Four Random Things

A Friday Hodgepodge

1. From a news story about the "alien chemistry" found within a meteorite, here's what to do if a meteor strikes your home and you want to help scientific progress:

He then immediately preserved and documented the entire scene using disposable gloves and aluminum foil to place the meteorite fragments in glass jars.

The surviving rock weighed two pounds and was a rare, and especially interesting type.

Well done!

2. At In the Pipeline, Derek Lowe notes that researchers looking to use filtration instead of distillation in parts of the oil refining process were able to make use of a problem inherent in choosing a pore size to filter a substance containing molecules with a wide range of sizes:

... [O]ne thing that was noticed quickly was the the initial liquid coming through was still quite dark, but then lightened considerably for the rest of the run.

It turns out that a thin layer of higher-boiling material coats the insides of the pores of the PAN membranes as the first material is sent through, and analysis of the conditioned membranes suggests that this is made of up high-boiling long-chain alkanes, rather than polyaromatic material. The authors could actually wash this off with straight toluene, giving a PAN membrane with the original behavior that was apparently no worse for the treatment. It appears that the original PAN pores of around 15nm are narrowed to 2nm or below by this adsorption layer, and both the size and the chemical characteristics of the "new" pores are responsible for the separations.

So you just need to clog things up a bit, the right way, and you're in good shape. Who knew? ... [bold added]

As one commenter quips, "[G]ood as new is worse."

3. Continuing our theme of improvisation for a moment, I learned recently of a company claiming to make the world's largest zip tie:

To be clear, we're not just talking about length, although at 47 inches long it's certainly substantial. But extremely long zip ties already exist for things like wrapping large bundles of cable. This one is also cartoonishly thick, and features a similarly upscaled locking mechanism that allows it to hold up to 2,000 pounds, according to the company.

The monster ties can be had for $75 apiece, 12 for $800, or 15 for $1,700.

4. Moderna's new mRNA flu vaccine isn't just approved, it soon may be available at pharmacy near you:

Major insurers have previously indicated they will continue to cover vaccines. However, sign-off from a federal vaccine advisory panel can influence coverage in certain states, though some are moving away from requiring the panel's recommendation...

It's difficult to predict how broadly pharmacies would stock the newly approved mRNA flu vaccine in the absence of recommendations from ACIP and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to Brigid Groves, a vice president at the American Pharmacists Association. However, pharmacists' authority to order and administer vaccines in many states is no longer directly tied to ACIP recommendations, meaning "authority may be less of a barrier than it would have been in the past," she said.

It's good to know that there is resistance to the hostile takeover of the FDA by the anti-vaxx movement.

One advantage of the new vaccine, mentioned in the story, is that it will be easier and quicker to change it to match the prevalent flu strains in circulation than vaccines using older technology. This is because the latter take six months to manufacture.

Based on a quick, cursory search, I think the new vaccine matches the same strains as the old. Whether this is because the group in charge of selecting the target strain chose well, or there is some other reason, I have no idea.

-- CAV