Singijeon or shinkichon (Korean: 신기전; Hanja: 神機箭; literally "Divine machine arrows") was a type of Korean fire arrow rocket, used during the era of the Joseon Dynasty (1392–1897). Multiple singijeon could be launched by hwacha (multiple rocket launcher). History During the late 14th century, in order to gain ascendancy at sea against Japanese pirates (wokou, also known as waegu in Korean), fire arrows called hwajeon or hwajon(Korean: 화전) were used, which would become the predecessor of the singijeon. The Koreans had tried to acquire rockets and gunpowder and their production methods from China. The Chinese, however, regarded the technology of gunpowder as a state secret and restricted access to it and trade in its nitrous raw materials (which could only be found in China). The Koreans therefore sought to acquire the manufacturing secrets of gunpowder for themselves and, in 1374 (~1376), Choe Mu-seon was able to bribe a Han Chinese merchant to obtain the...

Medicinal fungi are fungi that contain metabolites or can be induced to produce metabolites through biotechnology to develop prescription drugs. Compounds successfully developed into drugs or under research include antibiotics, anti-cancer drugs, cholesterol and ergosterol synthesis inhibitors, psychotropic drugs, immunosuppressants and fungicides. History Although fungi products have long been used in traditional medicine, the ability to identify beneficial properties and then extract the active ingredient started with the discovery of penicillin by Alexander Fleming in 1928. Since that time, many potential antibiotics were discovered and the potential for various fungi to synthesize biologically active molecules useful in various clinical therapies has been under research. Pharmacological research identified antifungal, antiviral, and antiprotozoan compounds from fungi.Ganoderma lucidum, known in Chinese as líng zhī ("spirit plant"), and in Japanese as mannentake ("10,000-year mushroom"), has been well studied. Another species of genus Ganoderma, G. applanatum, remains under basic research. Inonotus...

Phosphate minerals contain the tetrahedrally coordinated phosphate (PO43−) anion, sometimes with arsenate (AsO43−) and vanadate (VO43−) substitutions, along with chloride (Cl−), fluoride (F−), and hydroxide (OH−) anions, that also fit into the crystal structure. The phosphate class of minerals is a large and diverse group, however, only a few species are relatively common. Applications Phosphate rock has high concentration of phosphate minerals, most commonly from the apatite group of minerals. It is the major resource mined to produce phosphate fertilizers for the agricultural industry. Phosphate is also used in animal feed supplements, food preservatives, anti-corrosion agents, cosmetics, fungicides, ceramics, water treatment and metallurgy. The production of fertilizer is the largest source responsible for minerals mined for their phosphate content. Phosphate minerals are often used to control rust, and to prevent corrosion on ferrous materials applied with electrochemical conversion coatings. ...