Light and spectroscopy are among the most important and frequently taught topics in introductory college-level general education astronomy courses (hereafter Astro 101). This is due to the fact that the vast majority of observational data studied by astronomers arrives at Earth in the form of light. While there are many processes by which matter…

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is life's most amazing molecule. It carries the genetic instructions that almost every organism needs to develop and reproduce. In the human genome alone, there are some three billion DNA base pairs. The most difficult part of teaching DNA structure, however, may be getting students to visualize something as small as a…

The "Grand Challenges" for Engineering are an effort to portray engineering as a field that has profound impacts on society. This study explores the level of interest first-year engineering students had in various "Grand Challenges" and in nanotechnology topics. We administered a survey to a large sample of students enrolled in…

Habituation is a highly conserved phenomenon that remains poorly understood at the molecular level. Invertebrate model systems, like "Caenorhabditis elegans," can be a powerful tool for investigating this fundamental process. Here we established a high-throughput learning assay that used real-time computer vision software for behavioral…

Analyzing protein structure has become an integral aspect of understanding systems of biochemical import. The laboratory experiment endeavors to introduce protein folding to ascertain structures of proteins for which the structure is unavailable, as well as to critically evaluate the quality of the prediction obtained. The model system used is the…

We inserted a self-taught molecular modeling project into an otherwise conventional undergraduate chemical-reaction-engineering course. Our objectives were that students should (a) learn with minimal instructor intervention, (b) gain an appreciation for the relationship between molecular structure and, first, macroscopic state functions in…

This work describes a 10-week laboratory project studying wild-type and mutant bacterial alkaline phosphatase, in which students purify, quantitate, and perform kinetic assays on wild-type and selected mutants of the enzyme. Students also perform plasmid DNA purification, digestion, and gel analysis. In addition to simply learning important…

This article describes efforts aimed at improving comprehension and retention of complex molecular mechanisms commonly studied in undergraduate biology and biochemistry courses. The focus is on the design of appropriate assessments, an active classroom emphasizing formative practice, and more effective out-of-class study habits. Assessments that…

Exercise is a well-established tool to prevent and combat type 2 diabetes. Exercise improves whole body metabolic health in people with type 2 diabetes, and adaptations to skeletal muscle are essential for this improvement. An acute bout of exercise increases skeletal muscle glucose uptake, while chronic exercise training improves mitochondrial…

Connecting the behavior of invisible (to the naked eye) particles governed by the principles of quantum mechanics to the world we can see and touch requires a host of inferences, almost none of which can be extrapolated from experience. Molecular-level sensemaking thus relies upon intellectual resources that must be developed in large part by…

In recent years, nanomaterials have entered our daily lives via consumer products; thus, it has become increasingly important to implement activities to introduce these novel materials into chemistry curricula. Here we introduce a newly developed fluorescent nanomaterial, carbon dots, as a more environmentally friendly alternative to heavy-metal…

Qualitative questions are proposed to assess the understanding of solubility and some of its applications. To improve those results, a simple quantitative problem on the precipitation of proteins is proposed.

This analysis of Mexico's nanotechnology policies utilizes indicators developed by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, which in 2008 conducted a pilot survey comparing the nanotechnology policies of 24 countries. In this paper, we apply the same questionnaire to the Mexican case, adding business information derived from the…

In this reply to Elon Langbeheim's response to an article recently published in this journal, authors Smith and Villarreal identify several types of general chemistry students' misconceptions concerning the concept of particle position during physical change. They focus their response on one of the misconceptions identified as such: Given a solid…

FRET (Fo¨rster resonance energy transfer) involves the transfer of energy from an excited donor fluorophore to an acceptor molecule in a manner that is dependent on the distance between the two. A biochemistry laboratory experiment is described that teaches students how to use FRET to evaluate distance changes in biological molecules. Students…