Sep 18, 2016; Denver, CO, USA; Denver Broncos inside linebacker Todd Davis (51) during player introductions prior to the game against the Indianapolis Colts at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

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Last season Todd Davis experienced what it was like to be an NFL starter. However the experience came with hard lessons and bits and pieces of success.

Davis registered 97 tackles and 0.5 sacks. While the stats dont necessarily scream starter or impact player, Davis adapted quickly against various elements of on field adversity.

Primarily, Davis was targeted by opposing offenses in coverage by going empty and running the tailback on certain routes. Davis lacked speed that would enable him to cover most tailbacks out of the backfield.

With the struggles that come natural on the playing field, so do the positive learning lessons. Living in the shadow and question of replacing Danny Trevathan, Davis focused on bettering himself.

In the journey of self fulfillment, Davis is embracing truth and learning to grow from it.

Its huge for me. I think it means that were going to tell the truth. By us telling the truth and living by the truth, were going to be better. We dont have to sugarcoat things. We just tell it how it is and we grow from that. Todd Davis on what the Truth motto means to him (Via Denver Broncos PR)

Davis understood that he struggled in pass coverage and expressed that he has been working hard to improve that area of his game. Davis spoke on his desire to remain on the field in key situations. I would love to stay on the field during those key third downs and in the down packages. Im definitely working on my coverage and just trying to have a reason for me to not be off the field

Surely, knowing that he must improve on his coverage means he understands that he must accomplish that in order to improve his shelf life and value as a member of an elite defense.

I just want to be better. I watched film and I saw some of the areas that I can improve in and some of the ways that I can enhance my game Davis said.

Another element that Davis said was important to him was developing chemistry with the man next to him, Brandon Marshall.

I think its been great Davis said.

Hes from Vegas and Im from California. Those places are so close together. Were able to bond and talk about things. [For example] growing up, we have a lot of similarities, childhood memories or things we used to listen to. I think that really brought us together. Just playing together, I think we have a chemistry like nobody else. Todd Davis on his chemistry with Brandon Marshall (Via Denver Broncos PR)

Davis spoke highly of new defensive coordinator Joe Woods and Head Coach Vance Joseph. He even went along to explain how Joseph has shifted the mentality of the entire team to compete and finish.

I love everything about him. I love his personality, his intensity and what he brings to the locker room and in the meeting room Davis spoke of Joseph. The passion that Joseph has for his defense is still there and its evident. I love seeing him getting fired up when we make a play in practice.

Todd Davis spoke of new defensive coordinator Joe Woods in a positive light as well. He just brings a new attitude, a new life to us. The way he calls plays and his mentality behind the defense is going to be huge for us.

Three years ago I was not fond of Todd Davis because I believed he wasnt ready. Last season was a big question mark heading into the year, but overall Davis impressed me as each week passed. A revealing stat was that Davis didnt miss a single tackle last season.

As an inside linebacker that is a phenomenal stat and gives Davis enough confidence to keep working hard and staying hungry. I still believe he needs to work heavily on his pass coverage, but other than that I am looking forward to what this season will bring for Todd Davis.

What are your thoughts Broncos Country?

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Broncos LB Todd Davis Eyes Consistency And Chemistry - Predominantly Orange

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Henry Demarest, an eighth grader at Irvington Middle School, qualified for the 2017 national You Be The Chemist challenge.(Photo: Submitted photo)

An eighth grader fromTarrytown is one of 42 finalists heading to the nation's capital for a national chemistry competition.

Henry Demarest, a student at Irvington Middle School, qualified for this year's You Be The Chemist challenge out of 55,000 middle school students from 40 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Ricowho participated atthe local and state levels.

Participants, who have to be in grades 5-8,had to prove their knowledge of chemistry by taking a series of timed tests and doing question-and-answer portions with thejudges. The final round takes place in Washington, D.C.

Students will competefor more than $20,000 in scholarship funds and prizes at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C. on June 19.

The Chemical Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, oversees the competition.

Read or Share this story: http://www.lohud.com/story/news/education/2017/06/10/irvington-m-s-student-head-d-c-chemistry-competition/385177001/

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BALTIMORE All Matt Barnes had to do yesterday was drill Manny Machado in the butt like Pedro would have done with the Bambino.

Instead, by sailing a pitch behind Machados head, Barnes woke up the Bambino, the Orioles and this is most damning his own team leader.

He also ensured that these hostilities will likely linger until at least the next Red Sox-Orioles series.

Cant anybody here play this game the right way?

By not exacting revenge correctly, Barnes blew up a chance to broker a truce with the Orioles.

The pitch also caused a self-inflicted wound that doesnt help the Sox own harmony and chemistry.

Its too soon to assess the damage not with a wound this fresh.

Thats not how you do that, man Im sorry to (Machado) and his team, said Dustin Pedroia after the 6-2 Sox win. If youre going to protect guys, you do it right away. He knows that. We both know that. Its definitely a mishandled situation. There was zero intention of him trying to hurt me, he just made a bad slide (when) he did hurt me (Friday night). Its baseball, man. Im not mad at him. I love Manny Machado. I love playing against him. I love watching him. If I slid into third base and got Mannys knee, I know Im going to get drilled. Thats baseball. I get drilled, and I go to first base. Thats it.

Teammates dont throw shade on teammates real often.

Especially Pedroia.

Barnes, Pedroia and manager John Farrell all swore that the right-handed reliever was not aiming at Machados head. Theres no reason to doubt that or malign Barnes, who is the opposite of a bad egg.

But the videotape will always show that his pitch was a couple inches away from hitting Machados head and causing who knows what kind of terrible injury.

Nobody wants to be labeled a head-hunter.

In the minds of most of those who live in Baltimore or play for the Orioles, Barnes was head-hunting yesterday.

You can kill a guy doing that, said Os pitcher Kevin Gausman.

It didnt matter that Barnes wasnt trying to bean Machado, just as it doesnt matter that Machado wasnt trying to maim Pedroia when he slid past second base, spikes high and landed on Pedroias left leg, injuring his knee and ankle and keeping him out of game action for two games and counting.

Intent is not the issue now.

Revenge, justice, long memories and baseballs inscrutable and uncodified code are still in play.

Barnes aim was more than lousy. It was inflammatory.

I think it was completely obvious havent seen a guy miss that bad in a while, behind a guys head I dont think theres any question about it, said Orioles first baseman Chris Davis.

Baltimore manager Buck Showalter was relatively subdued.

Whether he threw at him or not, Ill let him and the good Lord answer, said Showalter. Im not going to get into that.

Machado himself took a long time to come out and meet the media. Before he did, he had plenty of time to see the TV replays that caught his exchanges across the diamond with Pedroia, where Pedroia was telling him that he wouldnt have handled the situation like that.

He also received a text from Pedroia.

You never want to get hit in the head, intentionally or not, it doesnt matter, you dont want to get hit in the head, said Machado.

Im going to respect Pedey to the end of this day, I look up to a guy like that. Whatever he says and whatever is going on that side is up to them and their situation. At the end of day he knows what happened, and I respect him to the end of the day. He shot me a text. Its just part of the game, part of baseball. We all grind out there. We all play hard. We all play hard for each other and hard for the team we play against.

Machado and the rest of the Orioles drew kudos from Showalter for not letting their emotions get the best of them.

They all, believe me, wanted to do something about it, said Showalter, who made sure to come out on the field and put himself in between Machado and the nearest Red Sox after the pitch. I really respect the courage our players had today.

Barnes sounded appropriately miserable.

I would never ever intentionally throw at somebodys head, said Barnes. Thats kind of a line you dont cross. Im sorry that it kind of ended up that high and fortunately it didnt hit him but I think hes got every right to be mad that that one got loose.

Yes, Machado was mad, as are the Orioles and Pedroia.

This will settle down, but it wont be forgotten.

All because Barnes could not drill someone the right way.

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Silverman: Matt Barnes' pitch leads to dangerous chemistry - Boston Herald

Ever since their first real-life encounter earlier this month, US president Donald Trump has been touting the great chemistry he has with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping.

Xi might feel less enthusiastic. In their latest call, which took place during Beijings morning today (April 24), Xi urged Trump to show restraint over the issue of North Korea, which might be preparing its sixth nuclear test for a military holiday being held tomorrow. The two leaders also discussed Chinas troublesome neighbor at their Mar-a-Lago meeting and during a follow-up call.

On April 12 Trump told the Wall Street Journal (paywall) that he has offered Xi better trade deals in exchange for help on confronting North Korea. We have a great chemistry together. We like each other. I like him a lot. I think his wife is terrific, he said.

Last week Trump sat down with the Associated Press to talk about the first 100 day of his administration. This time he also used the phrase great chemistry to describe his relationship with other world leaders, including Egyptian president Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi and German chancellor Angela Merkel (whom Trump awkwardly ignored while she tried to shake his hand at the White House last month).

Of course Xi was on the list, too. When asked to elaborate on his chemistry with Xi, Trump took Chinas hardening stance against North Korea as an example:

Look, he [Xi] turned down many coal ships. These massive coal ships are coming where they get a lot of their income. Theyre coming into China and theyre being turned away. Thats never happened before. The fuel, the oil, so many different things.

There appears to be some truth about the coal. As for the oil, thats less clear.

In February, China announced a ban on coal imports from North Korea, following the rogue nations then-latest missile test and alleged assassination of its rulers half-brother. After the Trump-Xi meeting, Chinese customs authorities reportedly ordered domestic firms to return North Korean coal shipments, although it appears such shipments were also being turned back before then. Official data also show Chinese imports of North Korean coal halved in the first quarter from a year ago. Beijing said in late February that by doing this it was complying with UN sanctions adopted in November, which it had not been strictly following.

Things are different when it comes to oil. North Korea relies almost entirely on China for its oil supply, and would suffer greatly without it. Beijing appears to have neither frozen nor reduced oil exports to its isolated neighbor. Doing so remains an option to punish Pyongyang for another nuclear test, according to Chinese experts and state newspapers, but their stances dont necessarily reflect official policy.

Meanwhile Trump said he has backtracked from his threat to label China a currency manipulator not only because Xi is working with him on containing North Korea, but also because China has stopped artificially lowering its currency since Trump took office. He told AP:

But President Xi, from the time I took office, he has not, they have not been currency manipulators. Because theres a certain respect because he knew I would do something or whatever.

He went on to say that, since he became president, Beijing has used a very specific formula to prop up its currency. But its unclear what hes referring to. China stopped keeping its currency artificially low about 10 years ago. Since 2015, Chinas central bank has started to strengthen the yuans value in an attempt to combat capital outflows amid the nations economic slowdown, and indeed has spent about $1 trillion in that effort.

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Trump's great chemistry with Chinese president Xi Jinping is actually not that great - Quartz

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- The arrival of Kyle Shanahan as head coach and John Lynch as general manager has come with a massive rebuild of the San Francisco 49ers' roster. In fact, of the 90 players on the team's current roster, 50 of them have been brought in since Shanahan and Lynch arrived in January.

But the makeover at Levi's Stadium has extended well beyond the composition of the roster.

As part of the process of instilling the culture Lynch and Shanahan seek and embracing the long and storied history of one of the NFL's most accomplished franchises, there have been a number of changes made to the team's locker room.

Most noticeable is the drastically altered locker assignments. Whereas players used to be assigned lockers by position group, now players of every group are sitting next to one another. It might seem like no big deal, but Shanahan views it as an important way for his team to build chemistry from the first player to the 90th.

"I want our team to be close and I don't want just groups to be close," Shanahan said. "You're with your group enough in your position meetings and usually, all day. Each position group's broken up and that gets real tight and then the sides of the ball are broken up. So I think the more you can mix up the locker room and you can have a running back next to a D-Lineman or a corner next to a center, I just think it mixes it up. It forces you to get a little bit out of your comfort zone and I think in the long run it makes your team a little closer."

In addition to the locker shuffle, Shanahan and Lynch have added a few more tweaks to the room. In the small hallway players enter and exit from, there's now a painted mural featuring franchise legends Joe Montana, Ronnie Lott, Patrick Willis, Roger Craig and Steve Young with the words "It won't be easy, but it will be worth it" underneath it.

Inside the locker room, Shanahan and Lynch's team rules can be found on the walls.

Those rules: 1. Protect the team. 2. No complaining, no excuses. 3. Be on time.

Of course, none of these changes are revolutionary or will directly result in victories. But for a new regime, it's always important to make sure every player knows what's expected of him. It's part of building the culture that goes with rebuilding a roster.

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Kyle Shanahan gives 49ers locker room new look to help boost chemistry - ESPN (blog)

Thirteen Western Connecticut State University students who are candidates this year to receive Bachelor of Science degrees in chemistry or biochemistry presented their senior research projects at the recent 2017 American Chemical Society National Meeting and Exposition held in San Francisco.

The students, who have conducted research during the past year in the laboratories of Chemistry Department faculty mentors at WCSU, were accepted by the ACS to participate in the Chemical Education exhibition held during the annual meeting in April, which attracted approximately 18,000 chemistry professionals, academics and students from the United States and worldwide. In addition to presenting their research and viewing the work of fellow chemistry students in a professional conference setting, the ACS National Meeting afforded the opportunity for the WCSU participants to attend lectures on pioneering chemistry research investigations and attend workshops and career fairs useful in pursuing graduate studies and employment in the chemistry field.

Western students who presented their research at the ACS National Meeting include: Sumra Akhlaq, Sadia Alam, Freddy Balarezo, Gursimran Kaur, Madiha Khan, Trevor Lyons and Edwin Rojas, all of Danbury; Douglas Fleischmann, of Brookfield; Alexander Bieber and Li Shan Lin, both of New Milford; Charbel Khalil, of Sandy Hook; Robert Mownn, of Shelton; and Doneisha Coleman, of West Haven. WCSU student Maximilian Krainer, of New Fairfield, also attended the conference.

WCSU Associate Professor of Chemistry Dr. Nicholas J. Greco, who accompanied the students to San Francisco, observed that Western students have participated in the conference for the past three decades, but that this years delegation represented the largest and most diverse group of participants ever to represent the university at the ACS National Meeting. They were able to interact with students and faculty from around the world, present and defend their research, critically analyze their work and learn what everyone else in the field is doing, Greco said. This experience provides validation that the research they are doing is important and relevant to the chemical community.

Ive never seen so many people with similar research interests in the same place, Fleischmann remarked about his experience in presenting at the conference. His research project, mentored by Assistant Professor of Chemistry Dr. Daniel Baluha, has involved using infrared spectroscopy to study the chemical composition of humic substances, the complex mixture of organic materials found in soil as well as in many aquatic environments. I found five other individuals who are doing the same kind of research that Im doing, only with different methodologies, he said. I learned how were all working to improve our understanding of chemistry, and we were able to communicate our research issues and find out how to improve our experiments.

Kaurs research has focused on characterization of an enzyme found in the bacterium that causes the lung disease form of tuberculosis, an area of basic research that ultimately holds promise for investigation of pharmaceutical development for treatment of the disease. She credited her research adviser, Associate Professor of Chemistry Dr. Anne Roberts, for helpful mentoring and noted that, as a chemistry student at Western, I have found all my professors so supportive. When I enrolled in the program, I thought it would be very difficult and felt intimidated at first, but in this supportive environment the chemistry faculty have helped me to succeed.

Beibers project, mentored by Professor of Chemistry Dr. Yuan Mei-Ratliff, has explored methods to achieve optimal performance of a type of resin used to determine the quantities of specific pharmaceuticals found in waste water. He described his experience at the ACS National Meeting as eye-opening. It was really cool to walk into an exposition hall and see hundreds of companies, vendors and recruiters from the chemical industry, and so many poster presentations by students with the same interests as mine.

Beiber, who transferred to Western from a larger college to pursue his chemistry degree, remarked that its awesome how personal our professors have made our educational experience. We can approach every professor we have, and they make sure that we master what we need to know. I had a tough path to get here, and my professors have helped me every step of the way.

At the May WCSU commencement, 21 students will receive bachelors degrees in either chemistry or biochemistry, and a total of 85 undergraduates currently are enrolled as chemistry or biochemistry majors. Greco said that the chemistry program at Western prepares students equally well for pursuit of studies for an advanced degree or for employment after graduation in industry, and this is reflected in the roughly even split between graduates who continue on to graduate school or enter the workplace. Among the students who attended the ACS conference, many plan to pursue graduate studies at institutions including Georgetown University, Tufts University, the SUNY College of Optometry, the University of Buffalo and the University of Connecticut.

Greco observed that WCSU chemistry students senior research projects are designed to provide one-on-one learning experiences with their faculty advisers, and customized to address each students specific area of interest in chemistry investigation. Kaur, Fleischmann and Bieber all remarked that their faculty advisers provided useful guidance when they began their projects, but also afforded wide latitude to design and pursue their own projects as they progressed.

The majority of the time we spend in the classroom and the lab is to teach our students how to do research, Greco said. We are giving them the tools that will help them to go out and apply what they have learned when they leave Western.

For information, contact the Office of University Relations at (203) 837-8486.

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WCSU chemistry students present research at national conference - HamletHub

Court: UT Austin Can't Revoke Chemistry Ph.D. Inside Higher Ed A Texas appeals court last week granted an injunction to a 2008 chemistry Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin who's fighting to keep her doctorate after accusations of scientific misconduct. Suvi Orr's dissertation paper was retracted for ...

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Court: UT Austin Can't Revoke Chemistry Ph.D. - Inside Higher Ed

Credit: Stephen McNeil

At the start of the course, students at the University of British Columbias Okanagan campus work collaboratively to identify how chemistry might help address the United Nations sustainable development goals.

At the University of British Columbias Okanagan campus, two chemistry teachers have used systems thinking to help them redesign their general chemistry curriculum around the United Nations sustainable development goals (UN SDGs).

The small campus and team have meant that W. Stephen McNeil and Tamara K. Freeman have had a lot of flexibility in their work, according to McNeil. Theyve been revising all aspects of the general chemistry curriculum since around 2013. That course is taken by between 750 and 800 first-year science students annually. In the past, the course has lacked context to explain the relevance of chemistry in the students everyday lives, McNeil says. So he and Freeman, who is the first-year coordinator at the Okanagan campus, decided to rebuild the curriculum from scratch. To help them do that, the pair turned to the UN SDGs: 17 topics that the UN has identified as important for building a sustainable world.

Were not the first people to realize this, McNeil says, but the United Nations sustainable development goals are a really rich thematic framework that we thought that we could make use of.

So thats where the pair started. Their aim, McNeil explains, was to get students to realize that chemistry is a human endeavor that can help solve the SDGs as well as be part of problems such as pollution and climate change. They recognized that just telling the students about chemistrys importance wouldnt be enough. We wanted to give our students opportunities to explore for themselves, McNeil says.

Credit: Stephen McNeil

Students at the University of British Columbias Okanagan campus work together on activities linking what they have learned to the United Nations sustainable development goals.

The two began by developing a vision of what the new course might be. Rather than try to do it all at once, we worked toward it incrementally, McNeil says. Using systems thinking, they slowly developed the curriculum by introducing small changes each year and then building upon them.

The work is a little like a retrosynthesis in organic chemistry, according to McNeil. The pair picked an SDG and then tried to find topics or themes that could be linked to that goal; they then chose chemical concepts applicable to those topics. For example, six SDGs are related to the topic of ozone and chlorofluorocarbons, and that can be linked to several chemical concepts.

This new approach has changed the content of the coursefor example, adding spectroscopy and other analytical ideas that McNeil says traditionally dont show up in a first-year curriculum but can provide evidence to the students.

We havent landed yet on a single operational definition of what systems thinking means or within the context of chemistry education what it should imply in terms of our practice.

W. Stephen McNeil, chemistry professor, University of British Columbia, Okanagan campus

Freeman and McNeil have also changed the delivery of the course to fit the SDG framework. After introducing different concepts, for example, the teachers give the students time to reflect and put the concepts into context. There are points in the course where we pause for a moment and say, OK, lets think about everything weve just been discussing for the last 46 weeks and talk about an issue, McNeil explains.

For example, students first learn about gas laws and kinetic molecular theory, introductory spectroscopy and Lewis structures, resonance, and the correlation of bond order with chemical bond strengths. Then the teaching pauses and McNeil or Freeman introduces a case study looking at the role of chlorofluorocarbons in refrigeration and the depletion of the ozone layer.

According to McNeil, these case studies were originally designed to add context to what the students were learning, but through surveys and interviews with students, they found that the students believe the activities also help reinforce learning.

While systems thinking strongly guided the development of the case study exercises and the SDG framework, Freeman and McNeil have not explicitly included the development of systems thinking skills as learning objectives for their course. However, they suspect some of those skills are developed by the students anyway.

And that ambiguity highlights what McNeil describes as a point of tension among chemistry educators. We havent landed yet on a single operational definition of what systems thinking means or within the context of chemistry education what it should imply in terms of our practice, he says. There is a diversity of approach and a diversity of interpretation.

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In these classrooms, chemistry is part of a larger whole - Chemical & Engineering News

Associate Professor Joseph Baker with chemistry students Jonathan Piscitelli 21, Kevin Marin 21 and Emma Webb 21.

If youve ever needed antibiotics, youre familiar with the destructive power of bacterial cells. Bacteria can accumulate on everyday surfaces and cause illnesses from strep throat to pneumonia.

With their amazing powers of adhesion, these cells can cling to surfaces, join together to form colonies, and even move around. Hair-like appendages made of proteins called type IV pili extend from the bacterial cell, grab onto surfaces and then contract, pulling the cell forward like a grappling hook.

Joseph Baker, associate professor of chemistry, is taking a closer look at these grappling hooks in order to better understand their role in the infection process. His research could help uncover revolutionary new medical treatments.

A physicist by training, Baker has worked in the chemistry field since receiving his PhD from the University of Arizona in 2011. With my physics background, the way that I try to understand these protein systems is from a model-based approach, he says.

Now, with help from TCNJs Electronic Laboratory for Science and Analysis (a high-performance computing cluster affectionately known as ELSA), Baker and his team of TCNJ students (nearly 20 over the last five years) are using a computational method called molecular dynamics simulation to analyze the movements of the pili. This method works by calculating the interactions between atoms in the simulated system (in some cases hundreds of thousands or millions of atoms) and then using Newtons laws of motion to determine how the pili moves through time, essentially creating a movie of the molecular motion.

Specifically, Baker is interested in understanding how type IV pili respond to tension forces. As the grappling hook stretches and grabs onto a new surface, its structure changes.

Its like taking a string and pulling on it. The string will stretch a bit and so will type IV pili when they are pulled on, says Baker.

Understanding these structural changes could have groundbreaking practical implications. Researchers could theoretically develop a molecule that would sever the pili during adhesion, preventing bacterial infection.

Bakers research could have another important application: drug delivery. Hollowed out pili could act like nanotubes similar to a straw that is thousands of times thinner than human hair aiding in the transport of drug molecules into infected or cancerous cells and potentially helping to combat disease.

With his simulations, Baker will explore the kinds of molecules that could move through these hollow structures, and investigate their application as novel nanoscale biomaterial devices.

With support from the Gitenstein-Hart Sabbatical Prize, Baker will spend his sabbatical year at Northern Arizona University working with his theory collaborator and others at the universitys Center for Materials Interfaces in Research and Applications, to further develop his research.

Sarah Voorhees 20

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How this chemistry professor is grappling with molecular models in hopes of making big breakthroughs - The College of New Jersey News

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The City of Vero Beach has started a pilot program using a non-glyphosate product to eliminate weeds on city property, similar to changes made in Indian River County and Sebastian. In this photo, taken in October, community members tour Indian River County's Osprey Acres, where county officials are using a non-glphosate product to control weeds.(Photo: PATRICK DOVE/TCPALM)

VERO BEACH Following Sebastian and Indian River County, which last year stopped using weed killers with glyphosate the chemical in Roundupthe city is trying a more-natural approach.

Vero Beach is testing the weed killerWhack Out Weeds, or W.O.W., which contains natural soaps and salts. It's being used in the city cemetery, where shell beds for the headstones seem to be a breeding ground for weeds,City Manager Monte Falls said.

Glyphosate used in commercial weed killerssuch as Roundup has been linked to cancer and possibly to algae blooms, so many government agencies are trying alternative methods.

Results have been positive, Falls said. W.O.W. seems to be keeping the weeds away, even after six weeks, he said.

"It's a proactive thing," Falls told the City Council last month. "We are trying anything we can to keep chemicals out of the natural environment."

W.O.W. has been used in similar tests in Sebastian.

In September 2018, Stuart stopped using the product, followed by Martin County last year. In November, Sebastian implemented a six-month moratorium on the products at parks and a one-year ban on using it along the waterway.

Last year, Indian River County stopped using glyphosate at 40 county parks and Sandridge Golf Course. The county currently uses a similar product, called Tribune,to control weeds at its storm-water park and nature preserve Osprey Acres.

Sebastian City Manager Paul Carlisle has told Sebastian City Council preliminary tests have shown W.O.W. surpassed Roundup in its ability to control weeds. The cityis also testing the product on aquatic weeds.

More: Roundup weed killer ban: Indian River County is latest to stop using glyphosate herbicide

More: Sebastian temporary lifting weed-spraying ban for limited test of W.O.W alternative

Vero Beach staff members still are experimenting with W.O.W. to determine the cost of using it citywide, Falls said. Ifit continues to be effective, Falls said, he likely will include it in the fiscal 2021 budget to see how it works over a full year.

Glyphosate used in commercial weed killerssuch as Roundup has been linked to cancer and possibly to algae blooms, so many government agencies are trying alternative methods.

More: Is FWC feeding Lake Okeechobee algae blooms with Roundup and other glyphosate herbicides?

More: Martin County stops using glyphosate, found in Roundup, due to cancer, toxic algal blooms

Janet Begley contributed to this report.

Want more Treasure Coast news? If you're already a subscriber to TCPalm, thank you! If not, please subscribe and help keep the news you want coming.

Read or Share this story: https://www.tcpalm.com/story/news/local/shaping-our-future/2020/03/06/vero-beach-trying-glyphosate-free-weed-killer-reduce-chemical-use/4972886002/

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Vero Beach testing glyphosate-free weed killer to help reduce chemical contamination of Lagoon - TCPalm

SenateEnvironment and Public WorksCommittee Chairman John BarrassoJohn Anthony BarrassoOvernight Energy: Dems outline legislation to make US carbon neutral by 2050 | 2019 was second warmest year on record | Top Republican says 'forever chemical' bill won't move in Senate Top Republican: 'Forever chemical' bill has 'no prospects' in Senate GOP senators introduce resolution to change rules, dismiss impeachment without articles MORE (R-Wyo.) told Bloomberg News a House bill addressing so-called "forever chemicals" has no prospects in the Senate.

The bill, HR-535, would both force the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set nationwide drinking water standards for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substancesoften abbreviated PFAS and require the EPA to place such chemicals on its hazardous substance list. This could potentially mean designating any contaminated location as a Superfund site, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.

The chemicals, which derive their "forever" nickname from their resistance to breaking down in the environment, are frequently used in nonstick consumer goods and have been linked to health problems by the EPA. One studylinked PFAS with kidney and thyroid cancer along with high cholesterol and other illnesses.

Barrassosaid he specifically objected to the bills Superfund provisions, which he said go way beyond a bipartisan PFAS-related bill his Senate committee passed over the summer as an amendment to a defense spending bill.

The bill ultimately became law in December, but by that pointlanguage requiring an enforceable PFAS drinking-water standard had been removed due to objections by House Energy & Commerce Committee Chair Frank Pallone (D-N.J.).

Barrassowas not the only Republican to express skepticism about whether the bill could passthe GOP-led Senate Wednesday.

"We're back now with a partisan bill that stands no chance," Rep. Greg WaldenGregory (Greg) Paul WaldenOvernight Energy: Dems outline legislation to make US carbon neutral by 2050 | 2019 was second warmest year on record | Top Republican says 'forever chemical' bill won't move in Senate Democrats outline sweeping legislation to make U.S. carbon neutral by 2050 Top Republican: 'Forever chemical' bill has 'no prospects' in Senate MORE (R-Ore.) told reporters.

Rep. John ShimkusJohn Mondy ShimkusOvernight Energy: Dems outline legislation to make US carbon neutral by 2050 | 2019 was second warmest year on record | Top Republican says 'forever chemical' bill won't move in Senate Top Republican: 'Forever chemical' bill has 'no prospects' in Senate Koch campaign touts bipartisan group behind ag labor immigration bill MORE (R-Ill.) also expressed doubts.

"There's some Republican amendments that have been accepted," said Shimkus. "It's not enough to turn the tide on the vast majority of Republicans."

"The Superfund provision is really problematic and that's really what stopped the Senate in the final negotiation," Shimkus added.

The White House has also threatened to veto the House bill, saying it would constrain the EPA from keeping up to date on the latest scientific understanding of the chemicals.

The bill passed the House Rules Committee on Tuesday and is expected to come before the full house as early as Thursday.

-- Additional reporting by Rachel Frazin

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Top Republican: 'Forever chemical' bill has 'no prospects' in Senate | TheHill - The Hill

The state Department of Environmental Protection says it will take years to resolve its dispute with five chemical companies which it has accused of contaminating many areas of New Jersey with toxic PFAS chemicals.

Some nine months after issuing a strongly worded Directive to the companies to test, treat and remove the chemicals from soil and water around their facilities, the DEP issued a statement on Jan. 17 in response to a question from NJ Spotlight on why it had said nothing publicly about the initiative since announcing it in March 2019.

As one part of its ongoing efforts to protect New Jersey residents from the PFAS group of chemicals, the DEP continues to engage in discussionsand litigation with the companies named in the directive, spokesman Larry Hajna wrote in an email. These are very complex discussions that will take years to resolve in order to address PFAS contamination throughout the state.

Environmental campaigners said the DEPs new prediction that it would take years for any resolution with the chemical companies raised questions about whether it was backing away from its original demands in the face of strong pushback from the chemical industry.

The directive, based on four state environmental laws, said the companies were responsible for significant contamination of New Jerseys natural resources with PFAS chemicals including PFNA (perfluorononanoic acid), PFOS (perfluorooctanesulfonic acid) and PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid), all of which have been linked to illnesses including some cancers, immune-system problems, ulcerative colitis, and elevated cholesterol, according to state and federal studies.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) chemicals, once used in consumer products including Teflon, have been found at higher levels and in more places in New Jersey than in many other states, according to state and federal studies over the last decade. Even though they have been phased out by major U.S. chemical manufacturers, they do not biodegrade, and so represent a continuing threat to public health in waterways and soil. Campaigners call them forever chemicals.

They remain unregulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency which said it would decide by the end of 2019 whether to begin setting enforceable limits for PFOA and PFOS but has not yet done so.

On Jan. 10, the House of Representatives approved a bill that would set a deadline for the EPA to regulate the chemicals.President Trump earlier threatened to veto the billif it reaches his desk. But it may fail in the Republican-controlled Senate, according to one staffer for a New Jersey congressman.

In the absence of federal action, and with growing public concern about water contamination, some states including New Jersey have set strict health limits for some PFAS chemicals in drinking water. The DEP adopted the nations first health standard for PFNA in 2018 and is expected to officially approve limits for PFOS and PFOA soon, under pressure from advocates to do so before a proposed rule on those chemicals expires in April.

In its directive, the DEP named Solvay Specialty Polymers, E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co., DuPont Specialty Chemicals, the Chemours Company, and 3M as having caused the contamination. It demanded a full accounting of their use of the chemicals, and ordered them to pay for testing, treatment and cleanup, arguing that that taxpayers, via the DEP, should no longer have to bear that burden.

All five companies denied they were responsible for the alleged contamination and argued that they were not obligated to pay for future cleanup. Lawyers for DuPont and Chemours said the directive was untenable and unsupported by factual findings.

In a letter obtained by NJ Spotlight via an Open Records Act request this month,Solvay denied it was liable under New Jerseys Spill Actfor PFAS contamination near its plant in West Deptford, Gloucester County, and said DEP was being unreasonable by trying to shift the cost of statewide cleanup to Solvay and the other companies.

Solvay, which voluntarily ended its use of PFNA in 2012, said it had been investigating and remediating PFAS chemicals at the site since 2013, and had already spent $25 million on the measures.

3M, in another letter obtained from the OPRA request, said DEP didnt have the statutory authority for some of its demands, and denied it was liable for funding the cleanup under New Jersey law.

Among campaigners raising questions about whether the DEP is backing away from its original demands is Tracy Carluccio, deputy director of the environmental group Delaware Riverkeeper Network, and a longtime advocate for tighter curbs on PFAS.

If New Jersey is wavering under this task and is going to shrink from its lofty announced goal, confidence in the state will be lost and people will pay the price with their health, she said.

The sweeping nature of the DEPs directive suggests it will take time to resolve the matter, and so the public at least deserves an interim report from the state attorney generals office on the status of the talks, Carluccio said.

Thats the only way the public can have confidence that the state is vigorously investigating and staying the course towards making these companies accountable for the widespread contamination they have caused, she said.

She noted that documenting PFAS contamination by DuPont in Parkersburg, West Virginia took plaintiffs attorney Robert Billott some 20 years before winning a series of jury awards for people whose illnesses were linked to the chemicals as described in his recent book Exposure, and the movie Dark Waters.

Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, accused the DEP of failing to follow through on its directive and of now seeking a settlement that will allow corporate polluters to avoid full responsibility.

He argued that the DEP has the authority under the Spill Act to take over contaminated sites and bill the owners for cleanup, but is not acting on that.

Instead of putting force in enforcement, the DEP is hoping to delay and settle, turning this into a farce, Tittel said. They just hope the public doesnt notice. For far too long, companies like Dow and DuPont have gotten away with polluting our state. Unfortunately, it looks like this administration will let them get away with it again.

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N.J. DEPs PFAS directive to chemical companies will take years to resolve - WHYY

When Orlando Franklin was released in May, the Chargers offensive line didnt just lose its most veteran member. It lost something arguably just as crucial to the undefinable, yet indisputably important chemistry of an offensive line.

The Chargers linemen lost their grillmaster.

Nothing about offensive line chemistry is scientific. For how often coaches talk about it or commentators reference it, chemistry up front remains mysterious and ever-changing. Its really hard to quantify, says Chargers left tackle Russell Okung. Its not like there are metrics. But when searching for common ground among comically large and constantly hungry men, a barbecue is a pretty good place to start.

Franklin was the choice host for linemen barbecues in San Diego. His backyard in Poway, north of downtown, was a grilling oasis, with its own barbecue island, not to mention a pool, a firepit, and a giant table perfect for large men to bond over smoky, char-grilled meat.

But now, Franklin and his barbecue island are gone, along with two other starters, King Dunlap and D.J. Fluker, and the Chargers find themselves starting from scratch to conjure chemistry up front. Theyre not alone in that endeavor. The Rams opened camp this season breaking in two new starters, while switching the positions of two others. Only one starting lineman, Rodger Saffold, is in the same spot he occupied last season.

For both lines, an overhaul was certainly in order. Last year, the Rams and Chargers each ranked among the worst teams in the NFL up front, thanks to an unfortunate mix of injuries and incompetence. But while moves were made to bolster the line, rebuilding up front isnt as simple as plugging in high-priced free agents. It takes nuance, trust, and a whole lot of repetition. Even then, things dont always click.

In the majority of sports, everyone is doing their own assignment, says Matt Slauson, one of the Chargers two returning starters up front. But on the O-line, you have five guys who have to move together as one. It takes time to build that.

For years under former coach Jeff Fisher, the Rams strategy was to build chemistry through continuity up front, allowing young linemen to blossom into their positions. With Fishers firing, that formula was rightfully abandoned this offseason.

Instead, the Rams signed a new center and a new left tackle. With new offensive line coach Aaron Kromer in the fold as well, Kromer says his most important job is just figuring out how to make all the pieces fit.

Given the experience of the Rams two new offensive linemen, that shouldnt be as difficult as in years past. When Andrew Whitworth and John Sullivan reported for camp last month, they boasted 19 years of NFL experience between them.

That first day, though, the two seasoned vets joked about still having opening-day jitters. It felt like the first day of school, Sullivan says.

Since, its been seamless. The rest of the Rams offensive line cant stop raving about the impact Whitworth and Sullivan have had on chemistry.

Theyve seen it like Ive seen it, Kromer says. They just fit in right away. Theyre already able to communicate at a higher level.

As the only other veteran member of the Rams offensive line, no one is happier than Saffold, who understands better than most the constant state of flux the Rams line has been in recently. Last year, as injuries tore through the unit and other struggles wore them down, Saffold played nearly every position. Each week, he was the one answering for the Rams issues up front.

Now, things have never felt so settled, so soon. Saffold is rooming with Whitworth at camp. Their kids have already taken a trip together to Legoland. And Whitworth, whose other love is golf, has already offered to teach Saffold how to play. Saffold describes his relationship with the Rams new veteran linemen as almost telepathic.

That certainly bodes well for an offensive line that nearly got its young quarterback killed last season. Jared Goff was sacked 26 times in seven starts during his rookie season, a rate higher than any other quarterback in the NFL.

So Goff wasted no time this season trying to build the groups bond. The first week the team was together, he treated the quarterbacks and linemen to a steak dinner at Mastros in Thousand Oaks. He understands whats at stake, Whitworth says.

Still, there are kinks to be worked out, which only time together and not a smorgasbord of meat can fix. As they prepare to take on the Cowboys on Saturday, the Rams still havent solved the right side of their line. In the offseason, Rob Havenstein moved inside to right guard and Jamon Brown kicked out to right tackle a move that seemed permanent, at the time. But the two young linemen have already switched back, begging questions of the Rams plans on that side.

Havenstein contends hes more comfortable at right tackle. But hes determined to fit in either spot. Even if it isnt the simple.

Not everything is going to be perfect all the time, Rams right tackle Rob Havenstein says, but it really comes down to knowing that the guy next to you is going to have your back, no matter what.

Nowhere else in football are five lumbering giants expected to move in perfect concert. One lineman out of position can disrupt an entire lines rhythm, and each individual mistake reflects poorly on the whole. At no other position is trust as paramount.

When Slauson was a rookie in 2010, thrust into a starting role on a dominant Jets offensive line, he worked tirelessly to earn that trust. Most days, he stayed quiet, hoping to glean as much as he could from the veterans next to him. When those veterans poked and prodded him which they did often he had to earn their trust another way. As their punching bag. You cannot have soft skin as an offensive lineman, Slauson says.

Dan Feeney has tried to follow Slausons example. A third-round rookie, Feeney is one of several Chargers linemen fighting to fit into an open position up front. After fellow rookie Forrest Lamp tore his ACL in camp, leaving right guard up for grabs, Feeney has cycled back and forth from that spot to second-team center. So far, hes kept his head down. In his first training camp, he knows he cant force his way into the picture up front.

You have to let them see you work and make them want to trust you, Feeney says. That comes with a body of work. Theres still a ton I need to correct to earn that chemistry.

For now, as the Chargers continue to experiment along the line, veteran journeyman Kenny Wiggins remains the de facto starter at right guard. Wiggins may not seem like the obvious fit for a team desperate to improve up front. He was an undrafted free agent, with just nine starts currently to his name. On two of his three teams, he never saw the field.

What he does have going for him is three seasons of trust earned on the Chargers line. That, and one other thing.

Hes a heck of a griller and smoker, Slauson says.

More here:
Revamped offensive lines seeking to build chemistry for Rams, Chargers - OCRegister

Seminars

For a list of all upcoming seminars, please visit the Department of Chemistry's Lecture Series page.

The Department of Chemistry at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) was founded in 1989. Today it is a bi-coastal department with faculty at the California (La Jolla) and the Florida (Jupiter) campuses of TSRI. Its mission includes both education and training at the graduate and postdoctoral level and research and development in the chemical and biological sciences. While most research activities within the department focus primarily on biomedical research, a number of efforts are also directed toward nanotechnology, new energy sources, and the environment.

Chemistry aims to understand matter, create new forms of matter, and translate its new discoveries into useful products, as well as provide enabling technologies for other disciplines, including biology and medicine. Chemistry is indispensable as a science, for it provides the ability to understand living systems at the molecular level. Chemistry is central to the drug discovery and development process, providing the molecules that eventually become the medicines that cure and treat disease. Fuels, polymers, plastics, and other high-tech materials are also the products of chemistry. The sophistication of all these products depends on the state of the science of chemistry, particularly its ability to synthesize and understand the nature of molecules and their properties. It is essential to continue to advance the field of chemistry at the fundamental level so as to provide state-of-the-art tools to design, synthesize, and evaluate new functional molecules for specific applications. In addition to advancing the field of chemistry, faculty in the department are searching for cures for diseases, including cancer, Alzheimers and other neurodegenerative diseases, HIV-AIDS and other viral diseases, and tuberculosis and other bacterial infections. Others are developing new technologies for RNA evolution, DNA sequencing, nanomedicine, and stem cell research. Faculty are also active in the areas of total synthesis of natural products and their designed analogs, natural product discovery, biosynthesis, pathway engineering, medicinal chemistry, chemical biology, transition metal catalysis and biocatalysis, peptide and protein chemistry, as well as the discovery of new synthetic strategies and technologies. These and other endeavors aim to advance our fundamental knowledge in chemistry and to apply it for the betterment of mankind and human health.

For further details about the department and the research activities of its faculty, please visit the Chemistry California and Chemistry Florida webpages.

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Chemistry - Scripps Research Institute

Since Gersson Rosas has been hired in the offseason, hes continued to say the team is going to go through a massive culture change. As all Minnesota Timberwolves fans know, words dont mean much until its actually being shown.

Thus far, its being executed both on and off the court.

It started by cleaning house, hiring many assistant coaches that were highly sought out throughout the league. Minnesota has a lot of new players on the roster as well; athletes that fit the mold of what theyre trying to build.

Players have stepped up into leadership roles as most of the team stayed in the Twin Cities area to practice throughout the offseason. Whereas in the past, members of the team did a lot of their stuff individually.

Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins have each been very vocal about improving their leadership skills.

Both Towns and Wiggins were influential in bringing the team to the Bahamas, which birthed the nickname of the Bahama Wolves. The Timberwolves also returned to Mankato for part of their training camp this October, something the team used to do when Flip Saunders was head coach.

The Wolves also recently had a Halloween party, which is just another event this team has put on to bond together.

Overall, the offseason created a lot of excitement amongst fans as they got to see how cohesive this group was. That cohesion, along with Karl-Anthony Towns playing at an MVP level, has led to Minnesotas hot start this season.

Minnesota is atop the Western Conference standings at 3-0, which is their second best start in franchise history.

The team is playing well on both sides of the floor as their offensive rating of111.0 points per 100 possessionsis good for third and the defense sits in 12th place with a rating of 102.1.

Theyre also putting up 121.3 points per game, which is the fourth-highest mark in the NBA, thanks in large part to their ball movement as theyve averaged 25.7 assists per contest, good for sixth in the league.

When Wiggins made four straight 3s to ice the game against the Miami Heat, he was met by a celebratory mob from his teammates.

This is the sort of stuff that shows how tight-knit this group is. Wiggins had been struggling from three and has had two downs years, but after this run the team met him to show theyre with him the entire way. Thats exactly what Wiggins had to say afterwards:

Want your voice heard? Join the Dunking With Wolves team!

Its only been three games, but it looks like the efforts to change the culture both on and off the court have succeeded thus far.

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Minnesota Timberwolves: Chemistry showing up on and off the court - Dunking With Wolves

For USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin 8:36 a.m. CT May 25, 2017

Pacelli High School teacher Joyce Krusa is pictured with Gary Shulfer, UW-Stevens Point chemistry professor and chair of the American Chemical Society-Central Wisconsin Section, after she was honored as the Chemistry Teacher of the Year by the organization.(Photo: Courtesy of Pacelli Catholic Schools)

STEVENS POINT - Pacelli High School teacher Joyce Krusa recently received the Chemistry Teacher of the Year award from theCentral Wisconsin Section of the American Chemical Society, a regional group of chemistry educators and professionals covering the central and northcentral Wisconsin region.

This year [the] ACS-Central Wisconsin Chapter has chosenan outstanding high school chemistry teacher that [is] deserving of special recognition, said Gary Shulfer, Chair of ACS-Central Wisconsin Chapter and University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point chemistry professor, in the recent edition of the chapters newsletter.

Krusa has spent over 15 years of her professional life in science education, according to a release, and over 30 percent of her students pursue undergraduate degrees in science-related fields. She has taken on a large role in developing theSTEM and Project Lead the Waycurriculum at Pacelli, implementing both engineering and biomedical engineering tracks.

Currently, one of Krusa'sstudents is finishing a two-year STEM capstone internship with a local manufacturer, one of very few internships of this type for high school students in the state of Wisconsin.

Krusa was nominated for the award by a former student, according to the release. She was honored at theannual ACS-Central Wisconsin Chapter awards banquet on May 11 at Draganettis Ristorante in Eau Claire.

For my peers to recognize me for this award is one of the highlights of my teaching career, said Krusa in the release.

Pacelliprincipal Larry Theiss also submitted a recommendation letter on Krusas behalf.

She constantly strives to create projects and lessons that draw they students into the learning making it fun, engaging, and interesting, said Theiss in his letter. She challenges them to expand their understanding in order to help them achieve higher levels of understanding and critical thinking.

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Joyce Krusa named top chemistry teacher - Stevens Point Journal

Photo: DeAntre Bryant/UCS

The chemical industry has once again staved off federal action that would protect public health, as the EPA announced last week that it would be delaying compliance dates for the long-awaited formaldehyde emission standards for composite wood productsstandards that were finalized in December 2016. This is the latest move brought to you by an industry with a long history of attacking science and an administration willing to do its bidding.

Its no surprise that industry employs tactics like manufacturing doubt, attacking scientists, and influencing policymakers in a calculated effort to delay or halt science-based safeguards. Under the Trump administration, we have already seen a host of important policies rooted in strong science rolled back or delayed, including stronger beryllium, silica, ozone, and methane standards, stream protection requirements for mining operations, vehicle fuel economy standards, coal plant wastewater standards, risk management program amendments, and mercury and air toxics standards.

Last week, The New York Times reported on the way in which Administrator Scott Pruitts EPA has loosened its regulatory grip on the business community, and especially the oil and gas industry with which Pruitt has longstanding financial ties. The President of the Western Energy Alliance, an association of oil and gas companies, told the NYT, We are so used to not being able to move an agenda forward that it has been very surprising how quickly things have changed.

But what does it mean for us when industry moves its agenda forwardespecially when that agenda involves stopping the creation of evidence-based limits for chemicals, proven unsafe, that will make their way into our homes or drinking water?

The binders used to glue together wood fibers in particleboard, plywood, and other building materials often contain formaldehyde. Photo: Rotor_DB/Creative Commons (Wikimedia).

Formaldehyde is a colorless, flammable chemical widely used in building materials, medicinal and personal care products, and furnishings. Fumes from these products can be harmful to human health, especially when they accumulate indoors at high concentrations. Acute exposure can lead to nausea, headaches, and eye, nose, throat and skin irritation, even asthma exacerbation. Chronic exposure has been linked to cancers in humans, including cancers of the nose and throat, lymphomas, and leukemia. In 2004, the International Agency for Research on Cancer concluded that formaldehyde is a human carcinogen, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services listed it is as a known human carcinogen in 2011.

Health impacts have been understood since the 1980s, and yet over thirty years later, there are no federal restrictions on formaldehyde emissions in the home. Without standards in place, public health is at risk. Back in 2005, the cheaply constructed emergency trailers that housed Hurricane Katrina refugees were found to have unsafe levels of formaldehyde, earning them the toxic trailers nickname, while inhabitants already dealing with displacement in the midst of an environmental disaster suffered from respiratory problems, burning eyes, and other ailments. Without controls on formaldehyde emissions, these trailers have been resold and some were even used as temporary housing for workers cleaning up the BP oil spill in the gulf in 2010. Wood products used to build and remodel homes across the country can still contain formaldehyde at potentially unsafe levels.

Then

The trade organization representing chemical companies including the makers of formaldehyde, the American Chemistry Council (ACC), worked to downplay the risks of the chemical and to delay and otherwise thwart the formaldehyde emissions rule as it was first being proposed and finalized by the EPA. The ACC created a website that touts the environmental benefits of formaldehyde, casts doubt on established health studies linking exposure to a range of ailments, and assures consumers that voluntary industry standards were strong enough to protect them. The ACC also persuaded Congress to commission the National Academies of Science to reevaluate EPA science on formaldehyde, resulting in a delay in the process lasting 3 years and reaching the same conclusion that formaldehyde should be listed as known to be a human carcinogen.

The ACC even got involved with White House-level review. In 2012, the White House Office of Management and Budget meeting record shows that it had at least five meetings with industry executives, their lobbyists, and ACC-financed lawmakers (like Senator Vitter), asking them to halt the EPA proposal, which apparently worked. After OMB-review, the EPA deleted from its cost-benefit analysis the benefits of reduced health ailments like asthma and fertility issues that a formaldehyde standard would have prevented, dropping the benefits from $278 million to $48 million annually.

Now

The formaldehyde emissions rule was issued by the EPA in December 2016, and the ACC has continued to deny the science used by the EPA and to lobby the EPA and Congress on the issue. The ACC spent nearly $1.5 million lobbying agencies and Congress on a host of issues in just the first quarter of 2017 (January to March), including on formaldehyde, hexavalent chromium, the nomination of EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, EPAs Science Advisory Board, the HONEST Act, the Regulatory Accountability Act, Risk Management Program amendments, and even FY 2018 appropriations for the EPA.

Just this month, a study was issued that was funded by the Foundation for Chemistry Research and Initiatives (FCRI), a nonprofit organization established by the ACC. According to its financial filings the nonprofit works to address uncertainties and answer questions on health and environmental issues, taking on projects that will furnish crucial information, peer-reviewed scientific research, expert panels, and workshops to inform policy. FCRI granted a total of $425,294 of its revenue (which comes entirely from ACC)to study formaldehyde in 2012 and $425,114 to Environ International Corporation (now Ramboll Environ) and other consulting firms and research institutions to reevaluate formaldehyde data in 2014. Environ International has been called a hired gun by former OSHA administrator David Michaels, and the firm has been commissioned by several corporations to contribute to the scientific literature, including notorious tobacco company R.J. Reynolds (now Reynolds American Incorporated Services Company) and the Industrial Health Foundation (a former trade organization for industrial facilities), conducting studies with conclusions that downplayed the risks of menthol cigarettes and hexavalent chromium.

This FCRI issued grants led to several studies that helped to sow uncertainty about the potential of long-term exposure to formaldehyde to cause myeloid leukemia. A 2013 study by Environ authors funded by the FCRI and Momentive Special Chemicals Inc. (now Hexion Specialty Chemicals, Inc.), a formaldehyde-producing chemical company, used FOIA-obtained data to refute findings suggesting a link between formaldehyde exposure and leukemia. Earlier this month, the ACC touted another FCRI-funded study with the headline new study challenges formaldehyde cancer findings, after the study built upon its 2013 work and concluded that there was no causal association between formaldehyde and leukemia, of course not mentioning the very clear conflict of interest at hand. The ACC has used this study to urge the EPA not to characterize formaldehyde as linked to leukemia development.

For years now, no matter how strong the scientific consensus around an issue is, the ACC has continuously worked to obscure scientific findings and obstruct policies that are designed to protect public health and safety, all to save chemical companies time and money.

Photo: FEMA

For people like Becky Gillette, this rules enforcement cannot come soon enough. She told the New York Times, People think
that just because Congress passed the legislation five years ago, the problem has been fixed, said Becky Gillette, a Mississippi resident affected by Hurricane Katrina who was one of the first people to notice that the FEMA trailers were causing health problems. Real peoples faces and names come up in front of me when I think of the thousands of people who could get sick if this rule is not done right.

The EPAs final formaldehyde emissions rule estimates that 132 million individuals will be living in housing units where composite wood products have been installed within the past 11 years. Considering that population, the implementation of this rule will help prevent 26 to 64 nasopharyngeal cancer cases and 92,218 to 604,155 cases of eye irritation annually. These counts dont even take into consideration other health ailments and types of cancer. A delay of just three months in implementation could mean the difference between cancer diagnoses and clean bills of health for at least eight Americans with faces and names.

Theres still a chance to tell EPA to leave the compliance dates alone and move forward with the rule. The EPA is accepting comments on its decision until June 8.

For more on the American Chemistry Councils history of fighting policies that regulate chemicals produced by its member companies (think BPA, silica, and flame retardants), even when scientific evidence points to adverse health or environmental impacts, check out our 2015 report Bad Chemistry: How the Chemical Industrys Trade Association Undermines the Policies that Protect Us.

Posted in: Science and Democracy Tags: American Chemistry Council, Conflict of Interest, formaldehyde

Support from UCS members make work like this possible. Will you join us? Help UCS advance independent science for a healthy environment and a safer world.

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American Chemistry Council: Obstructing Formaldehyde Safeguards Then and Now - Union of Concerned Scientists (blog)

Chemical content of bears hair reveals surprising eating habits

Researchers from Canada and the US have revealed new insights into the eating habits and hair-growth patterns of a wild grizzly bear population, by analysing the chemical content of their fur.

The team led by Garth Mowat, the head of the Canadian governments Natural Resource Science Section in the Kootenay region of British Columbia, was studying the dietary patterns of grizzlies around the provinces Stikine river. By examining the ratios of different isotopes of carbon, nitrogen and sulfur in the samples, the researchers could determine what proportion of vegetation, fish, or land mammals like moose and mountain goats made-up the bears diet.

While researchers sometimes look at animals droppings to learn about their eating habits, Mowat explains that this method is not always accurate. What you have in the scat is what they didnt absorb, and so theres a strong bias against foods that are highly digestible, he says. So for example salmon was regularly underestimated in the diet because it almost doesnt appear in the scats. To overcome this issue, scientists regularly turn to laboratory-based methods, such as isotope analysis, for more precise measurements

The team set up traps that could snag a few hairs from a grizzly bears back as it scratched itself on a tree trunk, or made its way down a trail to a feeding ground. Back in the lab, the isotopic analyses brought some unexpected results.

Surprisingly, even during the peak of the salmon season many bears shun the river, choosing instead to continue foraging for vegetation. That was the most intriguing result to us. We thought that any bear that lives within walking distance of the salmon stream would go down and eat some salmon, says Mowat.

While some female bears with cubs, and smaller males, might avoid the salmon streams to duck confrontation with aggressive larger males, Mowat points out that in other coastal regions, smaller bears still manage to eat salmon from very young ages.

Throughout the year, bears diets shift from protein-rich to fattier foodstuffs, as they build up their fat reserves for the winter. Because carbon-13 is often depleted in fatty tissues, this complicated the researchers task, as they would observe significant variation in isotope patterns among hairs from individual bears.

Once they have satisfied their protein needs, they will start focusing on the parts of the animal that are high in fat, because transferring fat to fat fish fat to bear fat is the most efficient chemical pathway, says Mowat. [A salmons] brain is mostly fat, so they break the skull open and eat the brain. The roe is high in fat, and then the skin, even though it doesnt seem very good to eat to us, is largely fat. These selective eating habits meant that Mowats team would often come across gruesome scenes of skinned and decapitated salmon carcasses strewn across the banks of the river.

They also found that the wild bears hair grew later in the year than previously thought. Previously, it was believed that the regions grizzly bears started growing their thicker winter coats from May or June. However, the presence of the isotopic signature of salmon consumption in longer hair samples showed that in fact the bears started to grow their thicker coats later in the summer, as it would not be possible for this signature to appear before the salmon had returned to the Stikine. This finding has important implications for other researchers who want to study bear behaviour by analysing their hair.

One of their more important observations is that some bears dont start growing hair until late in the summer. Weve done a lot of the basic research regarding stable isotopes and their use on bears by doing feeding studies with captive bears, says Charles Robbins, an expert on grizzly bears from Washington State University, US. While we can initiate new hair growth in May if we feed plenty of food, we can also delay it into August and September by feeding at levels where the bears either just maintain their weight or slightly lose weight. Many field researchers have wanted to section hair to look at diets throughout the hair growing season, but Ive warned them that they need to fully understand the temporal aspects of hair growth and not assume when hair starts growing.

Jeff Curtis, an environmental scientist from the University of British Colombia, whose lab ran much of the isotopic analyses, explains that his team are now using these techniques to track the habits of other animals. In particular, they have been tracking European starlings an invasive species in North America that cause severe damage to food crops. Weve been using a multi-element approach to identify where young starlings immigrate from to damage crops, and they are what they eat weve been able to basically determine where to concentrate those efforts to try to control them, says Curtis.

This article is reproduced with permission fromChemistry World. The article wasfirst publishedon May 10, 2017.

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Grizzly Diet Has Several Surprises, Bear Hair Chemistry Shows - Scientific American

The Big Panther/Little Panther program has been an on-and-off tradition employed by the Beverly High girls lacrosse program in recent seasons.

The program consists of Beverly veteran players adopting underclassmen on the team, taking them under their wing and helping them through their early high school years be it on the field, in the classrooom, or concerning matters that have nothing to do with either. Its not only a way of guidance, but of also serving as a helping hand.

The elder Panthers decided to bring the tradition back this spring as a way of building team chemistry and incorporating their younger, talented teammates into the fold after losing 12 seniors to graduation. Senior captains Maeve Blake, Amanda Rosenberger and Marita Smallman knew in order to be competitive again this season, theyd need to rely upon freshmen and sophomores developing into key contributors.

We had a lot of young talent that had big roles to play, said Blake. We knew they couldnt do that without the help of the older players, so that was our main focus.

Every youngster on the BHS varsity has an upperclassman to look to should they need help or guidance.

The veterans recalled such a program being implemented when they were freshmen by head coach Alyson Healey, but had fallen by the wayside in the past season or two.

Its been a really strong team dynamic of everybody working toward the same goals, said Blake. Were fortunate enough to have so much young talent, but with that has to come confidence. And they have to want to play for their seniors and want to play for the next three years.

The result? The Panthers have a 11-6 record in large part because of many underclassmen in the lineup stepping up and realizing their potential.

The team feel chemistry is its biggest strength; everybody cares for one another. It makes them want to make that extra play, scoop through that ground ball, or make that extra pass.

With its 10th win Tuesday (a 15-7 win at Danvers), Beverly qualified for the state tournament and matched its win total from 2016. The Panthers still have three games to play in the regular season before the Division 1 North sectional begins.

We have such a good relationship off the field; its so easy to bring that onto the field, said Smallman. So having the big Panther-little Panther with that definitely helped.

If you want proof of progress made by the Garden City underclassmen, look no further than the scoresheet. Two of the Panthers top three scorers are sophomores, with Sabrina Beaudry leading the team with 43 points. Brooke Baekey has 34, four behind senior Darcy McAuliffe for second on the squad. Baekey leads the team with 11 assists.

Beaudry, who has 41 goals, has been one of the top goal scorers on the North Shore this spring, including six tallies in Tuesdays win against Danvers. The sophomore feels the welcoming atmosphere set by the seniors have radiated throughout the team, creating a bond off the field that has translated to success on it.

When we have chemistry off the field, that definitely plays a role in our chemistry on the field, said Beaudry. And we just want to work together. Were happy for each other; even if youre not the one that makes the play, youre happy for your teammate.

There was a little sense of unknown for Beverly going into the season, with so many seniors gone and so many young players in the lineup. That is no longer the case, thanks in large part to the ownership the senior leaders took and the response it generated from the rest of the group.

We have bunch of girls who are willing to do things that dont show up on the scoreboard or in the stats book, and we try to praise that as much as possible, said Healey. And I think with our captains, theyve had to work really hard to get where they are. Its not just in this sport; theyre three-sport athletes, so they know what it takes to win games and be at the top. Im very impressed with them.

Ipswich dropped its first game last Thursday in a 11-8 setback to Newburyport in a battle of undefeated clubs. The Tigers bounced back nicely, however, scoring a season-high 20 goals their next outing against Cape Ann League rival North Reading before knocking off Division 1 heavyweight Chelmsford, 13-11, on Tuesday.

In the win against Chelmsford, Julia Glavin scored three goals and added two assists to eclipse the 100-point mark for the season, the first player on the North Shore to do so. She now has 60 goals and 104 points. Shes now the running for a rare Triple Crown, as shes tied for the area lead in goals while leading in assists (44) and points.

Peabody took the Danish Cup from crosstown rival Bishop Fenwick, scoring an 11-4 win on Saturday. After beating Methuen 10-7 on Tuesday, the Tanners have won eight straight and now stand at 12-2 . . . Kenzie Vasque notched her 100th career goal for Pingree on Monday in the Highlanders 15-3 win over Lexington Christian Academy.

Lets Talk Lax, a column on North Shore high school girls lacrosse, appears each Thursday in The Salem News during the spring sports season. Contact staff writer Pat ORourke at porourke@salemnews.com and follow him on Twitter @PatORourke_29.

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Let's Talk Lax column: Chemistry, leadership giving Beverly girls lacrosse a boost - The Salem News

Chemistry could become a requirement for graduation from CPS. View Full Caption

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CHICAGO To earn a high school diploma, Chicago high school students would have to take chemistry and physics in addition to biology, under a new proposal unveiled Tuesday by Chicago Public Schools officials.

Current students have to earn three science credits to meet the requirements for graduation, but only one must be from a biology class. The other two credits can now be earned by taking a combination of chemistry, earth and space science, environmental science and physics.

If the tougher requirements are approved as expected Wednesday by the Board of Education, students entering high school in the 2018-19 academic year would still have to earn at least three science credits but they would have to be in biology, chemistry and physics classes.

The new requirements are designed to ensure all students have "access to a rigorous science education" and "better prepare students for careers in science fields," officials said.

In addition, high school students will have to take a financial literacy class that prepares them "with the knowledge and skills to make empowered financial decisions."

The requirement will apply to students who enter high school in the fall, officials said. Schools will develop their own curriculum, and the class will be offered pass or fail, officials said.

In addition, the board is poised to adopt a new requirement that would prevent high school students from graduating unless they can prove they have plan in place for college, a trade school or a job.

Current freshmen who are set graduate in 2020 would be the first to be required to provide a plan. All students who graduate from CPS high schools are automatically granted admission to the City Colleges of Chicago.

Emanuel has said the current kindergarten through 12th grade model for education has not been relevant for nearly 20 years.

"We are moving to a pre-kindergarten through college model," Emanuel said.

However, Emanuel's plan was blasted by some who said it was irresponsible for the cash-strapped district to impose new requirements on schools and teachers when it is not providing adequate resources to meet students' minimum needs.

The proposal to toughen high school graduation requirements come a month after the Board of Education adopted a new requirement that will require all eighth-grade students to apply to high school rather than just enrolling at their neighborhood high school.

Read more:
CPS High School Students Would Have To Take Chemistry, Physics To Graduate - DNAinfo