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IOCB is 50% funded by $90 million/year in royalties from 15 innovative drugs that it has licensed, including : Antivirotics: Duviragel™, cidofovir (Vistide™), adefovir (Hepsera™), tenofovir (Viread™, Truvada™, Atripla™, Striblid™, Complera™); Peptides: Oxytocin™, Adiuretin™, Terlipressin™; Natural Substances: Dermazulen, Lafarex®.” (IOCB = Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry). https://lnkd.in/d85eSEg View in LinkedIn

CLEAR RESULT. “Our results show that humans perceive D2O as being clearly distinguishable from H2O based on its taste: In open nose taste test 22 out of 28 participants identified the odd sample correctly (p = 0.001), and in taste only test 14 out of 26 identified the odd sample correctly (p = 0.03). However, in smell-only triangle test, only 9 out of 25 panelists chose the odd sample correctly (p > 0.05). Data are summarized in Figure S3 in SI.” https://lnkd.in/dzPDm5w View in LinkedIn

FRAGMENT FROM NATURE for this and next weekend is a paper entitled Sweet taste of heavy water, by lead author Natalie Ben Abu, from the laboratory of Pavel Jungwirth, at the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry (IOCB), Czech Academy of Sciences, in Prague. The IOCB is one of the 54 institutes in The Czech Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, the institution which primary mission is to conduct basic research in a broad spectrum of the natural, technical and social sciences and the humanities. https://lnkd.in/d85eSEg View in LinkedIn

HUMAN TRIAL. “A human sensory panel was employed to study the D2O taste. Triangle tests based on two samples of H2O and one sample of D2O (or vice versa), with random success rate of one-third, were presented to the panelists in a randomized order. Panelists were asked to pick the odd sample out—to smell only, to taste only (with a nose clips), or to taste with open nose.” https://lnkd.in/dzPDm5w View in LinkedIn

The invisible grid. View in LinkedIn

RECEPTOR EFFECT. “This combined approach consistently leads to the conclusion that the sweet taste of pure D2O is a real effect for human subjects due to activation of the TAS1R2/TAS1R3 sweet taste receptor. While present simulations show, in accord with previous experiments, that proteins are systematically slightly more rigid and compact in D2O than in H2O, the specific molecular mechanism of the heavy water effect on the TAS1R2/TAS1R3 receptor remains to be established.” https://lnkd.in/dzPDm5w View in LinkedIn

SCIENCE HATES CHANGE. “After considerable reluctance, the mathematical community were persuaded to accept non-Euclidean geometry as a branch of geometry, but it was considered to be merely of academic interest since the geometry of the physical world was Euclidean.” https://lnkd.in/dSq_i3g View in LinkedIn

This image is an expression of trust. Here in the old part of Girona, the owner has left his brolly outside on a busy street. View in LinkedIn

THE SUBJUNCTIVE TENSE. “I believe that "almost" situations and unconsciously manufactured subjunctives represent some of the richest potential sources of insight into how human beings organize and categorize their perceptions of the world.” (Gödel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter). https://lnkd.in/dmfn9qW View in LinkedIn