Addiction

Understanding mechanisms of alcohol-associated bowel disease

Alcohol consumption is a significant risk factor for gastrointestinal diseases, including cancer. Alcohol can damage the gastrointestinal tract in several ways. It can promote an impairment of several intestinal barrier functions, ...

Medical research

Study finds inhaling ethanol can disable influenza A in mice

Inhaling low concentrations of ethanol vapor can disable the influenza A virus in mice, without harmful side effects, says a new study by scientists at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST). The scientists ...

Neuroscience

Drunk mice sober up after a hormone shot

A hormone called fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) protects mice against ethanol-induced loss of balance and righting reflex, according to a study publishing on March 7 in the journal Cell Metabolism.

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

WHO-recommended hand disinfectants inactivate monkeypox viruses

People in many countries are contracting monkeypox, even though they have not traveled to any regions where the virus is mainly circulating. The World Health Organization (WHO) therefore classifies monkeypox as a public health ...

Medical research

Can vaping cause you to fail a sobriety test?

Five years ago, researchers led by Virginia Commonwealth University forensic science professor Michelle Peace, Ph.D., revealed that e-liquids—the flavored nicotine solution used in e-cigarettes—frequently contain ethanol, ...

Biomedical technology

Earmuffs that tell you when you're drunk

Innovative Japanese researchers have developed earmuffs (or should that be beermuffs?) that can tell how drunk you are.

Health

France to transform surplus wine into hand sanitiser

French winemakers will transform wine that went unsold during the country's two-month coronavirus lockdown into hand sanitiser and ethanol to make room for the next harvest, a farming agency said on Thursday.

Health

FDA changes boost alcohol for sanitizer from ethanol makers

The Food and Drug Administration has relaxed regulations on the types of alcohol that can be used to make hand sanitizers during the shortage caused by the coronavirus pandemic, expanding the market to potentially millions ...

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Ethanol

Ethanol, also called ethyl alcohol, pure alcohol, grain alcohol, or drinking alcohol, is a volatile, flammable, colorless liquid. It is a psychoactive drug, best known as the type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages and in modern thermometers. Ethanol is one of the oldest recreational drugs. In common usage, it is often referred to simply as alcohol or spirits.

Ethanol is a straight-chain alcohol, and its molecular formula is C2H5OH. Its empirical formula is C2H6O. An alternative notation is CH3-CH2-OH, which indicates that the carbon of a methyl group (CH3-) is attached to the carbon of a methylene group (-CH2-), which is attached to the oxygen of a hydroxyl group (-OH). It is a constitutional isomer of dimethyl ether. Ethanol is often abbreviated as EtOH, using the common organic chemistry notation of representing the ethyl group (C2H5) with Et.

The fermentation of sugar into ethanol is one of the earliest organic reactions employed by humanity. The intoxicating effects of ethanol consumption have been known since ancient times. In modern times, ethanol intended for industrial use is also produced from by-products of petroleum refining.

Ethanol has widespread use as a solvent of substances intended for human contact or consumption, including scents, flavorings, colorings, and medicines. In chemistry, it is both an essential solvent and a feedstock for the synthesis of other products. It has a long history as a fuel for heat and light and also as a fuel for internal combustion engines.

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