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Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan tease the ‘odd-couple’ chemistry of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier – Yahoo Entertainment

Posted on February 12, 2021 by Danzig

'The Falcon and the Winter Soldier' Cast Teases What Sharon's Been Up To, Other Plot Hints

The cast of 'The Falcon and the Winter Soldier' can't say much, but are excited for the new series.

Following in Captain America's footsteps is a weighty task literally. When Chris Evans' Steve Rogers retired at the end of 2019's Avengers: Endgame, he left his mantle and star-spangled shield to Anthony Mackie's Sam Wilson. On The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, debuting March 19 on Disney+, Sam is grappling with what it might mean to carry on Cap's role which meant Mackie had to learn how to throw that oversize red-white-and-blue Frisbee. "I didn't realize how heavy it was," he admits with a laugh. "A 10-pound weight hanging off your arm is not the easiest thing to deal with."

Captain America's legacy looms over the next Marvel live-action show, which follows Sam and his surly metal-armed friend, Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), as they face new threats. Ahead of the show's debut, EW spoke with Mackie and Stan for our March issue, and the two stars teased the six-episode series as part action-packed superhero epic, part awkward buddy-comedy. "There's an odd-couple kind of back-and-forth there," Stan explains. "Like, 'I don't really like you, but I might need you.'"

Sam and Bucky have been reluctant allies since they first bickered over legroom in 2016's Captain America: Civil War. They're both battle-hardened veterans trying to do Cap proud, but they have what head writer Malcolm Spellman calls "a fire-and-ice dynamic."

"There's a real chemistry there," he says of Mackie and Stan, who often improvise insults on set. "Imagine getting to write the first installment of a buddy-cop series, knowing exactly what the rhythm and flavor is with the two characters before you even start."

Illustration by Joshua Swaby for EW

Story continues

Both Sam and Bucky have spent most of their screen time in sidekick roles, but the new series will dive deeper into each man's psyche. Sam is wrestling with the aftereffects of the Infinity War and what it might take to become the next Captain America a role the rest of the world may not be ready to embrace. "The idea of whether or not a Black man could become Captain America just felt like a huge moment and a huge opportunity," Spellman adds.

Meanwhile, Bucky, the World War II soldierturnedeyeliner-wearing assassin, is still reckoning with his murderous past and how to cope in a world without Steve. "How does that guy function in 2021, in the times of today?" Stan explains. "And there's comedic parts: How does he deal with technology? Is this guy ordering Postmates at home?"

Mackie and Stan aren't the only recurring Marvel vets, either: Daniel Brhl's villain Baron Zemo is back to wreak more havoc after dividing the Avengers in Civil War, and Emily VanCamp's former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, Sharon Carter, will also return. New to the cast is Wyatt Russell as the militaristic John Walker, a.k.a. U.S. Agent who, in the comics, is a government-approved replacement for Captain America.

Ultimately, Mackie and Stan say they're excited to carve out their own little corner of the ever-growing Marvel Cinematic Universe.

"We didn't lose that feeling of security and espionage," Mackie says. "It still feels like you're in a Philip K. Dick novel [or] a Tom Clancy movie. But at the same time, it's Sebastian and I, and we're idiots, so you get more of us being ourselves."

A version of this story appears in the March issue of Entertainment Weekly, on newsstands Feb. 19 and available here. Don't forget to subscribe for more exclusive interviews and photos, only in EW.

Chemistry and computer science join forces to apply artificial intelligence to chemical reactions – Princeton University

Posted on February 7, 2021 by Danzig

In the past few years, researchers have turned increasingly to data science techniques to aid problem-solving in organic synthesis.

Researchers in the lab ofAbigail Doyle, Princeton's A. Barton Hepburn Professor of Chemistry,have developed open-source software that provides them with a state-of-the-art optimization algorithm to use in everyday work, folding whats been learned in the machine learning field into synthetic chemistry.

Princeton chemists Benjamin Shields and Abigail Doyle worked with computer scientist Ryan Adams (not pictured) to create machine learning software that can optimize reactions using artificial intelligence to speed through thousands of reactions that chemists used to have to labor through one by one.

Photo by

C. Todd Reichart, Department of Chemistry

The software adapts key principles of Bayesian Optimization (BO) to allow faster and more efficient syntheses of chemicals.

Based on the Bayes Theorem, a mathematical formula for determining conditional probability, BO is a widely used strategy in the sciences. Broadly defined, it allows people and computersuse prior knowledge to inform and optimize future decisions.

The chemists in Doyle's lab, in collaboration withRyanAdams, a professor of computer science,and colleagues at Bristol-Myers Squibb, comparedhuman decision-making capabilities with the software package. They found that the optimization tool yields both greater efficiency over human participants and less bias on a test reaction. Their work appears in the current issue of the journal Nature.

Reaction optimization is ubiquitous in chemical synthesis, both in academia and across the chemical industry, said Doyle.Since chemical space is so large, it is impossible for chemists to evaluate the entirety of a reaction space experimentally. We wanted to develop and assess BO as a tool for synthetic chemistry given its success for related optimization problems in the sciences.

Benjamin Shields, a former postdoctoral fellow in the Doyle lab and the papers lead author, created the Python package.

I come from a synthetic chemistry background, so I definitely appreciate that synthetic chemists are pretty good at tackling these problems on their own, said Shields. Where I think the real strength of Bayesian Optimization comes in is that it allows us to model these high-dimensional problems and capture trends that we may not see in the data ourselves, so it can process the data a lot better.

And two, within a space, it will not be held back by the biases of a human chemist, he added.

The software started as an out-of-field project to fulfill Shields doctoral requirements. Doyle and Shield then formed a team under the Center for Computer Assisted Synthesis (C-CAS), a National Science Foundation initiative launched at five universities to transform how the synthesis of complex organic molecules is planned and executed. Doyle has been a principal investigator with C-CAS since 2019.

Reaction optimization can be an expensive and time-consuming process, said Adams, who is also the director of the Program in Statistics and Machine Learning. This approach not only accelerates it using state-of-the-art techniques, but also finds better solutions than humans would typically identify. I think this is just the beginning of whats possible with Bayesian Optimization in this space.

Users start by defining a search space plausible experiments to consider such as a list of catalysts, reagents, ligands, solvents, temperatures, and concentrations. Once that space is prepared and the user defines how many experiments to run, the software chooses initial experimental conditions to be evaluated. Thenit suggests new experiments to run, iterating through a smaller and smaller cast of choices until the reaction is optimized.

In designing the software, I tried to include ways for people to kind of inject what they know about a reaction, said Shields. No matter how you use this or machine learning in general, theres always going to be a case where human expertise is valuable.

The software and examples for its use can be accessed at this repository. GitHub links are available for the following: software that represents the chemicals under evaluation in a machine-readable format via density-functional theory; software for reaction optimization; and the game that collects chemists decision-making on optimization of the test reaction.

"Bayesian reaction optimization as a tool for chemical synthesis," byBenjamin J. Shields, Jason Stevens, Jun Li, Marvin Parasram, Farhan Damani, Jesus I. Martinez Alvarado, Jacob M. Janey, Ryan P. Adams andAbigail G. Doyle, appears in the Feb. 3 issue of the journal Nature (DOI:10.1038/s41586-021-03213-y). This research was supported by funding from Bristol-Myers Squibb, the Princeton Catalysis Initiative, the National Science Foundation under the CCI Center for Computer Assisted Synthesis (CHE-1925607), and the DataX Program at Princeton University through support from the Schmidt Futures Foundation.

Editor's note: You can read the unabridged version of this story on the Department of Chemistry homepage.

Chem4Kids.com: Reactions: Overview

Posted on February 7, 2021 by Danzig

When you are trying to understand chemical reactions, imagine that you are working with the atoms. Imagine the building blocks are right in front of you on the table. Sometimes we use our chemistry toys to help us visualize the movement of the atoms. We plug and unplug the little connectors that represent chemical bonds. There are a few key points you should know about chemical reactions:

1. A chemical change must occur. You start with one molecule and turn it into another. Chemical bonds are made or broken in order to create a new molecule. One example of a chemical reaction is the rusting of a steel garbage can. That rusting happens because the iron (Fe) in the metal combines with oxygen (O2) in the atmosphere. Chemical bonds are created and destroyed to finally make iron oxide (Fe2O3).

When a refrigerator or air conditioner cools the air, there is no reaction in the air molecules. The change in temperature is a physical change. When you melt an ice cube, it is a physical change. When you put bleach in the washing machine to clean your clothes, a chemical change breaks up the molecules in your stains.

2. A reaction could include atoms, ions, compounds, or molecules of a single element. You need to remember that a chemical reaction can happen with anything, just as long as a chemical change occurs. If you put pure hydrogen gas (H2) and pure oxygen gas in a room, they might be involved in a reaction to form water (H2O). However, it will be in very very small amounts. If you were to add a spark, those gases would be involved in a violent chemical reaction that would result in a huge explosion (exothermic). Another chemical reaction might include silver ions (Ag+). If you mix a solution with silver ions with a solution that has chloride (Cl-) ions, silver chloride (AgCl) precipitate will form and drop out of solution.

3. Single reactions often happen as part of a larger series of reactions. When a plant makes sugars, there might be as many as a dozen chemical reactions to get through the Calvin cycle and eventually create (synthesize) glucose (C6H12O6) molecules. The rusting example we used earlier only showed you the original reactants and final products of the chemical reaction. There were several intermediate reactions where chemical bonds were created and destroyed. The silver chloride example only focused on the ions. In reality, the two solutions were created when two salts dissociated (split into ions) in water.

Mars: Why is Curiosity Looking for Organics? (NASA/JPL Video)

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Sixers stars Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid explain their newfound chemistry – Sixers Wire

Posted on January 27, 2021 by Danzig

The Philadelphia 76ers have been a talented team in recent seasons. They have two of the brightest stars in the game, Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid, who bring unique skills to the floor.

However, there have always been questions whether they can win together. One school of thought holds they cant play together and the chemistry is always off.

To begin the 2020-21 season, there seems more synergy between them. They are talking much more and they are morphing into becoming real leaders for their team.

Not that the previous year we havent been on the court very close, but this year has just been different, beamed Embiid. I cant even explain it. Hes just been different. I love playing with him, and Im sure he loves playing with me too. I dont know how to explain it. Its just been fun having someone like that.

The Sixers offense has been running through Embiid to begin the season, and for good reason, but he also understands that he does not have to do that for this team. He does not have to be the playmaker or anything like that. Thats what he has Simmons for.

I can be a playmaker, but I dont need to be a playmaker because I got it, the big fella said with a smile. My job is to play defense and score the ball, and make plays when they double- and triple-team me. His job is to be huge on defense and also make plays offensively for our guys. Hes been amazing this year.

There is also more talking off the floor which translates to more success on the court. Both see the game from a different viewpoint and they are talking with each other more off the floor than they did in the past.

The other day, he texted me and said Im missing you so many times on your duck-ins, said Simmons. Little things like that, it continues to help the team chemistry grow and guys are willing to make plays even if guys dont make the right pass or miss something, guys want to make the right plays and things like that so our relationship is continuing to grow.

For Philadelphia to grow into the title contender it believes it can be, the Sixers will need Embiid and Simmons to lead the way. It will not matter what the other guys on the floor do if the stars are not playing at their best.

We both see different things so now for me and Jo, I think the relationship continues to grow, added Simmons. We talk a lot more now in terms of being on the floor and certain things we say. Knowing where he wants the ball, all the sets, and just flying, getting into the flow of the game, and just trying to read it the right way.

The Sixers will look to continue to grow on Saturday when they hit the road to face the Detroit Pistons.

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Sixers stars Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid explain their newfound chemistry - Sixers Wire

Nuggets Michael Porter Jr. admits he didnt want to disrupt chemistry upon return to team – The Denver Post

Posted on January 27, 2021 by Danzig

Michael Porter Jr. came to a realization during the three weeks he was away from the Nuggets.

While abiding by the NBAs health-and-safety protocols from January 1 to 19, he saw Denvers defense perk up. He noticed the starters meshing once again. He watched as Will Barton, the former starter before Porter earned the job in December, was beginning to get comfortable.

And, upon his return in Phoenix on Friday night, he didnt bemoan the loss of his starting spot.

Coming back into the rotation after being out so long, that was my mindset, Porter said after scoring a team-high 30 points and snatching eight rebounds in Denvers 117-113 win at Dallas on Monday night. We had been playing pretty good, I just wanted to come in and help the team any way I could. Will was playing really good at the three, and I didnt want to mess anything up. I just wanted to come in and give a spark off the bench. Now, me and those guys have really developed a chemistry.

No one outside of Nuggets coach Michael Malone knows whether it will stay this way. Nor, frankly, should anyone care. Not with the way Porter closed on Monday night or the way the second unit pounded Dallas reserves 63-29.

Following Jamal Murrays ejection in the third quarter, Porter took over. When he checked into the game with 4:28 left in the third, the Mavs were on a 9-0 run, evidently enthused following Murrays apparent cheap shot to Tim Hardaway Jr. It got to 90-83, in favor of Dallas, before it got any better.

Playing alongside Nikola Jokic, JaMychal Green, Monte Morris and Gary Harris, Porter and the Nuggets ripped off a 9-4 run to close the quarter and seize momentum.

It was more of the same in the fourth, with Denvers second unit flipping the game on its head and their plucky defense undermining any chance at a Dallas run. Porter, who had 18 second-half points, didnt come out the rest of the night.

Asked whether he appreciated Porters readiness to contribute in the moment, coach Michael Malone said:I would say, as opposed to appreciating it, I expect it.

For all the times Malone hasnt wanted to single out Porter, elevating him above the rest of the team, it was a signal of the trust Porters built in his coach. When things are trending sideways, as they were in the aftermath of Murrays ejection, Malone knows he has a no-conscious sniper who can score no matter the situation.

I definitely dont back away from the moment, Porter said. Im just as confident when theres two minutes left on the clock as when theres 20 minutes.

That much was obvious when Porter buried a corner 3-pointer to give the Nuggets a commanding 114-107 lead with 42 seconds remaining, then kissed his right shooting hand, a smile beaming across his face.

Im not surprised by anything Michael does, Malone said. Hes supremely talented.

In the three games hes been back, Porters averaged 17.0 points on 53% shooting, including 55% from 3-point range, along with 8.3 rebounds in 27 minutes per game.

He aint skip a beat, said JaMychal Green. I dont know if hes got a gym in his own house or whatever, but it seems like he hasnt even missed a game.

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Nuggets Michael Porter Jr. admits he didnt want to disrupt chemistry upon return to team - The Denver Post

Chemists Succeed in Synthesis of Aminoalcohols by Utilizing Blue Light – SciTechDaily

Posted on February 7, 2021 by Danzig

Photosensitized synthesis of protected aminoalcohols. Credit: WWU Glorius Group

New method for generating the least accessible form of vicinal aminoalcohols; study published in Nature Catalysis.

Whether in beta-blockers to treat high blood pressure or in natural products, so-called vicinal aminoalcohols are high-quality organic compounds that are found in many everyday products. However, their production is difficult. For a long time, chemists have tried to develop efficient methods of synthesizing them.

In their recent study published in the journal Nature Catalysis, scientists led by Prof. Dr. Frank Glorius of Mnster University have found a solution for the production of a special variant of aminoalcohols. The new method helps to study the properties of the substance and to find applications for these new compounds in the future, emphasizes Frank Glorius from the Organic Chemistry Institute at Mnster University.

Vicinal aminoalcohols can occur in two different variants called regioisomers in which the amine and alcohol functional groups exchange positions. Although they are thus very similar, they often have different biochemical properties. Installation of both amine and alcohol groups in one step poses a major challenge. The discovery of the Asymmetric Amino Hydroxylation Reaction with which one of the regioisomers can be produced, even rewarded the chemist Barry Sharpless with a Nobel Prize in 2001. However, the other regioisomer cannot be synthesized by similar method and remained a long-standing problem until now. With the help of the chemists new photo-initiated reaction method, the synthesis of the other regioisomer has now also become efficiently possible.

Mowpriya Das (left) and Dr. Tuhin Patra. Credit: WWU Glorius Group

Unactivated alkenes containing a carbon-carbon double bond are known as feedstock chemicals for reaction processes due to their good availability. In general, the installation of both amine and alcohol groups in one step via this carbon-carbon double bond of unactivated alkene is at all times initiated by the amine group, followed by the addition of the alcohol group. As a result, always a particular regioisomer of the vicinal aminoalcohol is formed. Now the scientists have identified a particular class of amine-like compounds that are reactive yet stable enough to allow first the addition of the alcohol group to the carbon-carbon double bond, followed by the addition of the amine group to generate the previously inaccessible opposite regioisomer of the vicinal aminoalcohols.

Like plants use chlorophyll to convert light into energy, we use what is called a photocatalyst, explains Dr. Tuhin Patra, first author of this study. This species can absorb the light from blue LEDs and transfer its energy into a molecule directly involved in the reaction. This simultaneously releases the amine and alcohol groups. This process, in which the molecules transfer electrons to each other, is called energy transfer, the scientist explains.

Fascinatingly, the new method generates the least accessible regioisomer of the vicinal aminoalcohols in such a manner that both the alcohol and amine groups are protected from further reactions. Depending on the users needs, one of the two alcohol or amine groups can now be reactivated without affecting the other. However, even both groups can be enabled to react further at the same time, if that is necessary for the synthesis of further requirements.

Previous designs usually install only one group at a time in a complex multistep overall process. Our design not only allows the installation of two different groups in one step with desired protection, but also reliably generates the least accessible regioisomer, offering the chance to investigate future applications of this compound, concludes Frank Glorius.

Reference: Metal-free photosensitized oxyimination of unactivated alkenes with bifunctional oxime carbonates by Tuhin Patra, Mowpriya Das, Constantin G. Daniliuc and Frank Glorius, 4 January 2021, Nature Catalysis.DOI: 10.1038/s41929-020-00553-2

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Chemists Succeed in Synthesis of Aminoalcohols by Utilizing Blue Light - SciTechDaily

Petoskey girls return to the court, focus on building chemistry for talented group – Petoskey News-Review

Posted on January 20, 2021 by Danzig

PETOSKEY Before the state of Michigan and Michigan High School Athletic Association shut things down in November, Petoskey, like most girls basketball teams around the state of Michigan, had the benefit of getting at least a weeks worth of practices in before closing up shop.

But, that was approaching three months ago.

Petoskey senior Jamisyn Karr makes a layup during a drill in Tuesday's practice.

A lot has changed in that time, though not with a whole lot benefiting high school basketball teams.

On Tuesday, the Petoskey varsity girls were back on the court, trying to build chemistry and prepare for the start of a season thats already been moved a few times.

Still, Petoskey head coach Bryan Shaw and his group of 12 girls are keeping a positive mindset.

It is what it is, said Shaw. Theyve been great this week, but two and half weeks without contact will be tough. Well just do drills and walk them through offense and transition stuff.

Petoskey's Gabriella Guy sends a pass down to a teammate during a drill.

Shaw has perhaps his most talented group of players since taking the reins of the girls program six years back, though theres two big questions facing this group still.

The first hurdle that players and Shaw will deal with is meshing.

The team features six varsity returnees, five that are back as returning starters, along with two players off the junior varsity and another four as newcomers to the school and program altogether.

With just a week of practices before the initial shutdown and the inability to have any close contact on the court during practices now, building chemistry is the tricky part for Shaw.

Thats the bummer is that there was no summer (activity), no fall and we had one week (in November) but we had three kids gone, he said. So, we dont know yet and probably wont until we play. Off the court, its been great and during drills its been very good. I just dont know what its going to look like when we play for real.

From top to bottom of the roster, theres a whole lot to like about Shaws 2021 group.

Petoskey's Dana Cole shoots a free throw during practice on Tuesday.

Returning guards Kenzie Bromley, Hayley Flynn and Ellie Pollion, who all started as freshmen and sophomores last season, bring good ball handling and passing skills, along with the ability to score on the fastbreak.

Returnees Jamisyn Karr and Sydney Mann have also each shown a good shot in years past, both with the ability to knock down shots from three-point range.

Then theres sophomore newcomers Eva, Grayson and Caroline Guy, as well as senior sister Gabriella Guy, who bring height, athleticism and a great deal of basketball talent to the court.

Add in Paige Simard, Dana Cole and Hope Wegmann to the mix and you get to the second problem of where exactly does everyone fit?

All five starting jobs are up for grabs and court time wont be easy to come by, though, thats a good problem to have for Shaw.

Our strength is going to be our competitiveness because weve got a lot of girls who are competing for jobs and theyre pushing each other, said Shaw.

Petoskey players (from left) Eva Guy, Caroline Guy and Kenzie Bromley listen to head coach Bryan Shaw during a break in practice.

For the first time in a while, the Petoskey girls program also seems to finally have true basketball players dedicated to the sport, rather than just good athletes staying in shape for sports in other seasons.

Its evident in the smoothness of practices, both before and after the pause, and the competitive nature of the group Shaws working with in a condensed 16-game regular season.

And anyone who knows Shaw and assistants Gina Wittenberg and Sean Pollion knows the group of coaches are always excited to get the season started, though this year there seems to be a bit extra pep in their step.

Gina, Sean and I have been like kids at Christmas the last few months and here we are getting pushed back, added Shaw. Were excited.

Note: story and photos will run in the Thursday, Jan. 21 print edition.

Follow @DrewKochanny on Twitter

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Matt LaFleur Aced the Chemistry Test With Aaron Rodgers – The Ringer

Posted on January 20, 2021 by Danzig

It was late in the second quarter of the Packers divisional-round game against the Rams on Saturday. Los Angeles had just scored its first touchdown, and Green Bay got the ball back with 29 seconds remaining until halftime, leading 16-10. As the Rams kicked off, Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers talked with coach Matt LaFleur on the sideline before taking the field. LaFleur said that hed been watching film of the Rams defense in two-minute situations just before the game and told Rodgers what to look out for. Even in the moment, Rodgers chuckled at LaFleurs extreme preparedness.

I was like, What? Rodgers said after the game, a 32-18 Green Bay win. Thats what you were doing before the game?

After their conversation, Rodgers took the field and quickly drove the Packers into field goal range before time expired.

But thats the beauty in him, his style, and his staff. Theres no stone left unturned.

Two years ago, the Packers fired Mike McCarthy and chose LaFleur as their new head coach, pairing him with Rodgers for what the organization hoped would lead to a continuation of Rodgerss prime. Like other candidates hired in that 2019 cycle, LaFleur was young, coached offense, and bore a slight resemblance to Sean McVay, the Rams head coach whom LaFleur worked under in 2017 as an offensive coordinator. The trend of hiring these kinds of young, offensive-minded coaches with no head-coaching experience garnered some well-deserved skepticism, but LaFleurs two-year tenure has vindicated Green Bays decision. The Packers beat McVays Rams to advance to the NFC championship against the Buccaneers next Sunday. LaFleur has gotten the Packers to this round of the playoffs two years in a row and is one of seven head coaches to do so in their first two years on the job. He is 28-7 as a head coach in the regular season and playoffs, having won more games in his first two seasons than any other coach in Packers franchise history.

Whether LaFleur winds up with his name on a stadium or a trophy will be determined later. For now, hes been the right coach for the Packers because hes succeeded in the most important part of his job: having a healthy push-pull with Rodgers.

When Green Bay had its opening, Rodgers wanted a head coach who would push and challenge him. Theres an obvious understanding between the two, and Rodgers went out of his way several times to praise LaFleur after the win against the Rams. They clearly respect each others football acumen, but it also seems like part of Rodgerss appreciation for LaFleur comes from how hes made his job easier.

This was one of those weeks where we were working through it, Wednesday and Thursday and Friday, and I feel like it just got fine-tuned and fine-tuned even more each day, Rodgers said. Matt is such a grinder.

Rodgers also credited LaFleurs play-calling, particularly his willingness to go back to the play-action deep pass, resulting in a 58-yard touchdown to Allen Lazard with seven minutes left after the same play resulted in an incompletion on a drop by Lazard earlier in the game.

When the play was called I was thinking touchdown, for sure, Rodgers said.

That play typifies LaFleurs influence on the Packers, particularly Rodgers. LaFleurs offense is a by-product of the Mike ShanahanGary Kubiak system McVay runs in Los Angeles and Kyle Shanahan runs in San Francisco. Its designed to elevate quarterbacks. In Green Bay, though, LaFleur gets to run it with a passer already in the NFLs stratosphere. In getting ready for the no. 1 defense, both LaFleur and Rodgers played their ideal roles: LaFleur obsessively prepared the game plan and watched two-minute-drill film up until kickoff; Rodgers took advantage and balled out.

I think as a coach sometimes, specifically as an offensive coach going into this game, I probably had a lot more anxiety than our players in terms of just going up against a defense that throws some unique looks at you, LaFleur said. Our players never flinched.

The Packers got to this stage of the playoffs last season only to get steamrolled by Kyle Shanahans 49ers, but that Green Bay team seemed much weaker than this one. Both teams finished 13-3, but the 2019 Packers finished ninth by DVOA; this seasons group finished third. Rodgers threw 26 touchdowns last season, and hes thrown a league-high 48 this season.

Were just a better, much more efficient team, Rodgers said last week.

Thats happened with largely the same roster Green Bay had in 2019, with some of the difference coming from LaFleurs offense functioning more smoothly in his second year.

Its possible to have seen this coming when LaFleur was hired. His career highlight at that time was as the offensive coordinator on McVays 2017 Rams that ranked 10th in total offense and won the NFC West before losing to the Falcons in the wild-card round. Hed also been the quarterbacks coach in Atlanta for two seasons under Kyle Shanahan, who was then the offensive coordinator. In one of those seasons, 2016, the Falcons offense ranked second in the NFL and saw quarterback Matt Ryan win the sole MVP award of his career. The hiring of anyone whod swapped hair gel tips with McVay reached the level of unintentional comedy when the Cardinals announced Kliff Kingsburys hire by noting he was friends with McVay, but its undeniable that the quarterback-friendly offenses those coaches run currently dominate the NFL. If the Packers beat the Buccaneers next Sunday, it will be the third year in a row that the head coach of the NFC champion will be someone who coached on Mike Shanahans Washington staff from 2010 to 2013. LaFleurs rsum may not have been the longest among the available coaching candidates in 2019, but hed had success working with offenses and quarterbacks. Chemistry with Rodgers was always the most important part of LaFleurs job description. Hes achieved that, and the rest of the offense has fallen into place.

Before the game, Rodgers and LaFleur shared a long hug. LaFleur pumped his quarterback up for a few moments.

I said, Hey, man, whatever you see out there, understand that I totally trustyoure the guy in charge out there, so whatever you see, go with it, LaFleur said.

Rodgers nodded. LaFleur slapped him on the back of the jersey. Then he went back to watching the Rams two-minute film.

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Matt LaFleur Aced the Chemistry Test With Aaron Rodgers - The Ringer

US Clinical Chemistry and Immunoassay In-Vitro Diagnostics Market, 2020: Demand for High-Volume Testing Driving the Growth of the Market -…

Posted on January 20, 2021 by Danzig

TipRanks

Stock markets are up and holding near record high levels, a condition that would usually make life difficult for dividend investors. High market values normally lead to lower dividend yields but even in todays climate, its still possible to find a high-yielding dividend payer. You need to look carefully, however. The market story of the past year has been unusual, to say the least. Last winter saw the steepest and deepest recession in market history but it was followed by a fast recovery that is only now slowing. Many companies pulled back on their dividends at the height of the corona panic, but now they are finding that yields are too low to attract investors, and are looking to start increasing payments again. In short, the valuation balance of the stock market is out of whack, and equities are still trying to regain it. Its leaving a murky picture for investors as they try to navigate these muddy waters. Wall Streets analysts and the TipRanks database together can bring some sense to the seemingly patternless situation. The analysts review the stocks, and explain how they are fitting in; the TipRanks data provides an objective context, and you can decide if these 10% dividend yields are right for your portfolio. Ready Capital Corporation (RC) We will start with a real estate investment trust (REIT) that focuses on the commercial market segment. Ready Capital buys up commercial real estate loans, and securities backed by them, as well as originating, financing, and managing such loans. The companys portfolio also includes multi-family dwellings. Ready Capital reported solid results in its last quarterly statement, for 3Q20. Earnings came in at 63 cents per share. This result beat expectations by 75% and grew 133% year-over-year. The company finished Q3 with over $221 million in available cash and liquidity. During the fourth quarter of 2020, Ready Capital closed loans totaling $225 million for projects in 11 states. The projects include refinancing, redevelopment, and renovations. Fourth quarter full results will be reported in March. The extent of Ready Capitals confidence can be seen in the companys recent announcement that it will merge with Anworth Mortgage in a deal that will create a $1 billion combined entity. In the meantime, investors should note that Ready Capital announced its 4Q20 dividend, and the payment was increased for the second time in a row. The company had slashed the dividend in the second quarter, when COVID hit, as a precaution against depressed earnings, but has been raising the payment as the pandemic fears begin to ease. The current dividend of 35 cents per share will be paid out at the end of this month; it annualizes to $1.40 and gives a sky-high yield of 12%. Covering the stock from Raymond James, 5-star analyst Stephen Laws writes, Recent results have benefited from non-interest income and strength in the loan origination segment, and we expect elevated contributions to continue near-term. This outlook gives us increased confidence around dividend sustainability, which we believe warrants a higher valuation multiple. Laws sees the companys merger with Anworth as a net-positive, and referring to the combination, says, [We] expect RC to redeploy capital currently invested in the ANH portfolio into new investments in RC's targeted asset classes. In line with his comments, Laws rates RC shares an Outperform (i.e. Buy), and sets a $14.25 price target. His target implies an upside of 23% over the next 12 months. (To watch Laws track record, click here) There are two recent reviews of Ready Capital and both are Buys, giving the stock a Moderate Buy consensus rating. Shares in this REIT are selling for $11.57 while the average price target stands at $13.63, indicating room for ~18% upside growth in the coming year. (See RC stock analysis on TipRanks) Nustar Energy LP (NS) The energy and liquid chemical markets may not seem like natural partners, but they do see a lot of overlap. Crude oil and natural gas are highly hazardous to transport and store, an important attribute they share with industrial chemicals and products like ammonia and asphalt. Nustar Energy is an important midstream player in the oil industry, with more than 10,000 miles of pipeline, along 73 terminal and storage facilities. The relatively low oil prices of the past two years have cut into the top and bottom lines of the energy sector and that is without accounting for the COVID pandemics hit to the demand side. These factors are visible in Nustars revenues, which fell off in the first half of 2019 and have remained low since. The 3Q20 number, at $362 million, stands near the median value of the last six quarters. Through all of this, Nustar has maintained its commitment to a solid dividend payout for investors. In a nod to the pandemic troubles, the company reduced its dividend earlier this year by one-third, citing the need to keep the payment sustainable. The current payment, last sent out in November, is 40 cents per share. At that rate, it annualizes to $1.60 and gives a yield of 10%. Barclays analyst Theresa Chen sees Nustar as a solid portfolio addition, writing, We think NS offers unique offensive and defensive characteristics that position the stock well vs. midstream peers. NS benefits from a resilient refined products footprint, exposure to core acreage in the Permian basin, a foothold in the burgeoning renewable fuels value chain, as well as strategic Corpus Christi export assets we think NS is a compelling investment idea over the next 12 months. Chen sets a $20 price target on the stock, backing her Overweight (i.e. Buy) rating and suggesting ~27% upside for the year. (To watch Chens track record, click here) Interestingly, in contrast to Chen's bullish stance, the Street is lukewarm at present regarding the midstream company's prospects. Based on 6 analysts tracked by TipRanks in the last 3 months, 2 rate NS a Buy, 3 suggest Hold, and one recommends Sell. The 12-month average price target stands at $16.40, marking ~5% upside from current levels. (See NS stock analysis on TipRanks) To find good ideas for dividend stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks equity insights. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analysts. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.

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Controlling chemistry with sculpted light | Stanford News – Stanford University News

Posted on January 20, 2021 by Danzig

Like a person breaking up a cat fight, the role of catalysts in a chemical reaction is to hurry up the process and come out of it intact. And, just as not every house in a neighborhood has someone willing to intervene in such a battle, not every part of a catalyst participates in the reaction. But what if one could convince the unengaged parts of a catalyst to get involved? Chemical reactions could occur faster or more efficiently.

Depiction of the experimental setup where palladium nanorods lie atop gold nanobars. In this image, an electron beam is directed at the sample to watch the catalytic interactions between the hydrogen molecules (in green) and the palladium catalyst. The light driving the illumination is shown in red. (Image credit: Katherine Sytwu)

Stanford University material scientists led by Jennifer Dionne have done just that by using light and advanced fabrication and characterization techniques to endow catalysts with new abilities.

In a proof-of-concept experiment, rods of palladium that were approximately 1/200th the width of a human hair served as catalysts. The researchers placed these nanorods above gold nanobars that focused and sculpted the light around the catalyst. This sculpted light changed the regions on the nanorods where chemical reactions which release hydrogen took place. This work, published Jan. 14 in Science, could be an early step toward more efficient catalysts, new forms of catalytic transformations and potentially even catalysts capable of sustaining more than one reaction at once.

This research is an important step in realizing catalysts that are optimized from the atomic-scale to the reactor-scale, said Dionne, associate professor of materials science and engineering who is senior author of the paper. The aim is to understand how, with the appropriate shape and composition, we can maximize the reactive area of the catalyst and control which reactions are occurring.

Simply being able to observe this reaction required an exceptional microscope, capable of imaging an active chemical process on an extremely small scale. Its difficult to observe how catalysts change under reaction conditions because the nanoparticles are extremely small, said Katherine Sytwu, a former graduate student in the Dionne lab and lead author of the paper. The atomic-scale features of a catalyst generally dictate where a transformation happens, and so its crucial to distinguish whats happening within the small nanoparticle.

For this particular reaction and the later experiments on controlling the catalyst the microscope also had to be compatible with the introduction of gas and light into the sample.

To accomplish all of this, the researchers used an environmental transmission electron microscope at the Stanford Nano-Shared Facilities with a special attachment, previously developed by the Dionne lab, to introduce light. As their name suggests, transmission electron microscopes use electrons to image samples, which allows for a higher level of magnification than a classic optical microscope, and the environmental feature of this microscope means that gas can be added into what is otherwise an airless environment.

Stanford Vice Provost and Dean of Research Kathryn Moler wants all research resources to be as readily available as books in a library. This model would enable faculty and students to pursue the most innovative research in flexible, collaborative teams.

You basically have a mini lab where you can do experiments and visualize whats happening at a near-atomic level, said Sytwu.

Under certain temperature and pressure conditions, hydrogen-rich palladium will release its hydrogen atoms. In order to see how light would affect this standard catalytic transformation, the researchers customized a gold nanobar designed using equipment at the Stanford Nano-Shared Facilities and the Stanford Nanofabrication Facility to sit below the palladium and act as an antenna, collecting the incoming light and funneling it to the nearby catalyst.

First we needed to understand how these materials transform naturally. Then, we started to think about how we could modify and actually control how these nanoparticles change, said Sytwu.

Without light, the most reactive points of the dehydrogenation are the two tips of the nanorod. The reaction then travels through the nanorod, popping out hydrogen along the way. With light, however, the researchers were able to manipulate this reaction so that it traveled from the middle outward or from one tip to the other. Based on the location of the gold nanobar and the illumination conditions, the researchers managed to produce a variety of alternative hotspots.

This work is one of the rare instances showing that it is possible to tweak how catalysts behave even after they are made. It opens up significant potential for increasing efficiency at the single-catalyst level. A single catalyst could play the role of many, using light to perform several of the same reactions across its surface or potentially increase the number of sites for reactions. Light control may also help scientists avoid unwanted, extraneous reactions that sometimes occur alongside desired ones. Dionnes most aspirational goal is to someday develop efficient catalysts capable of breaking down plastic at a molecular level and transforming it back to its source material for recycling.

Dionne emphasized that this work, and whatever comes next, would not be possible without the shared facilities and resources available at Stanford. (These researchers also used the Stanford Research Computing Center to do their data analysis.) Most labs cannot afford to have this advanced equipment on their own, so sharing it increases access and expert support.

What we can learn about the world and how we can enable the next big breakthrough is so critically enabled by shared research platforms, said Dionne, who is also senior associate vice provost for research platforms/shared facilities. These spaces not only offer critical tools, but a really amazing community of researchers.

Additional Stanford co-authors include former postdoctoral scholar Michal Vadai, former doctoral student Fariah Hayee, and graduate students Daniel K. Angell, Alan Dai and Jefferson Dixon.

This research was funded by the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory; the National Science Foundation, including the Alan T. Waterman award, the U.S. Department of Energy (partially as part of the Photonics at Thermodynamic Limits Energy Frontier Research Center), Office of Science, Division of Materials Science and Engineering, the Gabilan Stanford Graduate Fellowship, the TomKat Center for Sustainable Energy at Stanford, the Diversifying Academia, Recruiting Excellence (DARE) Doctoral Fellowship Program at Stanford. Dionne is also a courtesy faculty in Radiology, member of the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute and Stanford Bio-X, and an affiliate of the Precourt Institute for Energy.

To read all stories about Stanford science, subscribe to the biweeklyStanford Science Digest.

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Controlling chemistry with sculpted light | Stanford News - Stanford University News

Emptying the Notebook: What happened to the Lobos finding chemistry? – Albuquerque Journal

Posted on January 20, 2021 by Danzig

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The Lobos sit during a timeout in a game earlier this season. (Courtesy UNM Athletics)

When you lose by 23 points, odds are good no lineup had much success.

So scouring the stats to find what lineup worked and what lineup up didnt work might not exactly be a task worthy of much time or effort.

But after Paul Weir said over the past week both after the Utah State loss last Friday in Lubbock and after Wednesdays win at Dixie State that shortening the lineup and starting to find those mixes of players and chemistry among his players was a priority, I found some things from Saturdays game a bit confusing.

................................................................

Please understand, I dont pretend to have better answers than coaches on player rotations as they are in practices and sometimes players play or dont play not based on what we see in games, but discipline, grades, family or health matters, etc. We dont always know why rotations are what that are, so I usually waste little time or energy thinking about it.

But since the topic was basically brought up by Weir himself, I find it curious that on Wednesday night in a win at Dixie State it seemed as though the Lobos stumbled onto a lineup combination that worked well together, then didnt put it on the floor once against a UNLV team it couldnt score much on at all.

What did they have to lose?

The details

Wednesday, only one Lobos roster combination had a point differential better than plus-2. That means the entire game, against a Division I newcomer that is currently ranked No. 328 by KenPom.com, UNM only had one lineup combination that thrived on both the defensive end and the offensive end of the court.

LINEUP: PG Isaiah Marin, PG Isaiah Marin, G Saquan Singleton, G Javonte Johnson, F Rod Brown, C Valdir ManuelTIME PLAYED: 5 minutes, 38 seconds SCORE: 16-2 (plus-14)

All other combinations in the game were no better than a plus-2 and most were negative in a game the Lobos won by nine.

So, on Saturday, I expected to see that lineup get another look. Instead, those five players werent on the floor together once. They all played, just not together.

I dont get it.

(NOTE: Score differential is how a game determines who wins and who loses. Thats sort of important, so tracking score differential for lineups is a fairly important statistic that doesnt get talked about enough)

So, what lineup did work best on Saturday for UNM, at least in terms of score differential? Three had a plus-2 differential. Thats it. Thats the best any group UNM had did in the game.[5-3 / 3:09] PG Jeremiah Francis, G Javonte Johnson, G Makuach Maluach, F Emmanuel Kuac, C Bayron Matos

[2-0 / 1:33] PG Isaiah Marin, G Javonte Johnson, G Makuach Maluach, F Emmanuel Kuac, C Bayron Matos

[2-0 / 1:20] PG Nolan Dorsey, G Kurt Wegscheider, G Javonte Johnson, F Valdir Manuel, C Bayron Matos

Even the starting lineup isnt finding much success or even from one game to the next finding time on the court together.

UNMs starting five on Saturday was PG Isaiah Marin, G Saquan Singleton, G Makuach Maluach, F Rod Brown and C Bayron Matos.

That same combination of five players on Wednesday played for a grand total of 7 second together.

Saturday, that starting five played 7 minutes, 28 seconds together. They were outscored by UNLV 14-4, meaning the Lobos starting lineup had a minus-10 on Saturday and, frankly, it could have been worse when you consider that group had a miserable 0.38 points per possession.

For those not used to PPP numbers, 0.38 is bad. UNM averages 70 possessions per game. 0.38 points per possession stretched out over an average game would mean the Lobos would score just under 27 points.

Heres the game story I filed after Saturdays game:

Seven consecutive losses in conference play isnt exactly something that happens that often with the Lobo basketball program.

In fact, its never happened before in the Mountain West era for UNM (1999-2000 season to the present). An 0-3 start in the 2006-07 season was the previous worst.

This season represents the worst start record wise to a conference season since the 1957-58 Lobos under Bob Sweeney went 0-14 in good old Mountain States Athletic Conference.

As for longest conference losing streaks at any point of a season (not just to start a conference season), heres the list going back to that same season.

Worst Lobo conference losing streaks since 1957-58

(losses, season, coach, final conference record)

14 1957-58 (Bob Sweeney) 0-14 MSAC13 1958-59 (Bob Sweeney) 1-13 MSAC8 2014-15 (Craig Neal) 7-11 MWC7 1970-71 (Bob King) 4-10 WAC7 1961-62 (Bob Sweeney) 3-11 MSAC

Through Saturdays games, UNMs strength of schedule in league play is ranked No. 1 according to KenPom.com with the four opponents Boise State, Utah State, Nevada and one of two games played with UNLV having a combined league record of 21-5 and having four of the top six national rankings in the league.

Utah State (11-3 overall, 8-0 MWC) KenPom 48Boise State (12-1 overall, 8-0 MWC) KenPom 57 Nevada (9-5 overall, 4-3 MWC) KenPom 109 UNLV (3-6 overall, 1-2 MWC) KenPom 126

New Mexico, meanwhile, hasnt helped itself by any stretch of the imagination. But even a good Lobos team would find this opening stretch of league games challenging.

And the somewhat good news is that while 21-5 is the record of MWC opponents the Lobos have faced so far, the combined record of opponents in the next five league game is 4-14, including 0-and-8 San Jose State, who the Lobos host starting Thursday in St. George, Utah, at Dixie State University.

So, at least theres that.

Weve got to be the more aggressive team. Saquan Singleton, Lobos junior guard who took a game-high nine free throw attempts (he made seven) on Saturday, constantly attacking the rim but oddly not having a single shot attempt from the field.

In UNMs seven Mountain West games, there have been six starters (in five of those games) who didnt score a point. That is the most so far in the Mountain West.

Obviously that will happen every now and then, but clearly it isnt ideal when one of your starting five doesnt chip in at all in the scoring column. And when it keeps happening, well

Here is a list of number of times a starter didnt score in a game this season in Mountain West play:

New Mexico: 6 (7 games)Fresno State: 5 (7 games)San Jose State: 5 (8 games)Nevada: 3 (7 games)San Diego State: 2 (6 games)UNLV: 2 (3 games)Air Force: 1 (7 games)Colorado State: 1 (8 games)Boise State: 0 (8 games)Utah State: 0 (8 games)Wyoming: 0 (4 games)

Since this is my column, I get to sneak things in like the pre-game entertainment I was lucky enough to have in my home on Saturday.

Virtual flamenco class for the 11-year-old means virtual flamenco class for the 1-year-old, too.

I hope the National Institute of Flamenco doesnt start billing us for two students after I post this.

UNMs starting point guard position in the past six games (3 starts apiece for Jeremiah Francis and Isaiah Marin) has hit 1-of-31 shots (0-for-14 on 2-point attempts and 1-for-17 on 3-point attempts).

For Saturday, it was an 0-for-3 shooting game for Isaiah Marin, who got his third start after a career-high 13 points off the bench in Wednesdays win over Dixie State. Hes now 0-for-12 shooting with no free throw attempts in three games as a starter and 6-for-11 to go along with 3-of-4 at the line in his past three games coming off the bench.

Weve at least got good backup point guard play, I felt, over the course of the year. Our starting point guard margin, we were giving up a lot but our backup point guards were able to come in and at least solidify some minutes, said Lobos coach P
aul Weir. So, when you look overall at the 40 minutes, like okay, maybe their starting point guard outplayed ours, but our backup point guard outplay theirs. You know what? Lets just kind of keep working on it.

The issue tonight was the starting and the back up I mean (UNLV) backup point guard Nick Blake came in and outplayed us, too. So when youre kind of getting beat at both spots, it is a lot to come back from and weve got to find a way to either start to give other players some opportunities in there or just put them in some different positions.

Who needs Sam Merrill?

Utah State improved to 8-0 in Mountain West play, sweeping the San Diego State Aztecs on Thursday (57-45) and Saturday (64-59). Saturdays win was on a national CBS broadcast and the Aggies are establishing themselves as one of two clear title favorites along with Boise State (sorry Colorado State and San Diego State).

What a world we live in where the top of the Mountain West is the Utah State Aggies and Boise State Broncos while the New Mexico Lobos are winless, UNLV is regularly a rung or two lower than the level its fans believe, and SDSU is now just 3-3.

There were four games in the Mountain West on Saturday, one coming on Sunday

SATURDAYUtah State 64, San Diego State 59 UNLV 77, New Mexico 54 Air Force 72, Wyoming 69 Colorado State 88, San Jose State 61

SUNDAY Fresno State at Nevada, 1 PT/2 MT (CBS Sports Network)

Mountain West standings through Saturday:8-0 Boise State8-0 Utah State7-1 Colorado State4-3 Nevada3-3 San Diego State3-4 Fresno State2-5 Air Force1-4 Wyoming1-2 UNLV0-7 New Mexico0-8 San Jose State

Things arent off to a great start for UNM with the schools four days and four games in Las Vegas:

FRIDAY: UNLV womens basketball handed the Lobos their first loss of the season, 78-60

SATURDAY: UNLVs mens team beat UNM 77-54 SUNDAY: Game 2 of the womens series tips off at 2 p.m. PT/3 p.m. MT (TheMW.com/Watch)MONDAY: Game 2 of the mens series tips at 6:30 p.m. PT/7:30 p.m. MT on FS1

Here are the Lobos plus/minus stats from Saturdays game with minutes played in parenthesis:

+6 Emmanual Kuac (8:25)+3 Javonte Johnson (16:56)+1 Kurt Wegscheider (4:37)-2 Nolan Dorsey (6:59)-9 Valdir Manuel (24:35)-11 Isaiah Marin (16:43)-14 Jeremiah Francis (21:57)-15 Bayron Matos (22:19)-21 Makuach Maluach (30:16)-26 Rod Brown (21:55)-27 Saquan Singleton (25:18)

For those of you who like a digital version of stats from Saturdays game, here you go: UNLV 77, New Mexico 54

And for the more traditional, .pdf stat sheet, here you go: UNLV 77, New Mexico 54

UNLV has won five in a row against the Lobos, the longest stretch since winning seven in a row from March 2, 2002 through March 11, 2004 a stretch that spanned the final season under former Lobos coach Fran Fraschilla and the first two seasons under Ritchie McKay.

The series is 63 games deep (UNLV leads 38-25). The seven game streak mentioned in the paragraph above is the longest win streak in the series for the Rebels.

UNMs longest win streak against UNLV was four in a row from Jan. 7, 1978, through Feb. 23, 1979.

The Lobos had three shot clock violations in Saturdays game.

The Guesses went 3-1 on Saturday and Im now at 18-18-1 on the season.

With my daughters coin flip picks going just 1-3 on the day, shes now 17-19-1, which means for the first time this season IM BEATING HER!

Yes, the college hoops writer who is an AP Top 25 voter, on the Julius Erving Award selection committee, has in the past been on the U.S. Basketball Writers Association Board of Directors and makes a living off this whole college basketball thing is happy that, for the first time this season, he has a better record than his coin flipping daughter!

Sorry, not sorry.

Take that, #TeamCoin!

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Emptying the Notebook: What happened to the Lobos finding chemistry? - Albuquerque Journal

For Britain’s Chemical Industry, Brexits Red Tape Is Just Beginning – The New York Times

Posted on January 20, 2021 by Danzig

For nearly a century the firm of Teal & Mackrill in the port city of Hull in northeast England has made paints for special applications, like fishing trawlers and factory floors. It produces marine paint, for example, with ingredients to prevent barnacles from encrusting hulls.

Now in a little-noticed consequence of the new Brexit trade deal, the company is facing real concerns about its future. Geoff Mackrill, the third member of his family to helm the company, said that growing British regulatory burdens on chemicals may mean that eventually he wont be able to obtain some of the additives that make his paints distinctive.

The worry is that some of those materials that we use, he said, may become unavailable because of those costs.

It is a concern that is spread across Britains 33 billion (or about $45 billion) a year chemical industry.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, when he announced the trade deal on Dec. 24, said Britain would now be free to set our own standards, to innovate in the way that we want. Business people like Mr. Mackrill were relieved that Britain had avoided a chaotic exit and that goods made in Britain could continue to cross over to Europe free of tariffs.

But some companies, notably in the chemical industry, are finding that business has become more complex rather than easier. The European Unions elaborate and burdensome regulations may no longer apply inside Britain, but they remain a fact of life for British firms like Mr. Mackrills that wish to continue selling their goods in Europe.

Adding to the burden, the British government is creating its own demanding set of chemical regulations, a mirror of the E.U. laws. An industry group said the cost to chemical businesses of recreating the European regulations, which requires extensive documentation, could reach as much as 1 billion, potentially a major burden on small firms and those with thin earnings margins.

The regulatory changes, plus the fact that chemicals can have long supply chains, have led some businesses to rethink their activities in Britain.

Before Brexit, Aston Chemicals, a firm based in Aylesbury, about 50 miles northwest of London, imported chemicals from around the globe, performed the necessary paperwork, paid any import duty, and then dispatched them by the truckload to European makers of moisturizers or dandruff shampoos.

Using Britain as a hub worked incredibly well, said Dani Loughran, the companys managing director. But after Brexit, it doesnt.

Trucks in Britain bound for Europe now face lengthy customs procedures at the border. And while British-made goods can still enter the European Union duty free, thats not the case for goods that originated elsewhere.

So, an importer like Aston Chemicals needs to pay tariffs on products made in the United States or Asia, and then again when it distributes them to the European Union, effectively doubling the rates, Ms. Loughran said.

Consequently, the company will now instead supply Europe from a base in Poland, a member of the European Union. It has cut its British warehouse staff from three to one.

These new obstacles arent just a drag for the chemical industry.

I think everyone who has been using the U.K. as a distribution center for Europe is going to be affected in the same way, Ms. Loughran said. They are going to find it very difficult from now on.

The shift will leave Ms. Loughrans British arm mainly catering to the local market but even that prospect has a regulatory cloud hanging over it.

She is accustomed to working with the European Unions chemical regulation system known as REACH, which has a reputation for strictness. Companies are required to submit lengthy files on each chemical substance that they supply inside the European Union, detailing its properties and uses as well as the potential risks and hazards, to the European Chemical Agency, based in Helsinki. Ms. Loughran said REACH was a headache, which we dreaded and cursed, but at least it covered the whole trading bloc including Britain.

But the chemical industry had hoped that, after Brexit, Britain and the European Union would continue sharing data filed under REACH, but that language did not make it into Decembers deal.

Companies now face the prospect of making voluminous and largely duplicate filings on the chemicals they want to sell in Britain with a newly created British agency, UK REACH. The fees charged and the work required in reconstructing data on product safety and other matters, which is expected to take several years, could eventually add up to 1 billion, according to estimates from the Chemical Industries Association, a British trade body.

A company cant simply cut and paste statements and files that have been previously lodged with the European regulator because, in many cases, the filings are full of commercially sensitive intellectual property belonging to other firms.

Stephen Elliott, the industry groups chief executive, said chemical firms operating in Britain could be forced to replicate almost word for word the submissions they have already made to the European regulator.

That is a pointless use of resource, he said.

Mr. Elliott said that the industry continued to lobby the government to agree to accept the filings it has already made under REACH, but said that at this point such an outcome looked like a tall order because of the governments aversion to relying on European regulation.

Executives say it makes little sense for chemical companies to incur similar regulatory costs to those of the European Union to sell products in Britain, whose economy is around one-seventh the size of that of the European Union. Industry executives also doubt that the British chemical agency will have sufficient staff and resources to measure up to its European counterpart, which employs around 600 people.

The combination of Brexit and UK REACH regulations isnt very helpful when companies are considering where to site new investment, said Paul Hodges, chairman of New Normal Consulting, a firm that focuses on chemicals. In other words, new investment may go elsewhere.

A souring of the chemical industry on Britain would be a blow to the post-Brexit economy. Chemicals may not be as visible as some other industries, but these substances are integral to a wide range of products, including cars and shampoo. It is a major business in Britain that accounts for a hefty 9 percent of exports, with almost 60 percent going to the European Union, and employs about 94,000 people, according to government statistics.

One worry is that firms will decide that supplying some chemicals that earn low profit margins or sell in small quantities, like the ingredients Mr. Mackrill buys for his paints, is no longer worthwhile. So far the leaders of the industry are taking a wait-and-see approach, though they look askance at new red tape and costs in Britain.

BASF, the German chemical giant, which sells around 1,200 substances in Britain, estimates that UK REACH could cost the company 70 million.

If the costs of bringing products to the U.K. market rise to make them uneconomic, we are not going to do it and make a loss, said Geoff Mackey, director of communications and sustainability at BASF in Britain.

Smaller British companies, though, are more likely to feel the impact. If they want to continue to be serious players, they need to sell to Europe and stay in line with European regulation, they say.

Mr. Mackrill has already felt obligated to set up a company in the Netherlands to comply with the rules of the European Union, where he sends around 10 percent of his products. He also has up to two people working full time on the regulatory implications of Brexit, a drain on the resources of a firm with 70 employees.

Mr. Mackrill, who is now executive chairman of his company, seems confident that a company that has been around since the early 20th century can navigate the Brexit shoals, but he says others may judge that the easiest course is to
move their operations to the giant market next door.

Some of the manufacturers will probably look at it and go, Why dont we manufacture that in Europe?, Mr. Mackrill said. Thats not good for U.K. PLC, he said, meaning British business.

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For Britain's Chemical Industry, Brexits Red Tape Is Just Beginning - The New York Times

MIT nanotechnologist arrested for hiding his ties to China – Chemistry World

Posted on January 20, 2021 by Danzig

A professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who directs the universitys Micro/Nano Engineering Laboratory and its Solid-State Solar Thermal Energy Conversion Center, was arrested on 14 January for allegedly failing to report his ties to the Chinese government and grant fraud. Gang Chen has been charged with wire fraud, as well as not filing a report on his foreign bank account in China and making a false statement in a tax return, which together carries a jail sentence of up to 30 years and $750,000 in fines.

Chen worked at MIT for about 20 years and his research has received more than $19 million (14 million) in funding from federal agencies since 2003, according to the US Department of Justice (DOJ). Chen, a naturalised US citizen who was born in China, has also apparently held contracts with the Chinese government since 2012, including acting as an overseas expert, serving as a member of at least two Chinese talent programmes which aim to recruit science and technology experts from western universities and research institutes to work for China and serving as an expert with the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

Overall, Chen has allegedly received about $29 million of foreign funding, including $19 million from the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) in China, since 2013. In addition, the DOJ says he filled several advisory roles for the Chinese government and entities in China from at least 2017 to 2019.

Furthermore, Chen applied for and obtained a grant from the US Department of Energy (DOE) to finance part of his research at MIT, and allegedly failed to disclose these ongoing affiliations to the agency, as he was required.

In a letter to the MIT community on the day of Chens arrest, the universitys president, Rafael Reif, called him a widely respected scholar, teacher and member of our faculty. For those who know Chen, Reif said, the news is surprising, deeply distressing and hard to understand.

MIT also issued a statement saying it was deeply distressed by Chens arrest. MIT believes the integrity of research is a fundamental responsibility, and we take seriously concerns about improper influence in US research, the university said. Prof. Chen is a long-serving and highly respected member of the research community, which makes the governments allegations against him all the more distressing, MIT continued. We are not able to offer any further information related to the governments complaint at this time.

Meanwhile, Yi Rao a Chinese neurobiologist who is currently at Peking University but studied in the US and held various positions at US universities before returning to China more than a decade ago has written to Reif and MIT chancellor Maria Zuber to protest Chens arrest. He called the action nothing but thinly veiled racism, and warned that if MIT doesnt support Chen then the university will be implicated in one of the worst cases of academic racism in the 21st century. Rao went on say that such associations with China are very normal in academia, and that Chens connection with the SUSTech was known to both Reif and Zuber.

Further, he called the charge that Chen did not disclose his associations with Chinese entities on his DOE grant application ridiculous, suggesting that none of them were related to the particular research in the research proposal.

The matter goes beyond MIT. Researchers at US institutions with ties to China are increasingly being targeted, not only by the DOJ but also by the State Department and the universities themselves. Last year, the head of Harvard Universitys chemistry department, Charles Lieber, was arrested over his undisclosed ties to the Chinese governments Thousand Talents programme. The Wuhan University of Technology in China apparently paid him a monthly salary of $50,000, on top of living expenses of approximately $158,000, and also awarded him more than $1.5 million to establish a research lab there.

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MIT nanotechnologist arrested for hiding his ties to China - Chemistry World

Denver Nuggets Finding Chemistry In Michael Porter Jr.s Covid-19 Absence, But What Happens When He Returns? – Forbes

Posted on January 20, 2021 by Danzig

The Denver Nuggets have thrived during Michael Porter Jr.'s extended Covid-19 absence. With Porter ... [+] potentially returning this week, questions loom about his reintegration into the rotation, beginning with whether he'll start or come off the bench.

After the Denver Nuggets completed their most successful playoff run since 2009 last year by reaching the Western Conference Finals, ambitions were sky high coming into the current season.

Head coach Michael Malone didnt hedge in summing up the teams expectations prior to Denvers regular season opener. Obviously our goal...we haven't attained our goal yet. That's to win a championship, he explained, and from the coaching staff to the players to management, the message was clear from all corners of the Nuggets organization: They believe themselves a genuine title contender, and their goal is nothing short of a ring.

But with Denver getting off to their worst start in six years, the disappointment set in quickly as they managed to win just one of their first five games. Even for a team expecting a few bumps on the road following a significant offseason roster shakeup, getting that deep in the hole so quickly fell far below the expectations of an aspiring title contender.

Making matters worse, the Nuggets talented rising star sophomore Michael Porter Jr. who had just gotten the nod as Denvers starting small forward had to begin a seven-day quarantine after playing only the first four games of the season due to the NBAs health and safety protocols.

And that inauspicious development marked just the beginning of a still-unfolding situation which progressed from the announcement of a second quarantine of at least 10 days to be added to the initial seven-day period, to Malones eventual confirmation last Tuesday prior to Denvers game at the Brooklyn Nets that Porter has in fact contracted COIVID-19.

While Porter has been sidelined, Malone has mostly wanted to sideline discussion of his return as well, though he acknowledged following yesterdays practice that he could be back as early as this week.

Ill be honest, I havent spent a lot of time thinking about that, Malone said when asked about reintroducing Porter back into Denvers rotation. I think the earliest hell be able to get back is as we head out on that nine-day, five-game road trip. The hope is that he may be able to join us as we leave for Phoenix. But that is not a definite. Well have to wait and see.

In the meantime, Denver has in large part righted the ship since their rocky start despite Porters untimely absence, most recently beating the Golden State Warriors at home at Ball Arena to even their record at .500 with their sixth win. In a season when head coach Michael Malone has beaten the drum at nearly every opportunity that the Nuggets need to play well for the full 48 minutes and cant take quarters off, it was one of their most complete wins, and one that helps solidify a growing sense that Denver is a team which has finally found its footing.

From the seasons opening tip-off, the Nuggets faced two major challenges to getting on track. First, the replacement of free agent departees and former key rotation players Jerami Grant, Mason Plumlee and Torrey Craig with seven new draft and free agency additions represented Denvers biggest roster shakeup in years after several seasons of having one of the leagues highest player continuity rates.

The other, and arguably even more critical factor Denver would need to adapt to was the insertion of Porter into the starting lineup. The was a precarious move by Malone on a number of fronts, beginning before the season even started with the insistence by last seasons starting small forward Will Barton III that he is a starter in this league raising doubts as to whether he would accept a role coming off the bench.

Porter getting sidelined after four games did carry the somewhat convenient side effect of bumping the question of roles to the back burner by allowing Barton to resume his starting position (for now). But the absence also comes at great opportunity cost to the Nuggets, as making progress on solving one of the most critical puzzles the team faces this season how to more fully and smoothly integrate Porter into the starting lineup alongside Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic must be put on hold until his return.

One of the biggest keys to the Nuggets finding their footing after those early struggles was the bench unit where nearly all of Denvers new player minutes are concentrated finally establishing cohesion, chemistry and a defensive identity. According to NBA.com, that reserve unit has been seventh in the league in net rating at plus-4.1 through the month of January, an impressive and dramatic upswing from a December in which they were 24th with a minus-4.3 net rating.

Denver Nuggets 2020-21 Starters and Bench Net Rating Games 1-4 vs Games 5-12.

The chart above shows the difference between the first four games in which Michael Porter Jr. played and the most recent eight games where he did not.

It should be emphasized at this point that the numbers in the chart are not presented to suggest that the Nuggets have played better recently because Porter has been missing games. For one thing correlation doesnt necessarily imply causation, for another were dealing with very small samples, and for one more still Porter was in the starting lineup and not part of the more-problematic reserve unit early on.

And well beyond those factors, there are truckloads of more reasons Denver struggled early, from JaMychal Green missing the beginning of the season to several players playing poorly to a drastically shortened training camp and preseason depriving the team of time to integrate their new players. There are many good reasons to think that the Nuggets would have found their way to bouncing back from their poor start had Porter continued playing as well. And on the flip side of that, while there are certainly questions especially on the defensive end about the impact of Porters return, there

But with all of those disclaimers duly noted, the improvements shown in the chart are in fact descriptive of what has happened so far, and a clear indication of just how much f a turnaround Denver made after those first few games, a success which both the starting lineup and the bench have managed to achieve in Porters absence.

Which raises the question: Now that the Nuggets have established some functional, effective combinations in both their bench and starting units, what will be the impact of Michael Porter Jr.s return to the rotation, and more to the point, will Malone re-insert him into the starting lineup, or try to integrate him with the reserves?

In a vacuum, the coaching staffs preference might be to hang a do not disturb sign on both the current starting five and bench rotation, as each unit has found a way to thrive in recent games.

The old-school, well-established five-man starting group of Jokic, Murray, Barton, Gary Harris and Paul Millsap (with the exception of Harris missing the last two games) which played the bulk of last season has settled into functioning like the well-oiled machine they can be at their most optimal. And while both Harris and Barton have faced shooting struggles (they are in the 46th and 33rd percentiles, respectively, in effective field goal percentage for their positions according to Cleaning the Glass), the prospect of re-introducing Porter into that mix carries the potential risk of disrupting that smooth-functioning chemistry.

Likewise, with the bench unit having just overcome its early woes to have reached a high-functioning level of play in recent games, disturbing what might be a somewhat delicate balance by plugging Porter into the reserve rotation could derail at least some of the progress they have made, especially on the defensive end where Porters weaknesses tend to be concentrated.

But obviously Michael Malone obviously can not and should not avoid playing Porter. As one of Denvers top thr
ee most talented players, one with All-Star if not All-NBA upside and arguably the Nuggets best hope for becoming the legitimate third prong of a big three carrying the team through playoff runs, a more fully-optimized and integrated Porter is intrinsic and indispensable to both short- and long-term success for the team.

As to whether Malone plans to insert Porter with the starters or bench, the coach has not yet tipped his hand.

Well figure Michael Porter out when hes cleared and ready to come back, Malone said following yesterdays practice. And well feel, How are we playing, how is our unit going? And well make the appropriate decision at that time.

Easing Porter back in through the bench rotation seems like the most plausible outcome at this point, and if thats the case his impact on their defensive effectiveness will be the key factor to watch for.

But whether its to the bench or the starting five, Porters return, challenging as it may be, will be extremely welcome to a team that still struggles with getting consistent production from most players no named Jokic, and is facing the rigors of an upcoming five-game road trip where a deep bench will be critical to reducing playing time and fatigue, and his scoring and rebounding production will be badly needed.

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Denver Nuggets Finding Chemistry In Michael Porter Jr.s Covid-19 Absence, But What Happens When He Returns? - Forbes

5 takeaways as the Knicks crush the Celtics, including Kemba Walkers chemistry with Jaylen Brown – Boston.com

Posted on January 20, 2021 by Danzig

Commentary

The Boston Celtics put together their worst performance of the season on Sunday, falling 105-75 to the New York Knicks as Kemba Walker made his season debut.

Here are five takeaways from a game the Celtics would probably prefer to forget.

One element of Walkers return that probably merits some attention is his chemistry with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Last season, Walker slid into a tertiary role during the postseason, but he never appeared to be moving well and his role made a lot of sense.

Now Walker looks healthy and told reporters after the game hes pain-free. When the rust falls away (he committed five of Bostons 17 turnovers), he will shoulder a major role in the Celtics offense again he started last years All-Star game and was an All-NBA selection two years ago. That offense will a big boost for a Celtics team that has missed Gordon Haywards production.

The Celtics have thrived with the ball in Jaylen Browns hands. Per Cleaning the Glass, Browns usage rate has been 28.2 percent so far this season a career-high by a significant amount. Trusted with more, Brown has done more: 25.8 points with shooting splits of 53.7/41.9/80.

Clearly, the Celtics need to keep the ball in Browns hands, and Walker doesnt foresee any issues.

None. None at all, Walker said. He just has to keep on being super aggressive, and thats it. With me, Im going to be out there and Im going to do my part. Im going to play hard, Im going to shoot my open shots. Hes killing it. I dont want him to think just because Im back he cant keep killing it, because he can. Thats what Im here for. Im here to continue to encourage him just to be great, which hes been all year. I just want to try to add onto it. Thats it.

Walker went down hard in the third quarter after taking a shot to the ribs, and he briefly went back to the locker room. After assuring Brad Stevens he was fine (and that he wasnt lying), Walker still didnt return to the floor due to his 20-minute limit.

After the game, Walker said he wasnt certain how long he would have restrictions, but he felt great.

Im going to be honest, I hope its over next game, he said. But Im sure its going to be for a few games. Im just getting back. We just want to see how my knee reacts after these games and stuff like that. Itll ramp up though. Ill get there. Its no rush. I already took my time coming back and Im going to keep taking my time until Im full go.

You can start with the counting stats for the Celtics and run nearly the entire way down the line. The Celtics shot 29.8 percent from the floor, 15.2 percent from three, and 62.1 percent from the free-throw line. Two players scored in double figures, one of whom Marcus Smart had 10 points on 4-for-15 shooting. They turned the ball over 17 times and gave up 10 offensive rebounds. The Knicks outscored the Celtics 48-32 in the paint and 38-25 from the bench.

Dig a little deeper, and the numbers are even worse. Per Sean Grande of 98.5, Bostons 29.8 percent performance was its in 17 years. The 37-point deficit Boston achieved in the fourth quarter, meanwhile, was its largest at TD Garden since the Celtics 53-point loss to Detroit in 2003.

They just played way harder than us, Daniel Theis said. They really whipped our ass from the first minute. Throwing the ball all over the place, we had so many turnovers, we couldnt hit a shot. So were going to look at film, but then its just moving on. Youre going to have nights like this, but hopefully its just one night or two in the whole season. We can live with it if we learn from it, and go next game, and just play way harder, play our way again.

The Celtics could use Jayson Tatum and Rob Williams against the Philadelphia 76ers, but Stevens doesnt know whether either will be available yet. Based on their quarantine schedules, Wednesday is the earliest both could potentially return.

Thatll all be dependent on how the next few days go, Stevens said. Everybodys got their own different testing protocols they have to go through and the timeline that they have to be on. So I dont know what to expect for Wednesday night. Well just play it by ear and go with the information we get every morning.

However, the Celtics might not even have to travel by Wednesday. The Sixers game against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday was postponed, as Philly was forced to quarantine due to contact tracing. Per Kyle Neubeck of the Philly Voice, the Sixers have no positive tests to report, but they played the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday, who played Karl-Anthony Towns and the Timberwolves on Wednesday. Towns recently tested positive for COVID.

An afternoon tip with two players missing due to COVID against a lottery team in mid-January is a recipe for a trap game. Add in the new element of Walker, as well as New Yorks recent struggles, and Sundays result isnt surprising.

None of that excuses the loss, of course, and the Celtics didnt ask for excuses. The point is just that Sundays game while ugly and presumably embarrassing for the Celtics probably doesnt warrant panic.

We got beat by a team that was better than us today, Stevens said. Thats the beautiful part about basketball. Youre good if you play good in that 48 minutes. Thats it, thats all that matters in a given game.

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5 takeaways as the Knicks crush the Celtics, including Kemba Walkers chemistry with Jaylen Brown - Boston.com

A Glowing New Weapon in the Fight Against Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria – SciTechDaily

Posted on June 7, 2021 by Danzig

A new chemical probe glows in the presence of a bacterial enzyme that contributes to antibiotic resistance. Credit: The University of Texas at Austin

In the perpetual arms races between bacteria and human-made antibiotics, there is a new tool to give human medicine the edge, in part by revealing bacterial weaknesses and potentially by leading to more targeted or new treatments for bacterial infections.

A research team led by scientists at The University of Texas at Austin has developed chemical probes to help identify an enzyme, produced by some types of E. coli and pneumococcal bacteria, known to break down several common types of antibiotics, making these bacteria dangerously resistant to treatment.

In response to antibiotic treatment, bacteria have evolved various mechanisms to resist that treatment, and one of those is to make enzymes that basically chew up the antibiotics before they can do their job, said Emily Que, assistant professor of chemistry and one of the leading researchers on the team. The type of tool we developed gives us critical information that could keep us one step ahead of deadly bacteria.

In a paper published online on May 26, 2021, in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, the researchers zeroed in on the threat posed by the bacterial enzyme called New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase (NDM). They set out to create a molecule that glows when it comes into contact with the NDM enzyme. When these chemical probes are added to a test tube, they bind to the enzyme and glow. Such a tool could be used to alert doctors to what kind of bacterial threat is affecting their patients and tell them which antibiotics to use.

NDM breaks down antibiotics in the penicillin, cephalosporin and carbapenem classes, which are some of the safest and most effective treatments for bacterial infections. Other classes of antibiotics exist, but they may carry more side effects, have more drug interactions and may be less available in some parts of the world.

In addition to indicating the presence of the NDM enzyme, the florescent chemical probe developed by Que and Walt Fast, a professor of chemical biology and medicinal chemistry, may help find a different way to combat these resistant bacteria. One treatment option that doctors use with resistant bacteria is to combine common antibiotics and an inhibitor. Although there is no known clinically effective inhibitor for NDM-producing bacteria, Ques probe could help find one.

Once the probe has bound to the enzyme and begun to glow, if an effective inhibitor is introduced, it will knock the probe loose and the glow would stop. This allows scientists to test a high volume of potential drugs very quicklyresearch Que and Fast hope to continue in the future.

This allows us to work towards developing therapies and eventually understanding evolutionary characteristics of such proteins, said Radhika Mehta, a recent UT Austin doctoral graduate and lead author on the paper. Mehta is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Merchant Lab at the University of California, Berkeley.

The study also examined a process called nutritional immunity, which comes from the human bodys production of proteins in response to an infection. The proteins snatch up all the available metals in the body, such as the zinc required to make NDM, rendering the bacteria more susceptible to attack.

The evolution of this bacteria since its discovery in 2008 indicates that not only is it developing antibiotic resistance, its attempting to combat this natural human immune process. Thats particularly scary, Que said.

Ques probe can also be used to study nutritional immunity and NDM because it will glow only in the presence of the zinc needed to form the enzyme.

Reference: Visualizing the Dynamic Metalation State of New Delhi Metallo--lactamase-1 in Bacteria Using a Reversible Fluorescent Probe by Radhika Mehta, Dann D. Rivera, David J. Reilley, Dominique Tan, Pei W. Thomas, Abigail Hinojosa, Alesha C. Stewart, Zishuo Cheng, Caitlyn A. Thomas, Michael W. Crowder, Anastassia N. Alexandrova, Walter Fast and Emily L. Que, 26 May 2021, Journal of the American Chemical Society.DOI: 10.1021/jacs.1c00290

Radhika Mehta, Dann D. Rivera, Dominique Tan, Pei W. Thomas, Abigail Hinojosa, Alesha C. Stewart and Walter Fast of The University of Texas at Austin; David J. Reilley and Anastassia N. Alexandrova of the University of California, Los Angeles; and Zishuo Cheng, Caitlyn A. Thomas and Michael W. Crowder of Miami University also contributed to the research. The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the Robert A. Welch Foundation.

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Varun Dhawan and Natasha Dalals papped PHOTOS prove their chemistry is 10 on 10; Take a look – PINKVILLA

Posted on January 20, 2021 by Danzig

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Varun Dhawan and Natasha Dalals papped PHOTOS prove their chemistry is 10 on 10; Take a look

As only a few days for Varun Dhawan and Natasha Dalals wedding, here are a few pictures of them clicked by the paparazzi which prove they share a great bond with each other.

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Bollywood actor Varun Dhawan is all set to tie the knot with his childhood sweetheart Natasha Dalal on January 24 at Alibaug. They are going to have an intimate wedding ceremony in presence of their family members and closed friends. In 2018, on Karan Johars chat show, Varun admitted to be dating Natasha for the first time. He told in a statement, "I am dating her and we are a couple. I plan to marry her." Time and again Varun and Natasha have proved that they are one of the most-loved couples in Bollywood. However, now a close source to the Dhawans has revealed to use that their wedding is going to be a five days affair. A day before leaving for Alibaug, the Coolie No 1 actors family will visit bride-to-be Natasha Dalals Juhu residence with jewellery, gifts, sweets and a red-coloured saree or lehenga-choli, along with a red chunni. This ceremony is known as chunni chadana, in which the chunni will be placed over the head of the bride-to-be by her to-be mother-in-law. As the D-day of the lovebirds is almost knocking at the door, here are a few pictures of them clicked by the paparazzi which prove their 10/10 chemistry. Check out the pictures below:

Photo Credit : Viral Bhayani

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Varun and Natasha look stunning in most of the pictures. Earlier, during an interview with a magazine, Varuns ladylove Natasha had revealed that they started dating just before she went abroad for studies.

Photo Credit : Viral Bhayani

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They both believed in each other. On Kareena Kapoors radio show, Varun revealed that Natasha had rejected him 3-4 times but he kept pursuing her without giving up. And now years later they are going to take their relations to a next level.

Photo Credit : Viral Bhayani

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Varun Dhawan refrained from speaking about his relationship with Natasha Dalal for the longest time.

Photo Credit : Viral Bhayani

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Natasha can be of seen accompanying the love of her life Varun on different occasions. They look absolutely perfect together.

Photo Credit : Viral Bhayani

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Earlier, in an interview with Filmfare, Varun said, She has known my parents since ages. Shes been attending functions with my parents before also but it wasnt photographed then. Shes my rock, shes my anchor. Shes the stabilising factor in my life. Its pretty much like family.

Photo Credit : Viral Bhayani

Abhishek Nigam confesses he shares special chemistry with Yesha Rughani – Times of India

Posted on January 20, 2021 by Danzig

It seems Abhishek Nigam and Yesha Rughani are not only raising eyebrows with their chemistry on screen. The young actors who are paired opposite each other in 'Hero Gayab Mode On' also extend that chemistry off screen on the shooting sets. Says Abhishek, "The chemistry that we share on sets is certainly special and I couldnt be happier to have her as my co-star. The scenes that we have shot till date are mostly comic or romantic and we feel audiences like our jodi. I like her friendly, gentle and sweet nature."And it seems the admiration is mutual as Yesha too finds Abhishek "caring". She adds, "Abhishek and I are really comfortable with each other. It has been wonderful working with him right from the first day we met during the mock shoot. We instantly built a connection, which is still growing as we continue to spend more time together. I really appreciate his knowledge and dedication. He always does everything with a smile. This is something that I truly like and appreciate about him. We are busy making memories during shoot and he is really caring towards his co-actors. We have done several scenes together especially wearing harness and he has always ensured my safety and is protective towards me which is really heartwarming.While Abhishek is caring towards Yesha, he also admits to playing some of the biggest pranks on her. "I play pranks on Yesha the most but she too does that in return. She has ended up shouting at the top of her voice, it is real fun troubling and teasing her," laughs Abhishek recalling a prank she pulled on him on Diwali. "She burst crackers in front of my door and I was so scared for sometime."

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Abhishek Nigam confesses he shares special chemistry with Yesha Rughani - Times of India

Space, energy and synthetic half-reactions | Opinion – Chemistry World

Posted on February 12, 2021 by Danzig

For as long as I can remember, I have been fascinated by the periodic table of elements and how it relates chemical properties to an elements position in the table. Its predictive applications and its ability to teach us some of the principles behind chemical transformations are far-reaching and cannot be overestimated.

At the same time, chemical reactivity is much more nuanced than might be gleaned by looking at the rows and periods of Mendeleevs venerable classification. For example, carbon participates in an overwhelmingly diverse set of chemical transformations, yet relatively little can be concluded about carbons context-dependent reactivity by looking at the periodic table alone. So what is the most appropriate means to classify organic transformations?

The prevailing approach, prescribed by most textbooks, centres on functional groups. This method builds on sameness and categorises reactions based on the expected reactivity of atoms in particular environments. But this classification is not optimally conducive to predicting reaction outcomes and establishing the mechanism by which they proceed. While modern theoretical methods based on quantum mechanics are demonstrably appropriate at suggesting detailed ab initio explanations to countless molecular-level phenomena, there might be benefits to a simple structure-driven formalism that builds on reactivitys foundation: the driving force that is needed to run energetically uphill steps. Securing an appropriate match between the driving force and the reactive intermediate that needs to be created or channelled in a particular direction is what chemical reactivity is all about.1

At first, the driving force concept appears straightforward: favoured processes either minimise enthalpy or maximise entropy (or both). But the driving force is anything but an easy concept to understand. Try asking a colleague about how many types of driving forces they know. It is not a simple question. The usual suspects might include strain release, formation of strong bonds and the like, but the answer will be dwarfed by the overwhelming number of documented chemical transformations and their reasons to exist. Even if we had an exhaustive list of all driving forces imaginable, their actual utility would be limited. This is because, in order to benefit from a driving force, one first needs to cross a kinetic barrier. This is why, despite its universal appeal, driving force remains one of the most intangible and abstract concepts in chemistry. While the notion of the driving force is being used and misused all the time, it is not always possible to apply this concept to address chemistry challenges in a logical way.

Try asking a colleague about how many types of driving forces they know

What could help to rationalise chemical reactivity would be to categorise the known driving forces and uphill steps for comparative purposes. One particular embodiment of this way of thinking does exist. In electrochemistry, standard electrode potentials help to find productive combinations of reductants and oxidants based on thermodynamic arguments from electrochemical half-reactions. These numerical values show how easy or difficult it is for a given species to undergo electron transfer. While the experimentally measured and tabulated values for electrode potentials are useful, they are limited to electron transfer processes that involve charged intermediates on electrode surfaces. What if instead of electrode potential, we consider the broader concept of chemical potential and apply it to mechanism-driven organic chemistry? This sounds appealing but, in practice, chemical potential has not been meaningful for practitioners of organic chemistry because it is not apparent how to apply it in rationalising reactivity.

The prevailing approach, prescribed by most textbooks, centres on functional groups. But this classification is not optimally conducive to predicting reaction outcomes and establishing the mechanism by which they proceed. While modern theoretical methods based on quantum mechanics can suggest detailed ab initio explanations to countless molecular-level phenomena, there might be benefits to a simple structure-driven formalism that builds on reactivitys foundation: the driving force that is needed to run energetically uphill steps. Securing an appropriate match between the driving force and the reactive intermediate that needs to be created is what chemical reactivity is all about.1

What could help to rationalise chemical reactivity would be to categorise the known driving forces and uphill steps for comparative purposes. One particular embodiment of this way of thinking already exists. In electrochemistry, standard electrode potentials help to find productive combinations of reductants and oxidants based on thermodynamic arguments from electrochemical half-reactions. These numerical values show how easy or difficult it is for a given species to undergo electron transfer. While the experimentally measured and tabulated values for electrode potentials are useful, they are limited to electron transfer processes that involve charged intermediates on electrode surfaces. What if instead of electrode potential, we consider the broader concept of chemical potential and apply it to mechanism-driven organic chemistry? This sounds appealing but, in practice, chemical potential has not been meaningful for practitioners of organic chemistry because it is not apparent how to rationalise reactivity using this concept.

What is lacking is a classification of available driving forces and their matches with appropriate uphill steps. A particularly attractive proposition would be to find new and previously underappreciated correspondence between endergonic and exergonic elementary reactions. I propose that we consider each endergonic or exergonic step as a synthetic half-reaction (SHR), similar to electrochemical half-reactions. SHRs can then be linked if they have matching higher-energy states, corresponding to ionic and radical intermediates or out-of-equilibrium conformations that help drive reactions. This builds on a reasonable assumption that the energetic benefits of the driving force must operate in the area of the molecule where chemical heavy lifting causes a chemical transformation. I refer to such instances as spatioenergetic matches.2

It stands to reason that only some matches between synthetic half-reactions would be productive or interesting. While many of these combinations might correspond to already established processes, I suspect that there will be instances that have not received prior attention and experimental verification. The possibility to find new reactions by understanding how half-reactions can be spatioenergetically matched with one other is an enticing proposition. On a pedagogical level, this way of thinking might encourage new ideas and expand students horizons away from the driving force usual suspects.

There is presently no way to comprehensively evaluate productive combinations of driving forces and their cognate uphill steps. Indeed, search engines such as Reaxys and SciFinder do not offer an opportunity to evaluate higher energy states. I propose creating a continually expanding knowledge base of SHRs. The time is right for the emergence of a system that will allow intuitive understanding of the relationships
between reactive intermediates and other high energy states. This knowledge base should stand as a worthy complement to the periodic table of elements.

While the half-reaction idea should be intuitively clear to any organic chemist, there is presently no way to comprehensively evaluate productive combinations of driving forces and their cognate uphill steps. Indeed, search engines such as Reaxys and SciFinder do not offer an opportunity to evaluate higher energy states. I propose creating a continually expanding knowledge base of SHRs. The time is right for the emergence of a system that will allow understanding of the relationships between reactive intermediates and other high energy states. This knowledge base should stand as a worthy complement to the periodic table of elements.

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Space, energy and synthetic half-reactions | Opinion - Chemistry World

Finding the Right Chemistry: Balancing Family and Nuclear Safeguards – International Atomic Energy Agency

Posted on February 15, 2021 by Danzig

By analysing samples to verify countries declarations of nuclear material, Urska Repinc, an Analytical Chemist, contributes to the IAEAs mission to verify the peaceful use of nuclear material an activity known as nuclear safeguards.

I feel privileged to work at the IAEA, and I have a strong sense of responsibility for the results we report. This position allows me to use my knowledge, skills and abilities in a challenging way, says Repinc.

Repinc works in the IAEA Office of Safeguards Analytical Laboratories, which comprises two laboratories: the Nuclear Material Laboratory (NML) and the Environmental Sample Laboratory (ESL). Both laboratories analyse samples collected by IAEA inspectors in the field. The NML, where she works, analyses uranium and plutonium samples to verify nuclear material declarations, while the ESL mainly analyses cotton swipe samples to verify the absence of undeclared nuclear material.

Urska supports the work in almost all of the laboratory areas in NML, and she assists the other analysts in the treatment and measurement of nuclear material samples, said Steven Balsley, Director of the Office of Safeguards Analytical Services, IAEA. The NML is a center of excellence for the treatment, chemical processing, and measurement of nuclear material samples.

Hailing from the town of Idrija, Slovenia, Repinc studied radiochemistry at the Jozef Stefan Institute (JSI), in the capital Ljubljana. It was there that Repinc began her work on uranium analysis.

The way she undertook training and her research work from the very start, we realized she was a very talented analytical chemist and determined to achieve the best results, said Milena Horvat, Repincs former senior colleague and current Head of the Department of Environmental Sciences at JSI.

Following advice from her colleagues in Ljubljana, Repinc visited Austria for technical training on the analysis of uranium at the IAEA before joining the European Commissions Joint Research Centre in Karlsruhe, Germany, for post-doctoral research. Using uranium again, Repinc investigated the elements ability to aid research for cancer therapy treatments.

Working with radioactive isotopes became more complicated, however, when Repinc started a family. As a radiologically exposed worker, health and safety regulations require the reporting of a pregnancy immediately. The reactions of some disappointed her, perceiving pregnancy as a potential career-stopper.

I believe family is important. It should not be considered a disadvantage to pause your career for family reasons, said Repinc. In science, its often challenging to be at the top level while meeting familial commitments.

To overcome this challenge, Repinc looked for a position that allowed her to meet both commitments: family and career. Her qualifications and experience proved ideally-suited for her position at the IAEA. Twelve years after her first visit to the laboratories, Repinc returned this time as a member of the Safeguards team. As a hard-working and talented professional, Repinc managed to find the right chemistry between family and career.

The Agency has established fellowships and training programmes to increase the participation of women and youth in nuclear science. Such opportunities include the Safeguards Traineeship, and the new Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship Programme which recently awarded fellowships to 100 female students from around the world. These efforts also support the Agencys commitment to achieve gender parity 50 percent women and 50 percent men at all levels of professional and higher categories by 2025.

Read more about the IAEAs focus on gender equality.

Originally posted here:
Finding the Right Chemistry: Balancing Family and Nuclear Safeguards - International Atomic Energy Agency

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