Brain Candy #34 - What Some Other Chemist Likes

Magnetic resonance imaging has always interested me. MRI is the medical use of a chemist's tool called NMR spectroscopy. While most people have heard of MRI, it's just a black box to them; they don't know anything about it. Visit Dr. Joseph P. Hornak's site, "The Basics of MRI" at www.cis.rit.edu/htbooks/mri/inside.htm and you can become an expert. This is an advanced resource, equivalent in rigor to a college course on the subject and way beyond what most people might want to know about MRI. Visit it anyway, even if you aren't a scientist; the site has been carefully created so that an intelligent person can skim it and extract useful information at a level they can use. Many of the chapters have introductions which serve as a simple synopsis of their topics for those not interested in the technical details. The chapters on "Spin Physics" or "NMR Spectroscopy", for instance, might be quickly skimmed by most lay readers; others like "Fourier Transform Imaging Principles" can be skipped entirely. The real meat is "Your MRI Exam", especially if you might be facing an MRI procedure. This section is very specific, even providing sound samples of the procedure (it's surprisingly loud). As remarkable as the site is, there are two more impressive features about it: it is trilingual - English, Japanese and Russian! Your browser might not be able to properly present the latter two languages, which require special setup. The other observation I'll make is how effective it is in using HTML navigation devices to present the subject. Sidebar information, graphics and simple animations are abundant and well-designed. It's worth a look just for its functionality, even if you don't choose to learn more about MRI.

I've always been interested in disciplines that blend art and science. I think that architecture is one of the ultimate expressions of this. There is another area of direct interest to scientists that is both a science and a creative art - technical glassblowing. Modular glassware components are used where possible, but sometimes they just can't do a specialized task; a customized piece of glassware is required. If you've never visited a science lab that has custom-blown glassware, you might not realize how intricate, as well as beautiful, some hand-blown glass devices in a scientific laboratory are. Terry links to an excellent site devoted to "Scientific Glassblowing Basics" at www.ecu.edu/chem/glassblowing/gb.htm.

As with the MRI site, a lot of effort has been put into this page. There are many illustrations of equipment, techniques, and troubleshooting, as well as a glossary and many links to other resources. If you click on the "ecu glass home" button, you'll find that this is just part of a larger set of pages on glassblowing from East Carolina University Glassblowing Services. Included in these pages are data and tables, tips, how to put on glassblowing demonstrations and even glass recipes as well as how to design your own glassblowing shop. Look at the page titled "Scientific Glassblowing?" to see a few examples of really intricate pieces of custom glassware. This work appears to come from enthusiastic practioners who want to share their knowledge with all comers. It's another very impressive effort.

Terry's links aren't all technical. Although I consider myself well-versed in what the Web has to offer, I was astounded when I visited Puzzlemaker at puzzlemaker.school.discovery.com/; I had no idea that such sophisticated puzzle software was available online. Puzzlemaker is meant to be a puzzle and game generation site for teachers, parents and students. There is a section of drawn mazes, which are not meant to be posted on other web sites, but you are free to use any of the computer generated puzzles if you link back to the Puzzlemaker site. You can generate mazes, word searches, criss-crosses, number block, math squares, double puzzles, cryptograms, letter tiles and fallen phrases. I'm putting a cryptographic version of a favorite quote on our web site (home.neo.rr.com/catbar/misc/pm1.htm) if you like cryptograms. This is most definitely a page for puzzle fans to check out.

Have you ever been baffled by the meaning of the lyrics to some rock songs? The next site can help you interpret the lyrics of many Grateful Dead songs: go to David Dodd's "The Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics: a Web Site" at arts.ucsc.edu/gdead/agdl/.

The popularity of the Grateful Dead is legendary; devoted fans are "Deadheads". I'm not a Deadhead, but I've known some and I certainly appreciate the group. When I found this link, I thought it had promise. One of the characteristics of the group's lyrics are occasional powerful phrases that stick in your memory. Sometimes the meanings and origins of these are known; when they aren't, fans have provided David with a lot of usually interesting speculation. If you want a tip, check out the material for the song "Ripple", one of my favorite Dead songs; it's pretty rich for a 4:09 song. It includes a sermon by a Unitarian minister and an article by a Rutgers English professor.

I'm going to make a conscious effort to avoid technical sites for the next few months, since I've probably overloaded you a bit in the last several columns. I've got a pretty good idea what the next topic will be; if it works out, I think you'll enjoy it.