MICROSCOPIC MISADVENTURE

This is a photo taken under a microscope, showing a specialised white blood cell called a monocyte. This cell becomes a macrophage, once in tissue, which it patrols for invaders. It has ingested a yeast cell microorganism (the oval structure inside it), and it will now destroy it. The cell is about 0.03 mm in diameter.

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

IODINE

Iodine is a chemical element with symbol I and atomic number 53. The heaviest of the stable halogens, it exists as a lustrous, purple-black non-metallic solid at standard conditions that sublimes readily to form a violet gas. The elemental form was discovered by the French chemist Bernard Courtois in 1811. It was named two years later by Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac from this property, after the Greek ἰώδης "violet-coloured".

Iodine occurs in many oxidation states, including iodide (I−), iodate (IO− 3), and the various periodate anions. It is the least abundant of the stable halogens, being the sixty-first most abundant element. It is the heaviest essential mineral nutrient. Iodine is essential in the synthesis of thyroid hormones. Iodine deficiency affects about two billion people and is the leading preventable cause of intellectual disabilities. The dominant producers of iodine today are Chile and Japan. Iodine and its compounds are primarily used in nutrition.

Due to its high atomic number and ease of attachment to organic compounds, it has also found favour as a non-toxic radiocontrast material. Because of the specificity of its uptake by the human body, radioactive isotopes of iodine can also be used to treat thyroid cancer. Iodine is also used as a catalyst in the industrial production of acetic acid and some polymers.

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,

and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme.

PLANT POWER

Germinating seeds and growing plants exert tremendous forces on inanimate objects around them that confine them. Plants can break concrete, crush stone and split hardwood. More can be read about this process and its mechanism here.

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Macro Monday meme,
and also part of the Through my Lens meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.

XYLENE

Xylene (from Greek ξύλο, xylo, "wood"), xylol or dimethylbenzene is any one of three isomers of dimethylbenzene, or a combination thereof. With the formula (CH3)2C6H4, each of the three compounds has a central benzene ring with two methyl groups attached at substituents. They are all colourless, flammable liquids, some of which are of great industrial value. The mixture is referred to as both xylene and, more precisely, xylenes.

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,

and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme.

NB: IN Greek, the letter "Chi" pronounced as in the Scottish LOCH, is written as Χ, χ.
Hence, Χημεία (Cheeméa) = Chemistry.
However, the letter "Xi" pronounced as the "x" in FOX even at the beginning of words, is written as Ξ, ξ.
Hence, Ξυλένιο (Xeelénio) = Xylene!
X is such a problematic letter in English!