Nature Chemistry | The Sceptical Chymist

Sparkly science

Catherine’s entry on toys (here) reminded me of clothing and accessories items I had seen earlier. Kyle at Chem Blog has been selling T-shirts, mugs, wall clocks or postal stamps – which are legal in the US and everything. I didn’t even know that was possible, but I just checked and found out that, in several (all?) countries, you can indeed customize stamps.

The folks at YellowIbis also make T-shirts featuring chemical structures. They picked molecules particularly relevant / amusing – so you can let everybody know that you’re cool as insert menthol structure, wear a green jumper showing the structure of a “lucky” 18-crown-6-ether for Saint Patrick’s Day, or alternatively you might want to give this T-shirt to a labmate.

In particular, I’d come across the made with molecules jewellery line, representing the actual structure of certain molecules influencing our behaviour (such as neurotransmitters or hormones). In a less obvious way – except for the DNA ones – the design of these items at Sci Wear also refers to chemical substances, each piece containing the actual microscopic picture of a molecule.

Which molecule would you like to wear? Personally – and you might say I’m biased – I can’t decide between the caffeine necklace and the chocolate (theobromine) earrings

Anne

Anne Pichon (Intern, Nature Reviews Drug Discovery)

Comments

  1. Propter Doc said:

    I’m thinking zeolite cage system would be cute earrings but difficult to make. Or some of the dendrimer molecules… Kyle’s Taxol mugs are awesome.

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  2. Uncle Al said:

    Given a job candidate boasting palytoxin tattooed about his/her ankle, point and ask

    “Is that stereocenter inverted?”

    In an eggs-and-ham breakfast the chicken was involved but the pig was committed. There’s a difference.

  3. Samia said:

    Hi Anne,

    My dad has a periodic table tie that was totally embarrassing as a teenager. So the fact that we all quite like these products worries me. I feel sorry for our future children…

  4. whomever1 said:

    I read the recent NewScientist.com article on string-net liquids, and instantly wanted a herbertsmithite pendant.