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Vanity, vitality, and virility : the science behind the products you love to buy /

The science behind alpha-hydroxy acids, chlorine bleach, and other chemicals that people use every day is explored in a fascinating study that examines, through amusing anecdotes and odd facts, if and how they work. What is the secret of shower cleaners? How does the dangerous explosive nitroglyceri...

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Bibliographic Details
Call Number:Libro Electrónico
Main Author: Emsley, John
Format: Electronic eBook
Language:Inglés
Published: Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2004.
Subjects:
Online Access:Texto completo
Table of Contents:
  • 1. Vanity : no more wrinkles!
  • Lipstick
  • Anti-aging creams : alpha-hydroxy acids (AHAs)
  • Silky smooth skin : boron nitride
  • Sunblocks, sunscreens, and instant tans
  • Liposomes
  • 2. Vitality : food for thought
  • Clarifying the fats
  • Trans fatty acids
  • Conjugated fatty acids
  • Vitamin C
  • The nitrate enigma
  • 3. Virility, sterility, and Viagra
  • Nitric oxide (NO)
  • Raising the dead : Viagra
  • Love potions and poppers
  • An element of sex : selenium
  • Diamonds are a girl's best friend
  • 4. Germs warfare
  • Killing germs
  • Hypochlorite
  • Phenols and chloro-phenols
  • Quaternary ammonium salts, 'quats'
  • Hydrogen peroxide
  • Ozone
  • Shower cleaners
  • 5. It's all in the mind
  • Depression and antidepressants
  • Prozac
  • A little light-headed : lithium therapy
  • Alzheimer's disease and aluminum
  • Treatments for Alzheimer's disease (AD)
  • 6. Polymers in disguise
  • Disposable unmentionables and superabsorbent polymers (SAPs)
  • Chewing gum : polymeric hydrocarbons : 1
  • Whispering roads : polymeric hydrocarbons : 2
  • Polycarbonate
  • Postscript : chemiphobia, its causes and cure
  • Glossary.