Anyone whos been on their fair share of dates will know the feeling: youre getting along really well, theyre making you laugh, you can see theyre attractive. On paper, this should be a perfect match but theres just something missing. Some people call it chemistry, others love at first sight; Carrie Bradshaw memorably termed it the zsa zsa zsu. Were all conditioned to believe in that indefinable spark, which can be the make-or-break element of a successful relationship. But how important is that initial pull of cant-resist-you attraction?

Specific chemicals in the brain, like dopamine and vasopressin, create lust and make us focus on that one person: they make us crave them, almost obsess about them, says relationship psychologist

Andie and Ben fall in love in How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days, despite Andie doing her best to achieve the opposite

But for those worried that a partnership might be dead in the water if those first-date butterflies aren't there, theres good news: theres a big step between lust and love, and some of the most successful relationships do develop over time. The classic trope of friends to more-than-friends is more than just a storyline used in romantic comedies like When Harry Met Sally; in fact, friendship has been proven as one of the best foundations on which to build a relationship, and more than two-thirds of British couples start out as friends first. In these cases, attraction develops from forming an emotional bond first, says Gottlieb. This is crucial for relationship longevity.

Initial attraction is intoxicating, as well socially highly valued in a society that still promotes romantic ideals such as The One. However, real relationships are much more about communication and commitment than they are fireworks in the early days, says Gottlieb. Attraction is built from compatibility, and compatibility can be created, she explains. For example, even if partners dont have the same hobbies or interests, they can still bond over different interests by allowing each other to talk about their passions and by asking questions. Films like How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days and the newly released Anyone But You, starring Sydney Sweeney, are testament to how spending quality time with someone can make attraction blossom out of less than nothing as the old adage goes, theres a thin line between love and hate.

This knowledge that good relationships dont always come naturally isnt just helpful for single people on the lookout for love. Its also very important for couples who lose their initial spark, says Gottlieb. Couples need to prioritise alone time and schedule date nights, like they did at the beginning. A lot of attraction in dating is the result of novelty, and merely being intimate with a new person. There are many opportunities to create novelty in a long-term relationship, like going to new places together, trying a different hobby, or being more romantic with each other.

So the next time youre tempted to call it quits after a few dates, or even end a longer relationship that seems to have lost its excitement, remember that much of romantic love is, well, romanticised. Attraction on its own cant guarantee long-term relationship success, warns Gottlieb, so dont overrate passion at the expense of reliability, stability and genuine affection. Its about committing to that person, prioritising the relationship, and a willingness to put in the continued effort. While theres nothing quite like that first dopamine hit, real love is about celebrating what comes next in all its forms.

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How important is relationship chemistry? | dating advice - Harper's Bazaar UK

Researchers at NIST studied the emission of VOCs from live Christmas trees and their interaction with ozone. They found that monoterpenes are the primary VOCs emitted, which decrease over time and react with ozone to form low levels of formaldehyde. The study concludes that Christmas trees have a minimal impact on indoor air quality for most people. Credit: SciTechDaily.com

Every holiday season, Americans buy nearly 30 million live Christmas trees. Many families enjoy not only having a live tree inside their homes but also smelling the fresh fragrance it creates. That smell comes from chemicals called volatile organic compounds (VOCs). However, little is known about how much is emitted and whether they have any health impacts.

Our nose is a good chemical sensor, said Dustin Poppendieck, an environmental engineer at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). We know that these trees are emitting something, and the question then becomes: How big of a source is it? We wanted to explore which chemicals are emitted and how much, and to put that into the context of other sources of chemicals in a house, he said.

To answer these questions, Poppendieck and his NIST colleagues took a common type of Christmas tree a Douglas fir and sealed it inside a chamber. They then measured the amount and type of VOCs it emitted over 17 days. They also investigated whether the VOCs reacted with other components of indoor air to create new compounds.

The teams findings have been published in the journal Indoor Environments.

NIST researchers placed a common type of Christmas tree in a sealed chamber for 17 days to monitor and measure the chemicals it emits. These chemicals, called volatile organic compounds (VOCs), give that pine smell and can react with ozone to form byproducts. The researchers found low amounts of these chemicals, which may be a potential concern for people who are sensitive to them. Credit: M. King/NIST

The fresh smell that is commonly associated with Christmas trees comes from a group of VOCs called monoterpenes, which are also found in air fresheners, candles and some personal care products. In the outdoors, conifers, the group of plants that includes most Christmas trees, release monoterpenes, and they can affect outdoor air quality. But little is known about how much monoterpene is released when a tree is cut down and placed indoors.

Studies also show monoterpenes can react with ozone. Ozone in the upper atmosphere serves as a protective barrier against the Sun. At ground level, ozone is created through chemical reactions with light and can cause symptoms such as coughing and throat irritation. Ozone also reacts readily with other chemicals in the air to form new compounds. So, the researchers were interested in seeing the effects of ozone in the presence of an indoor tree.

They placed it inside an environmentally controlled chamber, where they could measure the chemicals emitted from the tree in real time. Using a technique that can detect airborne organic compounds, known as proton-transfer reaction mass spectrometry (PTR-MS), they measured the VOCs emitted over a 17-day period.

In their experiment, the researchers simulated a home environment. They decorated the tree in a typical holiday lighting setup and shone bright lights on it to mimic the day-night cycle. They turned off the lights every 12 hours and watered the tree every day. They brought in outside air at a rate typical for households, and constantly measured chemicals in the indoor air.

Monoterpenes were the most abundant VOC emitted from the tree. They peaked during the first day before diminishing significantly by the third day. Their concentration was initially at the same level of a plug-in air freshener or newly constructed house before it quickly dropped by nearly 10 times its original amount, said Poppendieck. The researchers detected 52 distinct types of monoterpenes.

Researchers then injected ozone into the chamber to see how it affected indoor air chemistry. They found that ozone reacted with the monoterpenes, forming byproducts such as formaldehyde, another type of VOC, as well as other reactive chemicals. The monoterpene concentration diminished even more with the introduction of ozone, while formaldehyde levels rose, which showed an impact on indoor air chemistry. However, the amount of formaldehyde created was relatively small at around 1 part per billion. Typical U.S. houses have formaldehyde concentrations ranging from 20 to 30 parts per billion.

For people who are sensitive to VOCs, Christmas trees could be one possible cause for watery eyes and noses, especially when initially brought indoors. In that case, Poppendieck suggests, opening a window near the tree will reduce exposure. In addition, newly cut trees can be left outdoors or in a garage for three days before bringing them into the home as the emission strength naturally decays over time.

But for most people, Poppendieck said, this shouldnt be a major concern. Im still going to have a Christmas tree in my house.

Reference: Jingle bells, what are those smells? Indoor VOC emissions from a live Christmas tree by Dustin Poppendieck, Rileigh Robertson and Michael F. Link, 22 December 2023, Indoor Environments. DOI: 10.1016/j.indenv.2023.100002

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Tom Hanks is opening up about working with Meg Ryan!

The 67-year-old actor and the 62-year-old actress worked together on multiple projects, which includes Youve Got Mail, Sleepless in Seattle, Ithaca, Joe Versus the Volcano and Everything Is Copy.

For Youve Got Mails recent 25 year anniversary on December 18th, an old interview resurfaced where the actor talked about the chemistry between him and his co-star.

Keep reading to find out more

Its just a natural thing, he told ET. Its like, why are we friends with the people that were friends with?

I must say, Meg and I are not real close pals, he shared at the time. We see each other every now and again. Its like, we dont hang out for coffee. But when we pick up, we just pick up where we left off and its an effortless thing that I dont think either one of us examines it too much because if we did, itd be a problem.

We dont plan. We just do it, he added.

If you missed it, Tom recently revealed what he would do if he went to outer space.

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Tom Hanks Talks Meg Ryan Chemistry, Reveals Why They Worked So Well Together - Just Jared

Published 8:25 pm Tuesday, December 26, 2023

Back before the season began, Will Wade said it would take time for this group of Cowboys to come together.

I think we will be a work in progress, was Wade. We will be a much better basketball team at the end of February than we are right now.

The first-year McNeese State head coach may have been sandbagging, or he may just have been telling the truth.

It doesnt matter now, for the fact is McNeese is off to a surprisingly strong 10-2 start as they get ready for their biggest test of the season, a trip to Michigan on Friday.

The Cowboys will take on the 6-6 Wolverines from the Big Ten as their last pre-conference game. It will also close out the 2023 portion of their schedule.

At first glance at the Cowboy schedule an 8-5 start would have been impressive, now it seems silly to even think that. McNeese has won five in a row and is 7-0 at home.

The Pokes are also 6-2 against other Mid-Majors, with wins on the road over Alabama-Birmingham and Virginia Commonwealth.

Their last two victories have come over the best from last years Sun Belt Conference, as they beat defending regular-season champ Southern Miss and then tournament winner Louisiana-Lafayette.

While unexpected to most, the Cowboys themselves are not surprised.

I think we should be 12-0, said center Antavion Collum.

When asked why these Cowboys are so good so fast Collum answered, We like playing together.

To a man, each player talks first about chemistry, which is a big surprise when you consider very few of them ever met before last summer let alone play together.

We all are here for a reason, said guard Shahada Wells. Coach Wade brought us together with the vision of doing something special this season. We are all here to win.

Not all of the bonding came on the court, in fact early in the process little did. It was more about getting to know each other as people and sharing their journeys to McNeese as much as anything.

We spent a lot of time doing things off the court together, said forward Christian Shumate. Coaches put us in a lot of tough spots and we went through them together.

Learning through adversity has been a key. So when they fell down to ULL by 13 with 11 minutes left and two starters were ejected there was no panic.

We just came together at that point, said Wells. We believe in each other. We knew we could get it done.

They also believe in each other, especially when it comes to scoring. When DJ Richards came off the bench to score a career-high 24 points against Southern Miss he quickly gave credit to the other Cowboys.

They got me the ball in good spots, said Richards. It was just my night. We have a lot of guys who can score, its just whose night it is.

And it is not just one offense that McNeese is connected either. The Pokes entered this week ranked third in the nation in team defense, allowing just 57.8 points a game.

That puts them in the company of some big programs like Houston, which is first, Virginia (2nd), and Iowa State (4th). Michigan, which averages 83.8 a game, good for 31st in the nation, will test that.

The Cowboys say they will be ready.

It will be a big challenge for us and we are looking forward to it, said Collum.

So are McNeese fans who want to see just how far chemistry can take this club.

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Cowboy chemistry working on court - American Press | American Press - American Press

Dubbed Coscientist, the system uses the language model behind the chatbot ChatGPT. With a prompt such as perform multiple Suzuki reactions, the AI browses the internet to learn about the reactions, scours relevant literature and hardware documentation for information, and in minutes, outlines the procedures necessary to perform these reactions. It then writes a code, which a robot uses to run the experiment.

We are converting bits to atoms, says Gabe Gomes, a chemist and chemical engineer at Carnegie Mellon University, in a press briefing. Taking a natural language prompt, the bits, and converting it into an actual chemical reaction.

Coscientist could successfully perform the complex Nobel Prize-winning palladium-catalyzed cross coupling reaction named after Akira Suzuki with a 50% yield the very first time. It could also accurately plan procedures to synthesize common pharmaceutical compounds such as aspirin and ibuprofen. Gomes says he and his team are fully aware of the potential illicit use of Coscientist and are collaborating with other researchers and policymakers to prevent such misuse.

Tiago Rodrigues, a medicinal chemist at the University of Lisbon, says that Coscientist fills the important gap of communication necessary to meet the long-standing goal of self-driving labs. AI chemists such as Coscientist and ChemCrow, which was recently developed by another research team, could enable the full automation of the design-make-test cycle, he says. This can have tremendous impact in terms of productivity since researchers can dedicate their time to other tasks..

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AI chemist performs complex experiments based on plain text prompts - Chemical & Engineering News

The autonomous chemical system Coscientist uses an LLM to run robotic laboratory equipment.Credit: Carnegie Mellon University

Chemists have used ChatGPT to design and conduct complex chemical reactions using a robotic laboratory set-up.

The system, called Coscientist, can design, code and carry out several reactions making compounds including paracetamol and aspirin in the wet lab using its robot apparatus. The approach was described in Nature1 on 20 December.

The moment I saw a non-organic intelligence be able to autonomously plan, design and execute a chemical reaction that was invented by humans, that was amazing, says chemist Gabe Gomes at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, who led the research. It was a holy crap moment.

Fast-paced improvements in artificial intelligence (AI) have seen applications for these tools proliferate throughout science. But for researchers working at the bench or those who arent versed in computer code, AI approaches arent as accessible or so thought Gomes.

When the latest version of the large language model (LLM) behind ChatGPT, called GPT-4, was unveiled in March, Gomes and his team set about making it work for chemists.

The result, Coscientist1, uses the latest powerful LLMs, including GPT-4, to scour the chemical literature and design a reaction pathway to make a molecule when prompted by a human. The LLM reads through instruction manuals on the Internet and decides on the best kit and reagents in its arsenal to make the molecule in real life.

The AI also uses the LLM Claude, developed by the AI firm Anthropic in San Francisco, California, and one called Falcon-40B-Instruct built by the Technology Innovation Institute in Abu Dhabi.

The team prompted the system to plan a synthesis for several known molecules, including the painkillers paracetamol and aspirin, and the organic molecules nitroaniline and phenolphthalein. In the planning stage, Coscientist was able to work out the steps that would give the best reaction yields overall. It made the molecules correctly.

This is a great demonstration of how the literature can be explored using LLMs to help come up with ideas of feasible chemical reactions, says Lee Cronin, a chemist at the University of Glasgow, UK.

The team also tried a more complicated experiment asking Coscientist to execute a reaction called SuzukiMiyaura coupling, which forms carboncarbon bonds and is important in drug discovery. The system aced this test, too.

The group is one of many working on LLM-driven chemistry robots. One such robot, called ChemCrow, was developed at around the same time as Coscientist and can plan and make a range of molecules, including the insecticide DEET2. (Chemist Andrew White at the University of Rochester in New York, who led the team that developed ChemCrow, declined Natures request for comment.)

Tools such as Coscientist are likely to become more commonly used, says Tiago Rodrigues, a pharmaceutical chemist at the University of Lisbon. I can really see a future where automation hardware comes equipped with these AI assistants. Self-driving labs are the future, and AI tools are needed to fully automate the design-make-test cycle, he says.

Routine tasks can now be done by these systems, but Rodrigues adds that most research questions, especially in drug discovery, are still out of reach. Its not just a good understanding of chemistry that is needed, but also biology.

Coscientist can do most of the things that really well-trained chemists can do. And I think about that a lot, says Gomes. His team hasnt made the full code behind its invention freely available, and Gomes says that it is important to think carefully about how and where technologies such as Coscientist and ChemCrow are used, because some applications are likely to be dangerous.

Im not interested in the idea of replacing people and their livelihoods, and their spark and their innovation and their drive, Gomes says.

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This GPT-powered robot chemist designs reactions and makes drugs on its own - Nature.com

Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan are two actors who, perhaps, have one of the best on-screen chemistry. This aspect of their films has become so distinct that they have worked together a few times. They first starred in the 1990 film, Joe Versus the Volcano,which, though was a flop, audiences could not deny the dynamic these two shared. Following close was 1993s Sleepless in Seattle,which many think of as one of the most beautiful romance films of all time. Finally, the two starred in the 1998 film, Youve Got Mail, which has certainly become one of their most iconic projects of all time.

The authenticity of their relationship with each other in front of a camera has many questioning how exactly they are able to achieve this. During an interview, Hanks revealed how their on-screen chemistry differs from their real life, putting forth an answer to this age-old question.

Also Read: Tom Hanks Was Exhausted After He Was Given an Impossible Job in One of the Best Christmas Movies Ever: The Polar Express

During the Youve Got Mail, Tom Hanks gave a press convince, which has resurfaced thanks to Entertainment Tonight. Here, the actor revealed the true nature of his relationship with Meg Ryan and how the two are with each other when the cameras are turned off. He confessed that they are not as close as many would think. While the statement certainly does not mean that they are unable to tolerate the other, it seems that the two are simply surface-level friends.

Its just a natural thing.he added,I must say,Meg and I are not real close pals, he shockingly remarked. We see each other every now and again. Its like, we dont hang out for coffee.

He elaborated, adding that their dynamic is simply a natural thing and is not a reflection of their real-world connection. He mentioned that, though they do see each other now and then, they are not close enough to hang out with each other at restaurants or have coffee together.

Also Read: You guys are the wrong gender to understand: Tom Hanks Went Off the Rails in One Meg Ryan Movie That Made Him ExtremelyCranky

The closeness, or the lack thereof, of Tom Hanks and Meg Ryans relationship, has seemed to have absolutely no impact on their rapport when they are working on films together. Hanks mentioned exactly this during this interview, adding that though they do not necessarily interact outside of work when they do meet after a long time, they are the same as each other, not having awkwardness weighing down their exchanges.

But when we pick up, we just pick up where we left off and its an effortless thing that I dont think either one of us examines it too much because if we did, itd be a problem. We dont plan. We just do it,

Hanks added that he finds their dynamic to be effortless, one where neither has to think too much about what the other thinks of them and they simply co-exist and enjoy each others company. Knowing this information certainly adds another layer of complexity to the films that feature Hanks and Ryan.

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We don't hang out for coffee: Tom Hanks Made a Startling Revelation About Meg Ryan That Makes Their Chemistry ... - FandomWire

The most compelling reason to sit through all 104 minutes of Anyone But You is closure. Im not referring to finishing the uneven movie, but the opportunity to finally witness the are they or arent they? chemistry between the movies extremely good-looking blonde leads Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney.

During filming earlier this year, Powell and Sweeney (a pairing I had affectionately dubbed Poweeney) seemed closer than typical co-stars. They posted each other on Instagram. In those posts, they smiled at each other in a way that one does not usually smile at coworkers (genuine, earnest, happy). They had nicknames for each other. They hugged and went to zoos, where they may have hugged some more. After the internet took notice, Powell and his girlfriend at the time, Gigi Paris, broke up.

Powell and Sweeneys off-screen relationship sparked the fantasy that something romantic happened while shooting Anyone But You; that two actors who spent an entire movie acting like they were in love actually fell in love. Was there something in the script? Was it shooting in beautiful Australia for weeks at a time? Could it all be real?

When the trailer for Anyone But You came out this excitement cooled some. But now, with the films release, the final piece of the puzzle is here. Each scene becomes an opportunity to search for hints of that off-screen chemistry, a flicker that these two did in fact like-like each other. Every touch, every gaze, every interaction could be something more than acting. By the end, I found myself believing more in the myth of Poweeney than in the film itself.

The movie is bad, but the chemistry: Its good.

For whatever reason, Anyone But You begins its story in the allegedly romantic city of Boston where two extremely attractive people resting bedroom eyes Bea (Sweeney) and bright-in-the-irises Ben (Powell) meet in a coffee shop in a way clumsy enough to endear them to each other, and, hopefully, the audience to both. She desperately needs to pee and will explode if she has to wait in line, attempting to throw Massachusetts state bathroom law at the barista. Hes at the front of the queue and throws her a lifesaver by pretending shes his wife. Shes grateful. Hes charmed. He smiles. Shes charmed.

Are you going to ask me out now? Bea asks, her face softening into a hopeful pout. Powells Ben, equipped with a face full of pleasing angles from nose to chin, grins and theyre off.

What we dont quite know yet is that the characters names, convoluted plot, and the series of misunderstandings and misinterpretations to come are all nods to Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeares comedy about the mess of courtship and feeble human feelings. But the movie starts this wacky homage at a slow boil, and never fully commits. Going full Shakespeare would set an impossibly high bar and there wouldnt be a lot of logic in shoving a suspected-female-impurity plotline into a movie that revolves around a lesbian wedding.

Instead, Anyone But You aims for something halfway between adaptation and reference. Halfway between rom-com and raunch comedy, the film never really figures out its tone. After that meet cute, Bea and Ben spend the day together, which turns into night, eventually falling asleep in each others arms. They also dont have sex which, in rom-com lore, signifies that this connection is something deeper than physical. Also, I guess, that Bostonian love is sometimes chaste and beautiful.

The main actors are a winning combination but something is off. Bea is a hopeless romantic, someone who says shes been thinking about marriage since she was a little kid, back when she was making wedding dresses out of toilet paper. Sweeney made a name for herself playing icier, meaner characters, i.e., Cassie in Euphoria and the ultra-cynical Olivia Mossbacher in White Lotus. Here, her delivery a bit of a mumble, a blush of uptalk hasnt changed from her previous roles, so it feels like shes playing it all with a bit of a wink. Shes impossible to look away from on-screen a star but shes not quite believable as a naive rom-com hero.

Powell, however, is solidly in his wheelhouse as a smarmy finance bro. Ben feels like a continuation of Powells turn as Hangman in Top Gun: Maverick, where the actor cocked his head and smirked off with the whole movie. He knows how to hit just the right amount of wryness; how to push back against his (impressive) physicality to make the character just likable enough that you hate yourself for doing so. The movies best jokes are ones Powell makes at his own expense, like almost drowning because hes hot girl fit and only ever worked vanity muscles.

For no discernible reason, Bea sneaks out the morning after not even taking down Bens number. Upon finding out that he was ditched, Ben says some nasty things about Bea to his friend Pete (GaTa), which she inexplicably overhears. Everyone in this movie has an acute sense of hearing and an uncanny sense of timing.

After this misunderstanding, Bea and Bens hurt escalates into extreme dislike. Flash-forward six months, and they are forced together at a bar. Her sister is dating Petes sister, who is also Bens lifelong friend. Bea calls Ben a fuckboy, and he tells her she has abandonment issues. She says hes a loser finance bro, and he calls her a bitch. While the two could coexist and dislike each other from a distance Boston is ostensibly a city full of people who loathe each other their paths become intertwined when the women get engaged, include Bea and Ben in the wedding party, and have their nuptials in Australia. Its there that the side characters reveal themselves to be full of Bard-inflected frivolity and scheming. And its there, as the movies copious marketing materials have relentlessly reminded us all, the two must pretend to like each other and, perhaps, end up somewhere more than just pretending.

With such a flimsy script, Powell and Sweeneys chemistry has to do the heavy lifting. And often, it does! Whatever it is that they have acting skill, a secret relationship, a shared language based on being the absolute pinnacle of ACC school hot, etc. its so strong that it doesnt matter that their characters often dont sound or act like humans (Permission to put my left hand on your right buttock, Powell says to Sweeney at one not-so-memorable point).

This works even when it really shouldnt. At one point, Ben fries a grilled cheese for Bea, and she bites into it too quickly. Instead of handing her a glass of water or a paper towel to spit it out, Ben lowers his chin and blows into her mouth. Is it still hot? he asks. This is, objectively, not how to cool down a mouth. But Powell and Sweeney fully create the illusion that breathing into a mouth full of blisteringly hot cheese and butter is an intoxicant we all must try.

The possibility of Poweeney eclipses Ben and Bea as they teeter-totter on a sailboat, talking about how everyone wants to get them together. If only the story was suited to both stars strengths. If they were to do another movie together, a do-over, they wouldnt be the first: Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan first paired up in the often-ignored Joe Versus the Volcano before Sleepless in Seattle and Youve Got Mail; Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell connected on the set of the forgettable Swing Shift before co-starring in Overboard (and life). Theres at least one good rom-com in both of them.

At the heart of it, the prospect of Powell and Sweeney falling for each other or at least a Powell type and an actual Sweeney type remains far more compelling and convincing than the story thats been constructed
for Anyone But You. Of course its not just possible or even probable, but nearly certain that all this chemistry is just good acting, coupled with a savvy marketing and social media campaign.

Whatever it is here that works, it surely wasnt anything in the script.

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Around 2,600 years ago, a small ceramic bowl sat in a subterranean workshop. Carrying hints of cedar and honey, the bowl was used by Egyptian embalmers to blend essential oils and beeswax for the multimonth process that transformed corpses into mummies.

Reciting incantations, removing organs, andapplying substances that made bodies dry, fragrant, and microbe-free, the embalmers employed a multifacetedset of skills.

They knew the ritual practices, but also [a] kind of chemistry, says Maxime Rageot, abiomolecular archaeologist at the University of Tbingen in Germany.

Over the past four years, Rageot and colleagues have gained unprecedented insights into the substances and steps involved inancient Egyptian mummy-making. Their analysis of molecules trapped in pottery, aspublished in a Nature paper from February 2023, revealedthat embalmers sourced ingredients from surprisingly far-flung lands for their specific biomolecular properties.

The Egyptians perfected the practice of mummification over the course of several thousand years, transforming the natural desiccation of bodies into a sophisticated ritual and chemical process between the fifth and first millenniums B.C.E. During the time of the pharaohs, professionals spent up to 70days transforming a tender corpse into a linen-wrapped, afterlife-ready mummy treating it with spells and prayers, as well as substances that mitigated moisture, bacteria, fungi, and stink.

But scholars have long debated how to translate the ingredients named in ancient inscriptions and papyri, meaning that much of the mummy recipe has remained a mystery. And whilesome ingredients have been identified from the molecular analyses of mummies from museums around the world, these methods cannot reveal how specific substances figured into the mummification process whether they were applied to the bandages or the head, for instance, for the purpose of preserving tissues or fending off bacteria.

The possibility of linking substances and steps arrived in 2018, when the late archaeologist Ramadan Hussein invited Rageot to join his excavations at Saqqara, an ancient city about 12 miles south of Cairo. There, Husseins team had uncovered an ancient facility for treating and storing corpses, dated to around 664 to 525 B.C.E. Featuring a workshop more than 40 feet underground, the facility held over 100pottery vessels bearing instructions like to make the odor pleasant, for making beautiful the skin, and head, boil.

Selecting 31 of these pots for closer analysis, Rageot set out to identify their long-lost contents. But because Egypt lacked a specialized laboratory for this kind of work, he and his team brought the pots to a local food chemistry lab, which they converted into one of the countrys only facilities for analyzing ancient biomolecules. Drilling pinches of clay powder from the pots interiors and analyzing the powder in the labs mass spectrometer, they determined which ancient molecules had seeped into the potterys pores.

The successful analyses of the pots revealed embalmers used diverse and exotic materials that could curb moisture, smells, and mummy-munching organisms: Bitumen tar probably from the Dead Sea; pistachio, juniper, and olive oils from the Mediterranean; and tree resins from the tropical forests of Asia and possibly sub-Saharan Africa. To source these items, the embalmers relied on trade that spanned much of their known world.

The diversity of bioproducts which were used, Rageot says, was really impressive.

Now that the Egyptian lab exists, the researchers plan to analyze mummy-making ingredients from more sites. Their hope is to trace how mummification transformed across time and space, applying modern chemical methods to unravel their ancient counterparts.

This story was originally published in our January February 2024 issue.Click hereto subscribe to read more stories like this one.

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Ancient Mummy-Making Techniques Are Finally Unwrapped - DISCOVER Magazine

MORGANTOWN It is one of the few things in this world you can run out of without having it to begin with.

Time.

It is no longer on the side of the WVU mens basketball team and its head coach Josh Eilert, yet its the one thing the Mountaineers need the most.

WVU STATS

Were trying to figure out our new identity offensively, Eilert said. Itll come with some time. Not that its an excuse, but thats where were at right now. Figure out that identity and that chemistry that is going to make us good in the end.

The revolving door has never stopped for WVU (4-7), which hosts Toledo (6-5) at 1 p.m. Saturday inside the Coliseum.

When its all said and done, WVU may wind up with four or five all-Big 12-type players in its lineup.

The kicker is none of them Quinn Slazinski, Noah Farrakhan, Kerr Kriisa, RaeQuan Battle or Jesse Edwards all played together in so much as one game.

That may not change until late January or early February, as Edwards recovers from surgery on his right wrist.

And while Edwards established himself as the teams go-to guy over the first two months of the season, he did so without Battle and Kriisa in the lineup.

Both guards will play today. Battle will be coming off his 29-point debut against Radford, held the same day Edwards was being operated on.

Kriisa scored 20 points in his season debut, but then struggled to score a game later when Battle made his debut.

Its going to click soon, Battle said. All it takes is a little bit of time and chemistry and trust with each other. Its going to jell pretty soon.

How soon is the question?

Normally, it doesnt take a long time, Battle continued. You just have to buy into what the coaches are telling you. If youre paying attention in practice and get your reps in like you should, it should be second nature.

The flip side to the coin is Eilert just isnt working in three new guys four if you count forward Akok Akok, who missed seven games this season with a medical condition.

Hes also got players like Josiah Harris, Kobe Johnson and Seth Wilson, who were playing more than 30 minutes a game to start the season, but now find themselves with different roles.

Getting some other guys some minutes that have to step up to help us is certainly a challenge, especially with the short time frame, Eilert said. Ive said it over and over Im a planning guy. I try to be organized and plan things, but every time I have a plan, a wrench gets thrown in it.

WVU was ranked No. 200 in the NCAA NET rankings Friday, the lowest of any Big 12 school.

Getting that turned around would be enough of a chore for any coach, let alone one like Eilert, who has yet to have a full deck of cards at his disposal.

Its been change after change, and like I said, theres been a lot of wrenches thrown into the process, Eilert said. Im growing as a coach and as a person. Im going to continue to fight like hell every day for our guys to make sure they are competing and playing the right way.

I think we can get some of this chemistry built. We need some consistency out on the floor. Were not there yet.

TOLEDO at WVU

WHEN: 1 p.m. Saturday WHERE: WVU Coliseum TV: ESPN+ (Online subscription needed) RADIO: 100.9 JACK-FM WEB: dominionpost.com

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WVU hosts Toledo with hopes it can solidify some chemistry in a hurry - The Dominion Post

Ask rival coaches in the Pac-12 about Washington, and almost all come back to the same larger point about this Huskies team: They just know how to win.

That seems like it would be an obvious point, considering two of the four teams in the College Football Playoff are undefeated and the other two are 12-1. But this vibe goes a little deeper for Kalen DeBoers team.

The nine Pac-12 coaches The Athletic interviewed for this scouting report, who were granted anonymity in exchange for candid opinions, admitted they expected Oregon to beat Washington in their rematch in the Pac-12 Championship Game. And yet, once again, the Huskies found a way to win.

The power of belief, resiliency and complete buy-in is a real thing in sports, especially with college teams.

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The biggest thing with these guys is that they know how to win, said one Pac-12 offensive line coach. Look at how many close games theyve won. Thats really cool. They keep grinding, believing. Honestly, I thought Oregon would get after them (in the rematch). I was surprised. You gotta give those guys a lot of credit.

Theyre on a 20-game win streak, said a Pac-12 wide receivers coach. We tend to forget that. It wasnt always pretty, but they found a way to win. Its hard to win games. Thats a true testament to their culture and the players in that locker room who have ice in their veins.

Over the past two years, the Huskies are 10-1 in games decided by a touchdown or less and 9-0 vs. Top 25 teams. DeBoer is 11-1 all-time against ranked opponents. Another Pac-12 O-line coach said he was shocked when Washington, almost a 10-point underdog, beat Oregon again.

It felt like those last three or four games they were holding on, he said. But then, they went out and whipped Oregon. It takes a lot of balls to win the way theyre winning. Theres something to be said about that. I think (DeBoer) is such a damn good football coach. I would not count those guys out.

They just have a special chemistry with all the pieces aligning, said a Pac-12 defensive analyst. I think they have this special camaraderie with all the vets on their team who decided to come back for one more year.

After having the nations No. 113 offense in yards per play in 2021, the year before DeBoer took over, Washington improved dramatically last year to No. 10 and led the country in passing. In the offseason, Nick Saban tried to hire offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb, who opted to remain in Seattle, and things have kept humming for the Huskies. Theyre up to No. 5 in yards per play and again lead the nation in passing. Theyre also third in plays of 30 yards or longer with 41.

They can score on anybody, said one Pac-12 head coach. Thats where theyre dangerous. They take a ton of shots downfield.

Theyre so well-coached and do such a good job with formations and protections, said a Pac-12 defensive analyst. Its very difficult to effectively blitz them. Credit to those coaches for making it so difficult with the way they position their receivers, tight ends and running backs in a non-normal alignment. They shift all over the place pre-snap.

Theyre one of the slowest operations in our conference. If you are bringing pressure, they get to a look that kinda blocks it up. They build those shot opportunities with all their shifts, dummy hard-counts. They get you on your heels because youre always trying to adjust.

In Michael Penix Jr., Washington has a strong-armed quarterback playing with a lot of confidence. Penix is connecting on 66 percent of his passes, and thats with a lot of tough downfield throws. His TD-to-INT ratio is 33-to-9.

Its really impressive how tight that ball spins coming out of his hand and with all the different throws he can make, said the defensive analyst. He takes a lot more downfield throws. Hes as talented a quarterback as Ive seen with touch on the ball.

He gets it out fast and I thought he was ridiculously accurate down the field, said a Pac-12 line coach. Its like a lot of those throws he makes are indefensible.

Theres not a throw he cant make, said a Pac-12 receivers coach. That thing spins, man. Its nice, light, catchable. Does a good job of buying extra time, sliding around and he has so much trust in his guys.

Its also hard to choose which is the better group Penix is working with between the O-line and the receivers. Both are elite and make rival coaches gush.

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In Rome Odunze and JaLynn Polk, the Huskies have two 1,000-yard receivers. Odunze, who clocked a 4.34-second 40-yard dash and a 4.19 pro agility shuttle time this offseason, has 81 receptions for 1,428 yards and 13 touchdowns. Polk has 60 catches for 1,000 yards and eight TDs.

But the most dynamic of the Huskies big three is Jalen McMillan, who was slowed by a knee injury this season and has 34 catches for 468 yards and three touchdowns. McMillan looked ready to roll by the end of the season, as he led the Huskies in the Pac-12 title game with nine catches for 131 yards. In 2022, he led the team with nine TD grabs and also had 1,098 receiving yards.

McMillan, who has a baseball background, tracks the ball incredibly well. He also has elite short-area quickness. Polk has exceptionally strong hands and makes a lot of plays against double coverage. Hes their muscle, said a Pac-12 receivers coach. Odunze is ultra-competitive and is terrific after the catch.

Rome is very good at contested catches and he is really physical at the top of the route, said the defensive analyst. Theyre all so good at the battle for the ball. Theyre causing DBs to get PIs (pass interference).

Germie Bernard, a sophomore transfer from Michigan State, is another weapon.

They feed off of each other, said the receivers coach. Bernards playing well too, and hes good in the return game or theyll hand it to him and run sweeps. Any of them can beat you. The other thing a lot of people dont talk enough about is what they do up front. The last two years they have been just as good as anyone.

Washington allowed just 11 sacks in 13 games and ranks No. 2 in the FBS, behind only Oregon, in sack rate allowed at 2.2 percent, per TruMedia. Left tackle Troy Fautanu was honored with the Morris Trophy as the Pac-12s top offensive lineman. At 6 feet 4, 315 pounds, Fautanu is a 400-pound bencher who ran a 5.1 40 and vertical-jumped almost 30 1/2 inches.

Their O-line is incredibly athletic, said the defensive analyst. Fautanu is extremely athletic and plays with tenacity. He has a real edge. Right tackle Roger Rosengarten, at 6-6, 300 pounds, is also really good and considered a terrific technician. Parker Brailsford, a 6-2, 280-pound redshirt freshman, made second-team All-Pac-12 at center.

A Pac-12 offensive line coach said Fautanu and Rosengarten are the best two tackles in the Pac-12, particularly as it pertains to pass protection, but he did also note that the Huskies will be facing much bigger and better D-lines in the Playoff.

I dont think theyve played a defensive front like what theyre about to see (with Texas), said the coach. The best front we have in the Pac-12 was UCLA and then probably Oregon, but theyre not what Texas and Michigan have, or probably what Alabama has.

The other underrated aspect of the offense is Dillon Johnson,
their running back, who is third in the Pac-12 in rushing with 1,113 yards and 14 TDs. In games against ranked opponents, the Mississippi State transfer averaged 108 yards per game.

Theyve become so much more balanced in the last month, said one Pac-12 head coach. Johnson has rushed for 683 yards and eight TDs in the past five games.

He runs so hard, said a Pac-12 receivers coach. He has really good balance. Hes always moving forward, getting four and five yards a pop on first down. To me, hes become the difference.

The defense, ranked No. 67 in yards per play (up from No. 70 last year), is not what it was the last time Washington made the CFP in the 2016 season, when Vita Vea and Greg Gaines anchored a stout front and Budda Baker led a star-studded secondary.

It aint like they have those freak shows they used to have back there, said a Pac-12 offensive line coach. Theyre not dominant on that side of the ball, but theyre still pretty solid. (Bralen Trice) is a really good player. Take away what his stats say (8.5 TFLs, five sacks), he is really disruptive and shows up on tape. He can line up anywhere.

Trice, a junior, is probably not quite as well known nationally as the other edge player, Zion Tupuola-Fetui (ZTF), but he is the player most of the competition worried about more. Trice was named a first-team All-American by Pro Football Focus.

ZTF is 20 pounds lighter, but hes still a slippery guy to block. He broke out in 2020, making seven TFLs and three forced fumbles in a pandemic-shortened season that was only four games for Washington. This year, hes made five TFLs and three sacks.

The ends are really good, said another Pac-12 O-line coach. Theyre physical and big. Theyll get after you. Their inside guys are just stout. If you just want to take em on straight, they can lock on you.

The leader of the defense is sixth-year former walk-on Edefuan Ulofoshio, who has 83 tackles and six TFLs. Hes missed only nine tackles, according to Pro Football Focus. Hes super smart and is their quarterback, said a Pac-12 receivers coach.

Linebackers Alphonzo Tuputala and Carson Bruener are also very solid. I think theyre OK at linebacker, better than average and average in the secondary, said a Pac-12 head coach.

If youre looking for a weakness on the defense, we thought it was their corners, said a Pac-12 receivers coach. If your front can protect, they can be had.

Another Pac-12 receivers coach agreed that the Huskies cornerbacks are where theyre probably most vulnerable, though he did say that he thinks theyre good around them.

Washington did allow the most plays of 30 yards or more in the Pac-12 (26), which ranked No. 123 in the country. Its something Steve Sarkisian, with a strong-armed quarterback and a dangerous group of receivers in his own right, will definitely look to exploit.

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Most of the coaches we spoke to said they could see this one going either way but leaned toward Texas.

I think Texas will present different problems for them that teams in our league couldnt, said a Pac-12 head coach. Those two inside guys (TVondre Sweat and Byron Murphy) are a lot better than any (defensive tackles) in the Pac-12, and I dont think Washington is particularly strong there.

Theyll be able to disrupt things for Washingtons offense and a lot of their stuff is shots down the field that are long-developing plays. Penix isnt going to have time. I also think Sark and his receivers can take advantage of a secondary that we didnt think was very good at all.

(Top photo: Jesse Beals / Icon Sportswire via Getty)

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Washington vs. Texas: Pac-12 coaches say Huskies team chemistry is their biggest thing - The Athletic