Another much-feared chemical agent bites...tubulin

Bisphenol A this time. In a long list of tubulin binding agents. Unlike taxol and some of these agents however, it does not actually stabilize microtubules. What next in the list of tubulin binders? Water? Of course that.

Can we predict solvation energies from first principles yet?

Not really...but good effort

On vacation

Apologies for the non-posting state. An out-of-country vacation is unexpectedly getting prolonged. Blogging will resume full steam in about two weeks. Till then, will drop a line whenever I can.

Here's one now; in ancient Ayurveda, it was claimed (and with a respectable degree of anecdotal data) that a remedy for snake venom was the ingestion of an ungodly amount of chilli powder solution. If the chilli powder did not kill the victims, some were known to revive. Then, to prevent death from chilli powder, the victim's insides were bathed in milk; capsaicin, a hydrophobic molecule, is soluble in fat but not water; hence the fallacy of victims of excessive jalapeno pepper attacks trying to ameliorate the pain with cold water.

P.S. Stuff in Ayurveda which has been scientifically validated now- Curcumin, colloidal Gold.