• Question: Have you worked with any biochemicals? asks Harvey

    Asked by 333cmte42 to Cat?, Elaine, Helena, Iain, Gabriel on 16 Mar 2016.
    • Photo: Helena Quilter

      Helena Quilter answered on 16 Mar 2016:

      Hi Harvey!

      I have! Lots of the chemicals I’m using come from plants so we call them biochemicals. I use chemicals called limonene and pinene that come from oranges and pine trees! I’m using them to make new plastics which I should probably call bioplastics!

      Most of the chemicals we use are from fossil fuels so they’re not very good for the planet. If we use chemicals from biomass like trees that would be much better!

      There are lots of things we can make from plants! Have you heard of ethanol? You might have heard of it called alcohol. We can make ethanol from plant waste – like the tough bits in the middle of sweetcorn that we can’t eat. Some countries like Brazil use ethanol from corn to fuel their cars! ??????

    • Photo: Olusegun Gabriel Fawole

      Olusegun Gabriel Fawole answered on 16 Mar 2016:

      Definitely No. I don’t use chemicals in my work.

    • Photo: Iain McLellan

      Iain McLellan answered on 17 Mar 2016:

      Hi Harvey,

      I don’t work with biochemicals.

    • Photo: Cat Scott ?

      Cat Scott ? answered on 18 Mar 2016:

      Hey Harvey,

      Yes I used to work with biochemicals. I did a student project where I was analysing the proteins that make up a little parasite (a bit like a tiny worm). The parasite was very important because it caused a horrible disease called African Sleeping Sickness. We were trying to work out which proteins the parasites were made of so that we might be able to stop them moving around so much and spreading the disease.

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