diharapkan mampu ³membangun lebih banyak interaksi yang berharga dengan orang lain yang lebih berpengalaman. Melalui pengalaman ini, diharapkan bahwa mahasiswa dapat ⁴mengembangkan kompetensi yang diperlukan untuk bersaing dalam persaingan kerja yang semakin kompetitif, serta memperoleh pandangan tentang karier yang mereka kehendaki di masa depan.

Yuk, simak pengalaman mahasiswa Program Studi Kimia FSM UKSW selama kegiatan magang di instansi pemerintahan maupun industri pada tahun 2024!