Page 57 - Blog
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October 09, 2012
In 1935, Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger came up with one of the most famous thought experiments in history, Schrödinger's cat. The premise of the experiment has a cat in a box, with a capsule of poison gas connected to a Geiger counter. If a radioactive atom decays and triggers the counter the capsule opens and the cat will die. Quantum mechanics, which govern radioactive decay, state that the atom is in a superposition state of both not yet decayed and having decayed. The cat, by extension, is both dead and alive in the box, a seemingly paradoxical outcome. Quantum superposition is so sensitive to interaction with the environment that any attempt at observation ends the superposition and the cat becomes either dead or alive. Today, we are happy to offer our congratulations to Serge Haroche and David J. Wineland, who were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for independently devising ways to directly observe individual quantum particles in a superposition state without destroying
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October 08, 2012
Congratulations to Shinya Yamanaka and Sir John B. Gurdon for winning the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine! They kick-off this year's Nobel Prize season with their amazing discovery that mature, specialized cells can be reprogrammed to become immature stem cells. In 1962, John B. Gurdon replaced the nucleus of an egg cell of a frog with the nucleus of an intestinal cell. The modified egg cell developed into a normal tadpole, clearly demonstrating that the DNA of specialized cells still contain the information necessary to develop into tissue cell in the frog. More than 40 years later, Shinya Yamanaka introduced a few genes into the cells of mice and reprogrammed them to become pluripotent stem cells, which can develop into any type of cell in the body. The medical potential of their discoveries cannot be overstated. The ability to take tissue cells from an organism and then culture them into a different type of cell opens new avenues to treat diseases and injury that may be untreatable
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September 14, 2012
For the second year in a row, Sterlitech has made Inc. Magazine’s list of America’s fastest-growing companies! We would like to thank all of our customers, old and new, for supporting us and making our incredible growth possible. We’re proud to provide the highest quality products to R&D groups, universities, pharmaceutical labs, and environmental scientists. Keep your eyes on us because we plan to keep this hot streak going by adding new product lines, such as the Autofil™ Filtration System and the EZgrip™ Carboy. Of course, we’d also love to hear what you think we can do to make the list again next year, so leave a comment below. The complete list of Inc. Magazine’s 5000 fastest-growing companies can be found here.
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August 27, 2012
Bacteria is something of a dirty word. They’re everywhere, invisible and insidious, waiting for their chance to climb into your body and wreak havoc. But before you reach for your hand sanitizer and start counting your sick days, take a moment to consider the many uses that people have found for bacteria. Bacteria are essential in making yogurt and cheese, fixing nitrogen for our crops, and they help us digest our food. In the near future, Damian Palin would like to add mining the ocean to the list of things bacteria do for us. Damian Palin, a geomicrobiologist working in Singapore, has been developing bacteria strains that can be used to precipitate useful minerals out of the briny effluent produced by desalination plants. If he is successful, he would be killing two birds with one stone: useful minerals that would otherwise go to waste could be extracted, and the highly concentrated brine could be treated before it is pumped back into the ocean. Biomining is already used to extract gold,
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August 16, 2012
In space, no one can hear you pee… But you’ll be able to safely drink it down again after it’s gone through the International Space Station’s Water Recovery System. According to NASA, the Water Recovery System, carried to the ISS by the space shuttle Endeavour, can recycle up to 93% of the water fed into it and reduce overall water consumption aboard the space station by 65%. However, the Water Recovery System has been experiencing problems with calcium fouling, which led NASA to contact Saltworks Technologies of Vancouver, CA. Saltworks was contracted by NASA to build and deliver a pilot device that would test water recovery systems and may potentially be used aboard the ISS itself. If successful, the system will be the latest of Saltworks’ unique water treatment solutions. One such solution is the proprietary Thermo-Ionic process for desalination. This process can reduce energy costs by up to 80% in comparison to more traditional methods such as reverse osmosis. The Thermo-Ionic process
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July 31, 2012
Aquaporin A/S of Denmark, one of Sterlitech Corporation’s customers, has recently tested their Aquaporin Inside™ technology at the NASA Ames facility at Palo Alto, CA. Aquaporin and their new technology take their names from a type of protein found in the cell membranes of every living thing on the planet: aquaporins. Aquaporin (the company) hopes to use the selectivity of aquaporins (the protein) to create cost-effective and ecologically sustainable new membrane filters to revolutionize water purification and desalination.
The secret to the promise of Aquaporin Inside™ technology is the selectivity of the aquaporins themselves. Embedded throughout any cell membrane, aquaporins are a gateway through which water can pass into and out of a cell but ions and solutes cannot. Aquaporins will even exclude naturally occurring hydronium and hydroxide ions in water. If successful, Aquaporin’s new technology could set new standards in water purity. As our planet’s population booms, the demand
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July 23, 2012
The EZgrip™ Carboy is a pioneering fluid storage and transfer system now being offered Sterlitech Corporation as part our expanding line of Microbiology and Life Sciences equipment. The EZgrip™ Carboy features an ergonomic, space-efficient rectangular shape and a line of interchangeable caps and spigots that come together to make it ideally suited to handle any task in life science, bioprocess, and pharmaceutical manufacturing laboratories. The EZgrip™ and its dizzying array of accessories comprise the most versatile and usable fluid storage and transfer system available on the market today. To learn more about this product please, visit the EZgrip™ Carboy page.
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July 17, 2012
The Autofil™ Laboratory Filtration System is the latest entry in a long line of innovative filtration products from Sterlitech Corporation. Vacuum-operated and designed to eliminate spills and contamination, the Autofil™ System features an ergonomically designed bottle and a stable base that enables hands-free operation. This makes the system ideal for the preparation of buffer, tissue culture media, microbiological media and other biological fluids. The complete system consists of a disposable Autofil™ filter funnel, a disposable SECUREgrasp™ bottle, and the Quick-Connect™ Pedestal. The disposable components of the system are sold conveniently pre-sterilized. The filter funnel is also available as a stand-alone filter that is compatible with any 45 thread bottle. A surfactant-free, low-protein-binding polyethersulfone (PES) membrane is incorporated in the filter funnel and is available in both 0.22 ?m and 0.45 ?m pore sizes. To learn more about this product, visit the Autofil™ product
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July 10, 2012We’ve added a new section to our site which will carry all of our products that are tailored for Microbiology and Life Sciences. From the first microscopes designed in the 17th century to the powerful computer-driven machines of the 21st century, the exponential progress of these two fields has rested on the technology and equipment available to scientists. Sterlitech’s new line of microbiology and life Sciences products will continue the trend of innovation and provide scientists and researchers with the gear they need to keep breaking new ground. In the coming days we will be introducing new products into this section as well as moving some of our older offerings there as well. Be sure to continue to visit our site to see the updates.
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April 20, 2012When you flush the toilet do you ever think, “Man, all this good stuff is just going to waste?” Ok, probably not. But in the future your home or office may be partially heated by that human waste, thanks to geothermal sewage. What exactly is geothermal sewage, you cringe? It’s the process by which the heat from a wastewater line is repurposed to heat a nearby facility such as a hotel or apartment building. The heat transfer is accomplished by filtering solids from the wastewater and passes through a heat pump before reaching the building. In China geothermal sewage has already been installed in a few buildings, including the Beijing Train Station. Now a wastewater treatment facility in Philadelphia is beginning the first US trial with this technology. It is a company in Philadelphia, NovaThermal Energy, that is making geothermal sewage possible by developing a proprietary filter material that can efficiently remove waste without requiring pretreatment. Currently the technology requires
