Under regular circumstances, the Department of Chemistrys Instrumentation Facility (DCIF) is a 24/7 operation that services nearly 100 individual research labs from not only the MIT community, but external universities and corporations alike, at a rate of approximately 300 users a month. In 2018, the DCIF benefited immensely from the generous support of alumni and friends who contributed to a fundraising drive to replace and renewoutdated equipment in the facility.

When the Covid-19 pandemic forced all on-campus activity to come to a screeching halt last March, the stewards and staff of the DCIF were faced with the challenge of quickly adapting their policies and procedures to accommodate the newly instituted guidelines for safely working at a social distance, all while preventing contamination.

Addressing contamination potential

Walt Massefski, the DCIF director, worked with his staff Operations Manager John Grimes, Research Scientist Mohan Kumar, and Research Specialist Bruce Adams to implement the necessary changes to day-to-day activities in the subbasement of the Dreyfus Building. First, the group took into consideration the two types of contamination they were facing: airborne contamination, the result of virus that is exhaled by an infected individual traveling through the air to another individual, and is minimized by proper use of masks and social distancing; and touch contamination, the result of an infected individual either breathing on or touching a surface (door handle, keyboard, and the like) and another individual touching that surface and subsequently touching their eyes, nose, or mouth.

We developed our plan to limit airborne contamination by strict adherence to MITs mask and social distancing guidelines: Masks must be worn by all individuals in the lab at all times, and all individuals must stay six feet from each other (if two people can extend their arms and touch fingertips, they are too close), says Massefski. We also designed our lab-use plan to meet the time and space guidelines instituted by the vice president for research: no more than one person in every 160 square feet of lab space, and no more than 10 minutes in that space at one time.

The considerable size of the DCIF and the need for the seven nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) instruments it houses to social distance, even when there isnt a pandemic made the distance guidelines relatively easy to meet in the NMR space. The facilitys mass spectrometry space, on the other hand, was another story.

During Phase 1, we significantly restricted the use of the mass spectrometry part of the lab, explains Massefski. During Phase 2, we have adopted a rotating reservation system for the instruments that are close to each other.

We developed our plan to limit touch contamination based on a double-barrier model that I learned while working at an MIT-affiliated molecular diagnostics startup earlier in my career; users of the lab must wash their hands when they arrive in the lab, don a fresh pair of gloves, and keep those gloves on while they are in the lab, says Massefski. Gloves are discarded as users exit the lab. Since everyone in the lab is wearing gloves (and a mask), accidental touch contamination for any reason by one individual is limited to the surface, and not transferred to the next individual, hence the double-barrier. By washing when you arrive, you limit the possibility that you will carry virus from outside the lab to the inside the lab; by wearing gloves inside the lab, you limit the possibility that you will carry virus from inside the lab to outside the lab, again a double-barrier approach. While we hope that no one enters the lab infectious, these steps, along with regular surface cleaning, are the best approach we can think of to maximize transmission control.

Implementing these new policies involved extensive communication between the DCIF lab and lab staff and users of the lab. Massefski and his team sent out a number of detailed email notifications, and developed signage to remind everyone of the important steps to take for transmission control. To their credit, the facilitys users were happy to follow the new processes. Users have been respectful of the importance of ensuring a safe work environment for all, and receptive of reminders to wash hands and wear gloves in the instance of a user forgetting the newly instated policies.

The difficulty has been for me to keep in mind some of the policies in my daily workflow, says John Grimes, the DCIFs operations manager. A large amount of my time is spent interacting with students, be it to answer their questions or train them to use our instruments. When I am trying to show them how software works, or how to load their samples in a robot, doing so from a two-meter distance can be challenging. It is easy for both of us to end up closer than that. I must constantly remind myself and them that we cant both lean in at the same time to see what it is I am talking about.

Adjusting to the new normal

Throughout this ordeal, the DCIF staffs priority has been to continue to train young scientists and make key resources available to them in the social distancing and restricted-access environment. The group relied on their honed skills of both applying software automation to instrument access and managing a complex, computer-driven lab.

As a shared facility, we used to get more users, interesting discussions, and it was always a really busy place, says research scientist Mohan Kumar. The new guidelines can make it feel like we are not doing science and not working in the lab.

However, despite how things may feel, the lack of population in the lab itself has no bearing on its scientific productivity. All of the facilitys systems are networked, so from the inception of the lab, the systems were built in such a way that that chemists could access their NMR and MS data as easily from home as they could from their lab.

Because of this, when the pandemic hit, the DCIF was mostly ready to meet data-access needs. At the start of Phase 1, they rapidly designed and implemented remote automation tools so that someone could drop samples at the door of the lab, or the building, or at a remote location, and a DCIF staff member could efficiently add those samples to running NMR queues. They developed processes in which users of the DCIF high-resolution mass spectrometers could spend a few minutes in the lab adding samples to the instrument platform, then work remotely to acquire essential data from these samples, limiting the amount of time they actually spent in the lab.

Now that the campus has entered Phase 2, the DCIF staff and stewards have extended their ability to effectively conduct new-user trainings using a combination of video and slide presentations, as well as providing instrument access over a Virtual Network Computing or remote desktop connection and a Zoom link. Massefski credits the facilitys trial-by-fire implementation of Phase 1 protocols as being instrumental in helping his staff smoothly transition into the Phase 2 regulations. Mirroring the Institutes policies, the facility had to learn to walk in a Covid-19 society before it could run.

We gave significant thought to how we would prepare for a research reopening during the shutdown, including conversations with colleagues from labs all over the world to hear their advice about best practices, says Massefski. Since the shutdown was fairly extensive, we had plenty of time to consider the advice of others and to think about how the social distancing restrictions might impact lab operations. Once the details of the VPR guidance were available, we were able to put a proposal out to the department and our faculty advisor, chemistry professor Mo Movassaghi. His experience as advisor for the lab has been invaluable, and he was a touchstone for our transition to Phase 2.

In addition to taking on contamination control training in the lab, staff members took on the task of receiving requests from users to run samples or carry out
experiments that they would normally have done themselves. Massefski remarks, Considering the size of our user base, even at the 25 percent level at which that labs were operating in Phase 1, this became a considerable effort. The DCIF staff contributed an outstanding level of skilled communication and professionalism in handling these requests. Though the DCIF staffs work is ongoing, and the effects of the pandemic are far from over, the results of their efforts are both impactful and sincerely appreciated.

Continue reading here:
Instrumentation in a pandemic: How the Department of Chemistry Instrumentation Facility rapidly adapted to Covid-19 - MIT News

On a wall at the back of our teaching lab stores hangs a case, dusty and forgotten, containing an old black and silver barometer almost a metre in length. It is a relic of a former age when precise measurement of atmospheric pressure was not available in two clicks of a mobile phone. Built by the British scientific equipment house Griffin and George, a close look shows it to be a Fortin barometer the screw at the base gives it away the first truly portable mercury barometer. Today few will have heard the name Fortin, and fewer realise the critical role that he played in establishing chemistry as a quantitative science and in defining the metric system of units.

Jean-Nicolas Fortin was born in 1750 in the village Heilles, some 20km south of the town of Beauvais in France. He had two brothers, neither of whom survived to adulthood, and one sister. His father was a labourer, while his mother died when he was 12. He must have been apprenticed in some way but there is no known record of his education and training. Although it is sometimes suggested that he started by making globes, this is almost certainly the result of confusion with his contemporary Jean-Baptiste Fortin (no relation), a map- and globe-maker who published a French edition of the British astronomer John Flamsteeds star atlas.

Nicolas Fortin made his name when he presented a hand-cranked double piston vacuum pump to the Academy of Sciences in Paris in 1779. Tested by Antoine Lavoisier and three coworkers, one of whom was Pierre-Simon Laplace, a brief report recommended the pump to the Academy, noting that the valves were positioned well away from the platform supporting the bell jar. Lavoisier would buy several for his laboratory and examples of Fortins pumps still exist, beautiful in their design and workmanship.

Lavoisier and his wife had recently nailed down the composition of water. Hydrogen was of considerable interest because of its low density. The Mongolfier brothers spectacular ascent in a hot air balloon in 1782 was followed only days later by a flight by Jacques Charles in a hydrogen-filled balloon made of rubberised silk. The excitement led the Academy of Sciences to commission studies to improve the preparation of hydrogen on a large scale, and to develop improved fabric to contain the gas. Fortin contributed a foil-backed fabric that was widely praised.

By 1784 Fortin had become one of Lavoisiers trusted instrument makers alongside Pierre-Bernard Megni, who had constructed the gasometers that allowed Lavoisiers group to weigh gases as they were absorbed or evolved for reactions. Although Fortin may also have made some of these, the evidence for this is a little ambiguous.

But he is certain to have made the apparatus for studying the combustion of oils, consisting of a copper reaction chamber linked through glass scrubbing tubes to four glass bulbs about 20cm in diameter. The entire apparatus is mounted on a wooden stand and the polished brass fittings are equipped with elegant winged stopcocks. It is a thing of beauty that is on display at the Muse des Arts et Mtiers in Paris. For the commission, Fortin received 390 livres (approximately 5200 in modern terms). After seeing the apparatus in January, it struck me that the great portrait of Lavoisier and his wife, commissioned from the painter Jacques-Louis David around this time, includes a large round-bottomed flask with a fitting that looks suspiciously similar to those on the oil apparatus. Was it one of Fortins?

As Lavoisiers work to quantify chemistry advanced, it became obvious that the balances he was using were not accurate enough. To compensate for this, Lavoisier had adopted double weighing, where each measurement was made twice, swapping the flask and the weights between the two pans, and taking the average value. Now, however, Lavoisier needed a balance on a different level of precision from what had come before. In the summer of 1788 he turned to Fortin for the job.

Fortin delivered something truly exquisite that laid down the rules for future analytical balances. The balance itself was enclosed in a large rosewood box with glass sides and sliding doors to protect it from the least draught; Lavoisier ordained that it sit in a separate room to avoid the influence of corrosive vapours from the laboratory. Two large pans hung from the ends of a metre-long mild steel beam. A large lever at the base of the box could raise the beam using two arms connected to the central post, so that the beam was locked while being loaded. Sliding the lever gently lowered the beam onto a knife-edge made from wear-resistant quenched (martensitic) steel. A small microscope allowed the experimenter to read a pointer from outside the closed box. The balance operated to a precision of about one part per million. With it Lavoisier was able to draw the conclusion that underpins all of chemistry (but which he never actually wrote): Rien ne se perd. Rien ne se cre. Tout se transforme. (Nothing is lost. Nothing is created. Everything changes).

Fortin also delivered two other balances with smaller beams. Lavoisier was delighted, and described them in detail in his Trait Elementaire de Chimie, noting that they combine all the corrections and conveniences one might desire. I cannot imagine any other, with the possible exception of one made by [Jesse] Ramsden, that can compare both in accuracy and in precision. It had cost 600 livres but was worth its weight in gold. Over the next 30 years, Fortin would make several other balances along the same lines for chemists like Louis-Jacques Thnard, Joseph-Louis Gay-Lussac and Michel-Eugne Chevreul. At least two of the balances still survive.

All of this equipment did not come cheap. Lavoisier had realised very early on that to do science would require serious means; with the help of his father he had bought a lucrative position as a partner in the Ferme Gnrale, the semi-autonomous corporation that collected certain taxes on behalf of the Crown. The French Revolution, when it came in 1789, would lead to disaster for Lavoisier. But in an unexpected twist it also laid the foundations of much more quantitative science.

In August 1789, the newly established National Assembly of France voted to abolish the feudal system of land ownership. The result was a collapse of the system of measurement which had been under the control of the aristocratic landowners and which, not coincidentally, had allowed them to rip off the farmers who worked the land. Amid the resulting chaos, the Bishop of Autun, Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Prigord, made a proposal as revolutionary as it was nerdy: a new unified system of measurement should be introduced. The Academy of Sciences was tasked with the creation of a new system of what Talleyrand called natural units.

King Louis XVI rubber-stamped the measure in 1790 and a commission to study the problem was set up. It was given the huge budget of 300,000 livres with Lavoisier chosen to administer the funds. A new unit, the metre, would be defined as 1/10,000,000 of the distance from the equator to the pole. This led to a survey that took several years of repeated triangulation to measure the distances along the meridian that runs from Dunkirk through Paris to Barcelona. One of the key instruments used for the survey was made by Fortin.

There is no record that anyone actually said The Republic has no need for scholars and chemists

The task of defining mass was assigned by the commission to Lavoisier and Ren Just Hay, who proposed that it be defined by the mass of a cubic decimetre of water, determined at the melting point. They made painstaking measurements in air and in vacuum, using a hydrometer designed by Fortin. The work stopped in 1793 as the Revolution grew in intensity, and the Academy of Sciences was disbanded. Lavoisier, Hay, and several other members were denounced by the rabble-rousing journalist Jean-Paul Marat and arrested. As a leading member of the Ferme Gnrale, scurrilous pamphlets about Lavoisier were circulated both by revolution
aries on the left and by opponents on the right, and he was put on trial. While there is no record that anyone actually said The Republic has no need for scholars and chemists, the pleas of his colleagues fell on deaf ears. Lavoisier was executed in 1794.

After his death, Fortin, physicist Jacques Charles and the instrument maker Etienne Lenoir (another of Lavoisiers artistes mechaniciens) were asked to make an inventory of Lavoisiers lab. The collection included over 13,000 pieces of chemical and physical equipment, much of which was then spirited away to the Chateau la Caniere near Auvergne for safe-keeping. It later entered the collection of the Muse des Arts et Mtiers. I would urge you to go and see it.

By 1795, as things calmed down, the commission was reinstated and the new metric system was enshrined in law. After the original determinations were rechecked, Fortin was tasked with making a provisional kilogram standard out of copper, a cylinder as wide as it was high, along with a special comparator to establish its dimensions. With the mass fixed, the Kings former jeweller Marc-Etienne Janetti was given 48kg of crude platinum from which he cast four prototype metres and four cylindrical kilogram weights. Fortin was tasked with adjusting the cylindrical kilograms using his balances to check and recheck their mass, making meticulous buoyancy corrections. He returned one weight to Janetti because it was unsatisfactory.

Fortins work for the commission is well-documented and his signature appears in the minutes of the meetings where the talons (standards) were presented and approved. He later worked extensively with the Paris Observatory and with the Office for Longitude. Both he and Lenoir made astronomical and surveying instruments, as well as further copies of the various talons, including a metre standard for the Royal Society in London.

But Fortin had one last trick up his sleeve: a portable barometer. The barometer was constructed at the centre of a hinged wooden tripod that doubled as protection for the delicate glass parts when carried. To calibrate the barometer and ensure that the level of mercury at the bottom could be adjusted, Fortin equipped the cylindrical glass reservoir with an ivory pointer and a leather base. Turning the screw at the bottom pressed the leather upwards until the level of the mercury in the reservoir just touched the pointer.Hence the scale, read with a Vernieron a rack and pinion mounting, never needed to be moved. Fortin barometers were almost universal in laboratories until about 30 years ago.

Fortin was given many prizes and made Chevalier of the Lgion dHonneur in 1822. But he seems to have been a modest man who remained hands-on and never expanded his workshop; he worked with his daughter Marie-Josephine and no more than a couple of employees. After his death in 1831, he was gradually forgotten. In 1901, his remains were ceremoniously moved from a cemetery in Paris to his home village of Heilles where a monument was constructed. No trace of this remains aside from small plaque in his memory that stands at the junction of a country road, a small reminder of the critical role played by technical staff. Perhaps its a small thing, but isnt it time to move the barometer back out into the lab where it belongs?

Excerpt from:
Fortin's barometer and balance | Opinion - Chemistry World

Black chemists are adding their voice to calls of systemic racism in academia and STEM fields. Here's what they say needs to change in their fields. Wochit

About 4.6% of chemistry graduate students in 2016 who were U.S. citizens or permanent residents were Black or African American, according to data in aNational Science Foundation report.

And about 5.5% of people employedas chemistswere Black orAfrican American in 2017.

This summer, Black chemists in Indiana, along with scientists across the country,have been raising the public's awareness of the systemic racism that results inBlack people beingunderrepresented in STEM. Somechemists participated in #ShutDownSTEM, an international strike that drew attention to systemic racism in academia. And some have been using Twitter and other social media to connect with each other.

Felicia Fullilove, a program manger for a non-profit organization,said African Americans have beenunderrepresented in chemistry because of systemic racism andaccess to STEM careers. Fullilove, whoholds a B.S. in chemistry from Butler University and a PhD in chemistry from Emory University, said a lack of Black mentors is also an issue.

Ren Robinson, an associate professor of chemistry at Vanderbilt University, said in some instances aspiring Black scientists start down the STEMpipeline,but drop off at different points. The environment at STEM institutions and organizations is an issue some encounter in the pipeline.

"Historically, science and especially ... these kinds of chemistry professionshaven't been as inviting for diverse groups to be part of," she said.

Fullilovenoted Indiana's own history.

"PercyJulian attended DePauw University, but he wasn't allowed to live on campus," she said of Julian, who earned his undergraduate degree from DePauw in 1920."He'sone of the greatest chemists of all time."

Fullilove said that until the culture of the field of chemistry shifts and it becomes truly inclusive and welcoming,the numbers of Black chemists will not increase. She also said that universities have to both recruit and retain Black students, faculty and staff.

"If you're going to recruit them and not retain them," she said, "then you have this leaky pipeline issue."

Chemists in Indiana and elsewhere have protested systemic racism this summer.

Atheena Jenkins, a chemistry PhD student at Purdue University, helped organize the Purdue Chemistry Black Lives Matter March on Juneteenth this year. She said the march was meant to raise awareness about systemic racism in the environment at Purdue. Social interactions between individuals such as professors, students and administrators are a part of systemic racism, she said.For example,advisors have a long-standing history of treating students unequally because of ethnicity or nationality.

During the event,shegave a speech to the crowd, which was a bit nerve-wracking for her.

But also kind of powerful, I guess, for lack of terminology, Jenkins added. I had everyones attention, and in that moment, I could just speak my mind. And lately I havent been giving myself the space to speak my mind, especially on issues like these.

Her speech alluded to the fact that people cant dismantle the entire system you kind of have to take it off brick by brick, she said. And one of those bricks is microaggressions, she added. Her speech led into an exercise that taught the crowd about microaggressions.Jenkins believes that one of the microaggressions mentioned wassomeonebeing surprised at how well a Black person or person of color spoke.

Earlier in the month, on June 10, many scientists didnt go to their labs as part of #ShutDownSTEM and #Strike4BlackLives. Particles for Justice, one of the groups that organized the day, wrote on its website that the strike was necessary to hit pause, to give Black academics a break and to give others an opportunity to reflect on their own complicity in anti-Black racism in academia and their local and global communities.

Carolina Vega, a PhD student and analytical chemist at IUPUI, said no one in her research group went to their lab that day. Her group had a Zoom meeting, though, where she and her colleague talked about their experience being Black.

One thing that we try to do is just to make people conscious that we suffer stuff that a lot of people dont realize that is a thing, she said.

Carolina Vega works on research in a lab in the IUPUI Science Engineering and Technology Building II, Monday, Aug. 24, 2020. She is a third year analytical chemistry PhD student at IUPUI. (Photo: Kelly Wilkinson/IndyStar)

Social media has been a way for Black scientists to connect with each other. Black chemists from across the country posted about their research on Twitter the week of Aug. 10 as part of #BlackInChem week.

Ore Cherebin scrolled through the #BlackInChem posts during the week.She saw photos of Black women with their natural hair in the lab.

There are rules about how you should have your hair in the lab, but obviously my hair isnt what they were talking about when they created the rules how long ago, she said. So its comforting to see people rocking their natural hair in the lab, for me personally.

Vega said Black people, and Black women especially,are underrepresented in science, and so"when I saw the thread, I was just like, 'that's exciting.'" She said she learned that there were more Black chemists than she thought there was.

Fullilove said social media engagement and activism by Black chemists has been receiving a lot more attention now than in the past. These efforts are not new.She said that over the last 8-10years, there has been a movement for Black scientists to connect with each other on social media or other online mediums.

In 2014, Black scientists across the country used thehashtag #BLACKandSTEM.

This year, Black scientists in various professions have participated in weeks dedicated to their specific fields, such as #BlackInNeuro weekand #BlackInAstro week.

Vega said these weeks are important and necessary.

But also, Im afraid that its just happening now and wont keep going, she said. I feel like its necessary to keep going.

Carolina Vega stands by an untitled sculpture by Cary Chapman, Monday, Aug. 24, 2020. She is a third year analytical chemistry PhD student at IUPUI. (Photo: Kelly Wilkinson/IndyStar)

Some Black chemists have also been sharing the work of their fellow researchers and connecting scientists to one another.In March 2019, Elissia Franklin, a postdoc at Purdue who researches analytical chemistry, founded a podcast called The Research Her, which highlights Black women researchers. Its also a wellness podcast.

Elissia Franklin works with an instrument in a chemistry lab.(Photo: Elissia Franklin)

Black women tend to not be part of some of the clinical studies that are done relative to different medications, she said, and we tend to be left out of a lot of very important research studies.

Franklin also runs a Slack community for Black women in research. The community has channels for different fields, such as chemistry and psychology.

We have different channels so that you can connect with other people in your field who may not necessarily go to your university, she said.

Franklin is also part of the planning council for STEMNoire, a wellness and research conference for Black women in STEM. At this summer's conference, which was virtual, attendees discussed the stressors of being a Black woman in STEM, took part in a meditation session and participated in other activities.

Franklin said that since the death of George Floyd, she hasnt had to tiptoe around conversations about race.

Its easier to talk to people about race now than it was before, she said, because it was like, everyone just tried to act like it wasnt really a thing and that there werent any systematic or systemic issues within academia that were in place, when it comes to Black people in academia.

Contact IndyStar Pulliam Fellow Anne Snabes at asnabes@indystar.com and follow her on Twitter at @a_snabes.

Read or Share this story: https://www.indystar.com/story/news/2020/09/09/black-chemists-share-other-scientists-voices-fight-systemic-racism/3408832001/

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Black chemists protest systemic racism and connect with each other on social media - IndyStar

Aside from being the worst health and humanitarian crisis for decades, COVID-19 has caused a drop of almost $7 trillion in global GDP this year.

In response, governments around the world have committed more than $15 trillion in COVID-19 stimulus packages. Is there a role to be played by the chemicals and materials industry in maximizing the positive impact of these interventions? We think so.

Through collaboration with policy-makers and other stakeholders, this sector's leaders can not only offer solutions that meet new consumer demand for sustainable products, but which can also play a proactive role in bringing innovation into value chains to 'build back better' and help the sector move towards a more renewable, circular and resilient future.

The chemical industry converts raw materials into more than 70,000 different products. These products have a broad range of uses in the food, healthcare, building and construction, consumer goods, agriculture and transportation industries. Common chemical sector products include surfactants, pigments, synthetic rubber, polymers, fertilizers and materials for batteries, to name but a few.

Since 2018, chemical output growth has slowed or contracted in key manufacturing countries. Both Europe and North America have reported reduced chemical activity for 2019, mainly as a result of the global economic slowdown and trade tensions. Now COVID-19 has forced its customers industries to shut down entire plants which is expected to reduce global chemical GDP by around 11% in 2020, according to Accenture research. Recovery for the chemicals and materials industry hinges on the recovery of its core customers such as the automotive, building and construction, and consumer goods sectors but their path to recovery is uncertain, and is likely to remain so for the next two or three years.

In addition, demand patterns will become increasingly more dynamic as some of the COVID-19-induced consumer behaviours become the new reality post-crisis. The pandemic has triggered a change in how people live, buy and think. For example, demand for sustainable products had already been growing for a while, but new research shows that after the pandemic 79% of consumers said they will seek out products that are healthier and better for the environment, and that they are willing to pay a premium for them.

There is also greater health consciousness among consumers and an increased desire for convenience and comfort, as evidenced by the growth of online shopping. These changes in consumer behaviour will play out for manufacturers of personal care, packaging, lubricants or nutrition products in different ways. Small pockets of the industry may benefit such as those that produce chemicals included in sanitation products or certain plastics used in packaging and PPE but other areas will be negatively impacted.

Governments are taking drastic measures to close the GDP gap with stimulus packages worth up to $15 trillion three times what was spent (as a percentage of GDP) following the 2008 financial crisis. This makes governments around the globe the most powerful consumption engines in their economies.

As the chemical industry lies at the heart of several value chains and acts as a solution provider to other sectors of the economy, it plays a pivotal role in leading a sustainable recovery. Today, chemical innovations already contribute to several sustainable development challenges such as energy and climate, transport, health and food, among others.

The chemicals and materials sector can leverage both direct and indirect stimulus programmes, and can strengthen their broader impact to provide shared value across business and society. Here's how:

Image: Accenture

Below are some examples of how direct and indirect stimulus packages have impacted the chemicals and materials sector.

Strengthening the recovery through stimulus measures relies on how and how fast resources are allocated. Here are three actions chemical sector leaders can take:

1. Build infrastructure to support more resilient and more sustainable socioeconomic systems. With 83% of consumers saying its important for companies to design products that can be reused, recycled and never go to a landfill, the chemical industry needs to tackle the huge infrastructure investment that is the foundation of its transformation towards greater sustainability. For example, the transition to a circular economy requires investment to encourage greater transparency in waste streams (circular track and trace), establish end-of-life collection systems for further material classes, develop chemical recycling processes, and build the necessary physical assets. This can only be achieved by collaborating in regional clusters, which represent ideal opportunities for stimulus support.

2. Leverage stimulus packages to innovate and support broader sustainability goals. The chemicals industry has an opportunity to engage with policy-makers and demonstrate their essential contribution to realize ambitious policy goals. As an example, industry innovators may further support the transition to cleaner mobility. The industry already provides a range of solutions that make transport more energy efficient. The future of mobility, with fleets of autonomous and/or electric vehicles, may require a new spectrum of materials and chemicals to make everything from batteries to simplified powertrains and customizable interiors. The contribution of the sector to the development of advanced biofuels, green hydrogen, sustainable battery materials or recycling technologies will be crucial to enabling this transition.

3.Stimulate a new wave of innovation through a collaborative ecosystem. By engaging with value chain partners, governments and start-ups, the chemical industry can build an ecosystem that drives the next wave of innovation. To make this happen, chemical leaders can partner with start-ups to tap into new sources of (digital) innovation. For example, in the recycling space alone, there are hundreds of relevant start-ups across the world that are working with new technologies but these cannot scale without additional funding.The time is ripe for a new wave of corporate and public venturing to accelerate the process of bringing these technologies to the market.

The chemical industry has navigated crises before through diligent fixed-cost restructuring, level-headed portfolio management, and applying a 'lean lens' to its processes. Now there is an opportunity to show how people and planet are the real drivers for business. By capitalizing on cross-sector innovation and collaboration, the chemical industry can not only build back better, but also secure its role in the post-COVID era with its improved products, services and technologies.

This blog was written with contributions from Simonetta Rima (World Economic Forum), Simone Paes (Accenture), David Apel (Accenture) and Bernd Elser (Accenture).

Originally posted here:
How can the chemical industry maximize the benefit of COVID-19 stimulus funds? - World Economic Forum

Residents from Long Beach to Orange County noticed a strange odor in the air on Thursday, Sept. 10 the result of a chemical spill near Compton, officials said.

Workers cleaning by an oil well in the 200 block of Alsina Street in Los Angeles knocked over a tank of liquid mercaptan, a non-toxic chemical used to add a detectable smell to natural gas and other hazardous materials, at about 11:15 a.m., Los Angles County Fire Department officials said.

The substance gave off an odor as it evaporated and was blown south.

Its highly concentrated in its liquid form, said Marvin Lim, a Fire Department spokesman. It went up into the air, and the winds carried it.

The odor could be smelled throughout the region, as far away as Anaheim and Buena Park, officials in those cities said.

Although only two gallons of the chemical was spilled, it can be quite pungent, Fire Department inspector Sean Ferguson said. It has a rotten egg or skunk smell to it.

People were able to smell it over a wide area, Ferguson said. It got picked up over the winds, so we had folks in scattered pockets getting a smell of this, calling 911 thinking it was a gas leak.

Fire officials helped mop up the chemical.

The odor did not pose any health risks, but those with sensitive senses of smell were advised to stay indoors until it dissipated.

Excerpt from:
Strange odor in Long Beach and Orange County from chemical spill in LA - OCRegister

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Chemical Insights, an Institute of Underwriters Laboratories, published today an interactive, educational guide on understanding the potential impact of hazardous airborne particles, such as respiratory viruses, and disinfectant chemicals on indoor air quality (IAQ) and human health. The four-part resource, Clearing the Air on COVID-19, highlights how aerosols tiny airborne particles or droplets are produced and provides guidance to business and schools for mitigating spread and improving IAQ.

The science community believes that respiratory viruses, such as SARS-CoV-2, may spread when an infected person speaks, coughs, sneezes or simply breathes, said Dr. Marilyn Black, vice president and senior technical advisor for Chemical Insights. With about 40,000 aerosol particles released by single sneeze, good IAQ practices are essential in businesses and schools both during and after the current pandemic. We developed this interactive guide in the hopes that it will help facilities understand how they can improve IAQ.

Chemical Insights is a nonprofit research organization committed to delivering the scientific insight policymakers, healthcare providers, business leaders, educators and consumers depend on to make informed environmental health decisions. The organizations new guide is a culmination of Chemical Insights own research as well as best practices on IAQ improvement and the prevention of viral transmission.

The four parts of the guide are:

To view the interactive guide, visit https://chemicalinsights.org/covid-19/.

About Chemical Insights

As an Institute of Underwriters Laboratories, we deliver the scientific insight policymakers, healthcare providers, business leaders and consumers depend on to make informed environmental health decisions. Combining the best minds, rigorous scientific research and a commitment for thorough and accurate results, Chemical Insights is improving the health of people and the planet.

Our work lets people around the world know what chemicals are in the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the products we interact with every day. Our research and initiatives gives them the knowledge of exactly what those chemicals are, how they may affect human health, and how to manage their impact. Our leadership role is to provide science or knowledge to implement improved practices, alternative product design, and changes that enable safer products and healthier environments.

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About Underwriters Laboratories

Underwriters Laboratories is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the UL public safety mission through the discovery and application of scientific knowledge. We conduct rigorous independent research and analyze safety data, convene experts worldwide to address risks, share knowledge through safety education and public outreach initiatives, and develop standards to guide safe commercialization of evolving technologies. We foster communities of safety, from grassroots initiatives for neighborhoods to summits of world leaders. Our organization employs collaborative and scientific approaches with partners and stakeholders to drive innovation and progress toward improving safety, security, and sustainability, ultimately enhancing societal well-being. To learn more, visit UL.org.

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Chemical Insights Publishes Educational Guide on Managing IAQ During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond - Business Wire

In addition to the exhibition, which covered some 30,000 square meters, the event also included 12 forums and sessions on topics including the development of the high-end energy and chemical sector, the development of energy and chemical equipment manufacturing, intelligent innovation of coal mines, and smart energy. During the event, a total of 98 projects were signed off, attracting investment of CNY 89.38 billion and generating sales of more than CNY 5 billion. Additionally, transactions for a range of large-scale mining machinery and intelligent manufacturing equipment amounted to CNY 670 million.

Yulin City is located in the northernmost part of Shaanxi Province, China. It is rich in energy and mineral resources. In Yulin is located the Shenfu Coalfield, one of the seven largest coalfields in the world, and also the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Gas Field, the largest verified integrated gas field onshore in China. In the 1990s, Yulin began its construction as an energy and chemical industry base and gradually put together a system centered on electric power and chemical industries bolstered by the exploitation of coal, oil, gas and salts.

In recent years, Yulin City has been pursuing its development goal of building a world-class high-end energy and chemical base, and striving to promote high-quality development through transformation and upgrading. To date, the investment of completed energy and chemical projects is around CNY 500 billion, which puts Yulin amongst the four national modern coal chemical demonstration zones. It is estimated that by the end of 2025, the proportion of high-end products in the Yulin chemical industry will have reached 25% and the refinement rate will exceed 40%. The full industry chain covering core raw materials, chemical materials, and coal-based high-end refined products such as nylon, polyester, fiber, and textiles will be aligned.

Image Attachments Links:

Link: http://asianetnews.net/view-attachment?attach-id=371225Caption: Visitors to the exhibition watching a heading machine from an exhibitor at the Coal Expo on September 8.

SOURCE The People's Government of Yulin City

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The 15th Yulin International Coal and High-end Energy Chemical Industry Expo held in Yulin, China - PRNewswire

KANSAS CITY, Mo. Pressure came from the right side yet again, so Deshaun Watson stepped up in the pocket to keep the play and any chance the Texans had at winning alive.

By this point in the third quarter of the NFLs opening game, which was supposed to be an exciting matchup between footballs highest-paid quarterbacks, the Texans were already down 17 points to the Chiefs, so Watson was desperate to make anything happen. He spun to his left, then juked another Kansas City defender as he broke outside the numbers. Watson kept his eyes downfield, looking for an open receiver, until finally he ran out of bounds for a loss, pointing in frustration at where he wanted running back Duke Johnson to be.

So often in these situations a broken play on a got-to-have-it third down Watson could trust DeAndre Hopkins to find a hole in the defense. But the All-Pro receiver is no longer part of this team, and Houstons...

Read the rest here:
Following offseason overhaul, Texans lack chemistry and have no time to build it - The Athletic

WHO Wants To Be A Millionaire? viewers were shocked last night when a retired science teacher bungled an "easy" chemistry question.

Pat Lucas was gently mocked by WWTBAM host Jeremy Clarkson after leaving the show early - with just 1,000.

Read ourcelebrity news live blogfor the latest showbiz gossip

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She was asked: "A skull and crossbones is a warning symbol that specifically indicates a material is what?"

The science teacher then surveyed the answers: "A. Toxic. B. Corrosive. C. Hazardous to the environment, or D. Flammable."

Pat mused: "OK, being a science teacher I see a lot of this symbol. You'd think I would have paid more attention to it."

She then used her 50/50 lifeline, whittling the answers down to just: "A. Toxic and C. Hazardous."

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The player told Jeremy: "I wish one of the others was gone, I am sure it means hazardous to the environment.

"So I will go for hazardous to the environment - final answer."

Jeremy, 60, replied: "Well you are a science teacher, so you should have got that right - but I'm afraid you didn't.

"You've just lost a thousand pounds, I'm sorry about that. It's a long way to come from Lincoln for a thousand pounds. I hope you had a nice minute or two in the chair."

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Viewers were shocked, with one writing: "How the hell does a science teacher get that wrong!!"

Another wrote: "I cant believe Im sat here watching Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and a science teacher for that toxic sign question wrong lmfao."

A third tweeted: "A 'science teacher'....obviously skipped the health and safety training."

Pat left the show without a lot of cash to enjoy - but there is a mega-winner on the way with someone having scooped the 1million prize for the first time in 14 years.

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Jeremy has spoken about the moment the winner - whose identity is staying secret until the show airs - bagged the jackpot.

He said: "It felt like we whizzed through the questions. All of a sudden, confetti was falling from the ceiling and I was saying, Youve just won one million pounds.

I wasnt sure Id ever get to utter those immortal words. It was a little emotional - but, boy, did it feel good.

See the article here:
Retired science teacher bungles easy chemistry question on Who Wants To Be Millionaire? - The Sun

FIFA

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EA Sports is revamping chemistry styles in FIFA 21 well, kind of. They are getting a fresh lick of paint with some new icons to match the theme of the new title, with EA revealing the 22 different styles on September 10.

When it comes down to it, chemistry styles in FUT can be the difference maker between breaking through an opponents defense or getting trounced yourself. You dont want your star players working against you with chemistry styles that dont suit them or your style of play.

Thats what makes the news of the potential of more chemistry styles coming out exciting. Some new ones could be made to fill the void left by the current set.

EA has finally revealed exactly what chemistry styles are coming to FIFA 21. 22 styles will be available to FUT players, each with a unique set of boosted stats to get the most out of your players. They have even gotten a fresh lick of paint, which might take some getting used to.

If you were hoping for some new styles, you are out of luck for now. The 22 chemistry styles EA revealed for FIFA 21 are all the same from FIFA 20. The numbers haven't even changed, although this could be an option as the title nears launch.

If you need a quick refresher of the different chemistry styles, weve tabled them down below for you.

Obviously, if EA makes any changes to chemistry styles, we will let you know. Be sure to follow our Twitter account @UltimateTeamUK so you dont miss when the hottest FIFA 21 news drops. The launch is only weeks away now, so get excited.

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FIFA 21 Ultimate Team chemistry styles revealed with new icons - Dexerto

To the untrained eye, the photograph looks likea riot of colours and shapes, in the vein of abstract art.

Itis art and it's also science, a literal snapshot of Stephanie Gallant's chemistry research at Memorial University, that's now on digital display and up for public votingas part of a national contest of scientific research images.

But what exactly is the jumble?

"You're looking at crystals, and it might not seem like crystals like we think, becausethey're on a very different size scale, but they are crystals," said Gallant.

The crystals,made of cobalt, iron and oxygen, are almost unimaginably small, ranging between 60 to 500 nanometres a poppyseed is 10,000 times the size of the largest of them.

Gallant made the tiny, magnetic nanoparticles in a lab, as part of her research work in materials chemistry, andeven she grapples with their size.

"Ican barely visualize it, because it's something we wouldn't be able to see with our naked eye on that scale," she said.

Lucky for her, and the wider world of science, there is an instrument that can visualize it: a scanning electron microscope.Gallant used one to capture the image, and then she took some artistic licence to make the particles visually pop with teal, pink and mustard hues.

"It's falsely coloured. The images that come from the scanning electron microscope are black and white," she told CBC Radio's Weekend AM.

"That's kind of the artistic part of what I've done, is that I've digitally coloured it afterwards, trying to highlight the different shapes that you see."

The colourshelp her and other scientists distinguish between the different forms of the crystals.Those shapes form part of Gallant's research, as she delves into why the crystals, which all have the same chemical composition, take on different shapes.

Regardless of size, they all serve a purpose as a material chemist, Gallant works to find practical uses for various creations.

"Believe it or not these beautiful little crystals can actually be used for sensing of pollutants," she said.

Gallant hadlong hoped to submit an image tothe Science Exposed contest, run by the federal Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

"I've been following this contest for years, just out of interest. Ilove art, Ilove science, and it's the perfect in-between of the two," she said.

The contest aims to showcase scientific research across Canada, and doubles as an artistic exhibition forbiologists, physicists, chemists and anyone working in the field.

"There's something visually interesting in every science, Ipersonally think, and you can see that in the contest entries," said Gallant.

Images from 2020 include a closeup look at a bee's compound eye, a fluorescent ovarian tumour biopsy sample, and the spiky balls within a lithium ion battery.

"It gives a little glimpse into what we do every day," said Gallant.

"As a chemist, I know not everyone knows what people in chemistry do every day, so it's a nice little piece of that to explain, this is what I spend my time doing, and this is what it could be used for."

Voting for the contest, which runs until Sept. 13, takes place on the Science Exposed website.

Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador

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Striking photo by MUN chemist in national contest that celebrates the art of science - CBC.ca

Climate change, sustainability, and digital transformation will drive massive change for future chemicals companies

Boston, Mass. Over the next 20 years, the chemicals and materials industries will face fundamental changes, forcing them to adopt new skills and develop new goals. These changes will have a major impact on the flow of both materials and information. In the new report The Chemicals and Materials Company of 2040, Lux Research outlines the factors impacting these industries and how they will cause large-scale change.

There are four megatrends currently shaping the chemicals and materials industries: feedstock and resource transformation, sustainability, change in consumer demand, and digital transformation. The first two will impact the flow of materials, while the last two will impact the flow of information.

The future companies of the chemicals industry will look drastically different from today, says Lux Research Senior Analyst and lead author of the report, Anthony Schiavo. Companies that do not evolve and invest in sustainability initiatives and digital transformation will not survive the change.

Sustainability pressure will manifest in multiple forms: Changing demand for energy driven by the growth of electrified mobility will alter the economics of gas and petroleum feedstocks, while the need to create sustainable plastics and chemicals will drive the use of bio-based and recycled resources. At the same time, climate change will hurt the economics of large-scale, centralized refineries and traditional production processes. These factors will push the chemicals industry into a production paradigm that is smaller-scale, more distributed, local, and flexible, explains Schiavo. Techniques like chemical recycling and fermentation will be the major beneficiaries of this shift, as well as business models that enable more flexibility. These technologies align with growing consumer demand for materials and products that are more sustainable and personalized.

The explosion of digital technologies has made it possible to collect more data on the physical operations of the chemicals industry than ever before. At the same time, digital sales platforms are enabling far more transparency into the flows of goods and money, as well as the buying behaviors for customers in the industry. The most notable impacts of digital transformation will be in business models. New tools and data will be crucial to enabling service-based and outcome-driven business models. This will help the chemicals industry maintain growth in the face of lowered consumption and deliver customized products to smaller and smaller market niches. Digital sales platforms will erode these differences between commodity and specialty chemicals businesses by making it easier to bring a degree of customization even to commodity materials while lowering the cost.

This will cause a new split in the industry between premium chemical companies and budget chemical companies, adds Schiavo. Premium chemical companies will integrate new digital tools with traditional specialty chemical services such as formulation development and manufacturing assistance as well as becoming deeply involved in product development with their customers. Budget chemical companies will sell high-quality specialty materials at rock-bottom prices, but only offer online and automated support. Chemical companies need to begin planning their response now to avoid being caught flat-footed.

For more information, download the executive summary of the report.

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Global Megatrends Will Transform the Chemical Industry Over the Next 20 Years - WhatTheyThink

Because of the popularity of MOFs, scientists are developing, synthesizing, studying, and cataloging MOFs. However, the sheer number of MOFs is creating a problem.

Even if synthesizing new MOF, it is quite challenging to know whether it is new and not some minor variation of a structure that has already been synthesized.

To address this problem, EPFL scientists, in collaboration with MIT, have used machine-learning to organize the chemical diversity found in the ever-growing databases for the popular metal-organic framework materials. Using machine learning, scientists developed a language to compare two materials and quantify their differences.

Through this new language, scientists set off to determine the chemical diversity in MOF databases.

Professor Berend Smit at EPFL said,Before, the focus was on the number of structures. But now, we discovered that the major databases have all kinds of bias towards particular structures. There is no point in carrying out expensive screening studies on similar structures. One is better off in carefully selecting a set of very diverse structures, which will give much better results with far fewer structures.

Another exciting application is scientific archeology: The researchers used their machine-learning system to identify the MOF structures that, at the time of the study, were published as very different from the ones that are already known.

Smit said,So we now have a straightforward tool that can tell an experimental group how different their novel MOF is compared to the 90,000 other structures already reported.

The rest is here:
Using machine learning to organize the chemical diversity - Tech Explorist

Everyone loves a remake of an already perfect film, so get ready to welcome Ben Wheatleys Rebecca with open arms when it premieres in October. No matter how much Wheatley or anyone else insists this is not a remake of Alfred Hitchcocks Best Picture-winning psychological thriller, it will, of course, be ruthlessly compared to Hitchcocks film. Hitchcocks Rebecca is perfect, and no matter how well-intentioned or executed other adaptations arethere is a 1960s Indian version called Khora, a 1970s BBC production, a 1997 mini-series starring Charles Dance and Emilia Fox, and a 2000s Pakistani television adaptationnone have come close to Hitchcocks vision. Everyone should probably stop trying it with Rebecca because Hitch already did it to perfection, but that has never stopped a filmmaker determined to put their own spin on a famous story.

I like Ben Wheatleys films a lot, and Im sure his Rebecca will be stylish and in some way unsettling, as he specializes in disturbing imagery and tense, high-wire dramatics. Adapting Daphne du Mauriers novel, Rebecca tells the story of a young woman driven to the edge of madness by a spiteful housekeeper who taunts the unnamed young woman with the specter of her husbands first wife, the impossibly perfect Rebecca. Wheatley has cast Lily James as the young woman; Armie Hammer as her husband, Maxim de Winter; and Kristin Scott Thomas as the housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers. I am SUPER into Kristin Scott Thomas and the way her eye twitches like a velociraptor spotting its prey when she sees the new Mrs. de Winter, but literally everything else about this trailer is blah.

Armie Hammer and Lily James just dont look like they have much chemistry, do they? Maxim and his new wife wed after a whirlwind, Riviera courtship, they should be crazy sexy and totally besotted, but their scenes in the trailer look as cold as anything in the famously unsexy Fifty Shades movies. Maybe their chemistry will spark in the context of the full movie, but Im not inspired by the chilliness of their interactions here. Seems more likely Mrs. Danvers would take one look at their total lack of chemistry and huff quietly and then just wait for their marriage to fizzle on its own. Dont get me wrong, Ill watch this entirely for Kristin Scott Thomas, but Im not expecting much otherwise.

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Armie Hammer and Lily James dont have much chemistry in Ben Wheatleys Rebecca remake of Hitchcock classic - LaineyGossip

Around 1700 postdocs at Columbia University in New York City have formed a union the first of its kind at a private US university through the United Auto Workers (UAW), one of the largest unions in North America. Nicholas Tay, a chemistry postdoc at Columbia who was part of the effort to build support for the union, hopes this is just a first step on the road to securing greater rights for postdocs in the US and beyond.

The new contract with Columbia addresses concerns about inadequate pay and benefits, as well as insufficient rights for harassment victims and international researchers.

While there are some local UAW unions in public universities in America such as the University of California system and the University of Washington, none officially existed at private universities until now.

Postdocs at Columbia technically became members of the UAW in July, but they never had a ratified contract and therefore had no power to negotiate their contracts with the university. Now, their new contract mandates that postdocs at the university cannot be paid less than $60,000 (47,000), among other things.

Previously, postdocs at Columbia earned slightly more than the minimum established by the National Institutes of Health, but less than their counterparts at other institutions in New York City, such as New York University and Rockefeller University, according to Tay. As a postdoc, I was being paid around $52,000, Tay tells Chemistry World. Now, that number for Columbia postdocs was raised to a minimum of $60,000, which is higher than those at Rockefeller University and NYU.

Beyond ensuring access to a living wage in one of the most expensive US cities, the new contract also secured six weeks of paid parental leave after one year of service there was none before. Safeguards for harassment and assault victims are included in the contract as well.

We have protections now for postdocs in the case that they feel pressured by their principal investigator, or anyone else, to perform actions that they dont feel comfortable with, Tay explains. The union is there to offer a way for them to file a complaint there is now a mechanism through which they can express their concerns that didnt exist before. Postdocs will now have access to a neutral arbitrator on claims of discrimination and harassment.

There are also new protections for international researchers at Columbia, including for visa and immigration-related issues. For example, they now have the right to reasonable paid time off to attend immigration-related proceedings, and the university has agreed to make reasonable efforts to allow them to work remotely if they are unable to return to the US for reasons outside their control.

We wanted rights for international workers, who have recently been under attack by the Trump administration, says Tay, referring to, among other things, President Trumps executive order in June that blocked the processing of visa categories such as H-1Bs, which universities and tech firms often use to hire researchers and scientists from other countries.

These developments at Columbia represent a good first step in that they demonstrate postdoc unions can exist and be successful at a private universities, according to Tay. We hope that this will continue to grow, because issues like low pay, unstable benefits and discrimination in academia will not go away on their own, he says. We need unions to give ourselves collective action to change the culture of academia in the US and globally, he says.

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The first ever postdoc union at a private US university has been formed - Chemistry World