Splash Biography

Everyone knows that one of the best parts of chemistry is blowing things up. Come learn about the chemical structure and synthesis of explosive materials! Sadly, we can't blow anything up ourselves, but we can watch videos of it. Along the way, we'll learn about organic synthesis, how explosives are made; thermodynamics and characteristics of explosives, why things explode; and plenty of other awesome and explosive chemistry.

Anthrax is awesome and useful! Ok, so it might kill you, and one* anthrax toxin is enough to kill a cell, and each Bacillus anthracis bacteria produces a lot of toxin; but current research says that anthrax toxin** is potentially useful precisely because it kills cells --- especially cancer cells. We'll explore current research and how anthrax works, and it'll be really enjoyable. *One anthrax toxin? Anthrax toxin is actually composed of three individually non-toxic components that complex together in order to enter and kill cells. **And by useful, it turns out anthrax toxins or their derivatives may actually be useful cancer treatments one day --- it may actually, one day, be a good idea to get injected with a derivative of anthrax toxin in order to destroy a tumor. We'll learn all about anthrax's mode of entry into cells, how we can modify anthrax toxin to do more useful things than willy-nilly killing everything, and what interesting cancer-killing tests have been done. It'll be great!