Adventure Ausrama Blog

There is a new drug for malaria called artemisinin. It will be synthesized in a chemical process and the procedure is "green". The French pharmaceutical company Sanofi   produces a third of the world's demand annually. Unfortunately, the synthetic drug is expensive. Click to enlarge. Most of artemisinin is extracted from sweet wormwood. This is simple but the synthetic version involves the conversion of glucose into artemisinic acid: then three oxygen atoms are bonded on to produce artimsinin. It is complex. The use of toxic dichloromethane is not used in the new process. It was discovered, ironically, that water greatly assists the synthesis. It packs molecules together. Water-soluble photocatalyst is indeed clean and green. The result is a product that is purer than artemisinin taken directly from wormwood. ✴ Chemistry by Ty Buchanan ✴ http://www.adventure--australia.blogspot.com/ http://www.tysaustralia.blogspot.com/ http://adventure--austr...

Insects and animals are moving to different regions. As climate changes with Queensland and Western Australia becoming tropical far down the coast insects are leaving their native areas. Mosquitoes are in epidemic proportions in Brisbane and they are even reaching Sydney. More than a million people a year die from malaria. Many recover but become very sick. The illness does return to sufferers in future years. It is not just the warmth that attracts mosquitoes thus spreading the disease. A hotter climate means more rain that the insects thrive in. They breed in pools of water trapped in all kinds of crevices. Certain kinds of mosquitoes transmit different disease. Dengue fever,  Yellow fever virus,  chikungunya, West Nile virus, Japanese encephalitis, and malaria are all spread by mosquitoes. They get to new regions in people's belongings due to increasing world travel. The dangerous insect is taking over virgin ground rapidly. A few years ago the chikungunya virus ...

Let's face it - homeopathy is hogwash. How can a "medication" work if it is diluted into nothingness? Dilution of the main ingredients in homeopathic remedies is in the millions of particles to the base carrying substance. All cures are hearsay, with no scientific proof whatsoever. Homeopathy Plus claimed that the whooping cough vaccine didn't work, but its homeopathic treatment was a substitute that did the job. This of course was all lies. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has taken the company to court on the grounds that the claims are misleading and deceptive. The firm also made claims about cures for meningococcal disease, Japanese encephalitis, malaria and dengue fever. All these claims are mythical. Protests came from the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration ordering the claims be taken down.  Homeopathy Plus ignored this. More than a year after the advertising program has been completed a court has found in favor of t...

Gorillas caused it. Scientists say mosquitoes split into a new form capable of infecting humans when Man and chimpanzees had a common ancestor. This is a myth. It is not based on fact. Bonobos have also been singled out for blame despite no parasites being found in bonobos or western gorillas, though some parasites were found in chimpanzees and eastern gorillas. Before conclusions can be drawn on such research evidence of this mystery ancestor must be found first. This is all hearsay. How can present day apes be responsible for current malaria infection. Gorillas are only found in very small parts of Africa, not all around the world. This wreaks of leaps of faith not science. It is no better than religious beliefs based on prophets who probably never existed. It is scientific fact that evil spirits do not cause disease, yet millions of people believe that a man, Jesus, cured illness by casting out spirits.  Note, everyone is entitled to follow a religion. http://www.adventu...

Mosquitoes are extremely robust. They can survive being hit by raindrops 50 times their size. The insect is knocked down a little by the raindrop travelling at 300 times normal gravity, but it recovers and flies on. This attribute was discovered by videoing insects actually being hit by raindrops from artificial rain. There was no improvement in stopping the spread of malaria. Better ways of designing tiny flying robots was enhanced, however, because rain tends to knock mechanical drones off course. Even aeroplanes are detrimentally affected by rain. The raindrops on mosquitoes tests were exciting to watch. As the rain hit them they dropped, then recovered and sheltered on the wall of the test area. They fell an average of 13 body lengths. Nearly all hits were glancing blows which made mosquitoes roll, pitch and yaw. A direct hit led to a fall of 20 body lengths. The theory is that mosquitoes are so small the speed of raindrops falling to earth is not affected, This means...