Biochemistry

The process of making beverages from fermented grain is a chemical synthesis slightly newer than human civilization itself. This article descibes the chemistry of the first step- malting the raw mature grain.

Welcome to Part 4 in a series of posts looking at the metabolic chemistry that allows a bear to opt to survive winter by not eating at all and by doing so increase its chances of dying from starvation. By the end of hibernation up to a third- and more for a pregnant bear- of a bear's pre-denning mass may have been devoured by the bear's metabolic and physiological needs. A remarkable animal. A remarkable study in biochemistry. Enjoy...

Millions of years of evolution has endowed brown (Ursus arctos) and black (Ursus americanus) bears with the enviable metabolic capacity to starve themselves for a long period of time and still survive. Truly, bears are chemist extraordinaires and their hibernation chemistry overall is arguably without equal in the mammalian world. Let's take an introductory look at what's going on.  

Hello, and welcome back to my second blog about chemistry education in the tri-border region of California, Arizona, and Mexico. In my last article I described the area and students who attend the two institutions in Yuma, AZ- Arizona Western College (AWC) and Northern Arizona University-Yuma (NAU). In this second post I will talk briefly about my experiences teaching an upper-division biochemistry course. I presume that what I observe in my classes is not much different than what you observe in your classes.