Chemistry

Prof. Ada Yonath, the 2009 Nobel Prize laureate in Chemistry and Israel Prize laureate, has passed away at the age of 87. A pioneer in ribosome research, her work was instrumental in the development of new antibiotics.

Yonath was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2009 for her research on ribosomes. She worked for many years at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot and was a recipient of the Israel Prize.

The sweet smell of vanillin that we all love in old books is actually a sign of chemical decay. A new scientific method called "paper serology" allows determining the age of a book and identifying its slow self-destruction without opening a single page. The vanilla and marzipan molecules released from the pages reveal a secret that is hundreds of years old.

After cooking, one unpleasant task often remains: dealing with a pan covered in stubborn grease. Even hot water doesn't always work, as water is a polar liquid while fat is non-polar. This article explains how soap acts as a bridge between the two.