All of us are drug users, in the broadest sense of the word. Drugs can be medicines, they can be used for pleasure, and they can also be used to protect our long-term health. It is important that we are well informed about the drugs we use - how they work, their benefits and their risks. This book is a unique guide for the general science reader to the drugs of everyday life - from the main types of medicine through to recreational drugs and food supplements. It looks at how drugs interact with their targets in the body, where they come from, how they are developed and what drugs to expect in the future. All the major pharmaceutical medicines are reviewed - painkillers, antibiotics, anti-cancer drugs, anti depressants, heart drugs, tranquillizers and hormones. However this book is much more than a consumer handbook - it also conveys the fascinating science of drug discovery in an easily accessible way.

The Indaba 5 meeting, held in South Africa during August 2006, examined the progress being made to achieve first-principle understanding of molecular science and confirmed the need to better understand the mysteries and magic of molecules. This book explores the common ground to guide chemists, biologists, crystallographers, spectroscopists and theorists towards painting a holistic picture of scientific endeavor.

Is it magic? Or is it science? Amaze family and friends with these 50 science experiments designed to work as magic tricks! Make a flame jump from candle to candle, create a cloud in a bottle, and keep water from pouring out of an upside-down container in this exciting science book for kids! Young magicians will thrill to these age-appropriate tricks—and gain confidence in their scientific knowledge and abilities at the same time. Science Magic Tricks for Kids features: 50 magic tricks based on science for kids ages 8−12 using common household materials A new way of learning science, with clear explanations of the scientific principles behind the magic Easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions and a helpful photo for every trick Detailed directions for putting on a spectacular magic show “Ask the Audience” questions that help kids involve their audience (and learn the science before the performance) “Run with It!” sections that suggest ways to try each trick with different materials and instructions: How will the results of the trick change? Written by the owner and founder of STEAMboat Studio, a children’s education center dedicated to bringing fun, hands-on, STEAM-focused learning experiences to students of all ages, Science Magic Tricks for Kids is the perfect science book for budding scientists and magicians.

This open access book covers recent advances in experiments using the ultra-cold, very weakly perturbing superfluid environment provided by helium nanodroplets for high resolution spectroscopic, structural and dynamic studies of molecules and synthetic clusters. The recent infra-red, UV-Vis studies of radicals, molecules, clusters, ions and biomolecules, as well as laser dynamical and laser orientational studies, are reviewed. The Coulomb explosion studies of the uniquely quantum structures of small helium clusters, X-ray imaging of large droplets and electron diffraction of embedded molecules are also described. Particular emphasis is given to the synthesis and detection of new species by mass spectrometry and deposition electron microscopy.

Henry Bournes scientific career spanned four decades of rapidly expanding progress in experimental biology, accelerated by the DNA revolution of the 1980s. Ambition and Delight shows how the unique personalities, joys, and sorrows of individual scientists shape their science. Their discoveries are driven by warm cooperation and painful competition, combined with the viscerally satisfying delight of solving natures puzzles.

Have you ever stopped to wonder how your eyes can convert light into nerve impulses? Or maybe how your ears translate sound waves into brain waves? What about your sense of touch...? how do your fingers sense pressure? These are mysteries that many people never stop to think about, but they should. Without a background in science, the answers might seem so complex that only a specialist could understand them. The truth however is that the answer to all these questions is simply, molecular biology. The living molecules of biology control countless events in our everyday lives, and yet the majority of people have no concept of how molecular events work. While it's true that you can spend a lifetime trying to understand the deepest secrets of the molecular world, you don't need to be an expert to have a working knowledge of the basics of the molecular sciences. If you are interested at all in understanding how your molecular world works, this book will teach you fundamentals of molecular function that will translate to all other molecular events in your daily life. Professor Allan Albig uses examples that everyone can understand like the differences between medicines and toxins, understanding how electric eels produce electricity, and how your sense of smell works, to teach fundamentals of molecular biology. Professor Albig has taught these subjects for more than 20 years in colleges in three states and will educate you about molecular biology so you can better understand your world and appreciate the everyday elegance of your molecular reality.