00 : Basic of Chemistry M4 – (Defpico2) [1/4] – Video

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00 : Basic of Chemistry M4 - (Defpico2) [1/4]
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00 : Basic of Chemistry M4 - (Defpico2) [1/4] - Video

Why is GSK selling off its art collection?

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It’s funny the things that you see on Twitter. When this tweet appeared from RetractionWatch guru Ivan Oransky, it got me wondering why a Pharma company like GSK would be selling off over 350 paintings.

A quick call to GSK’s Philadelphia,US, office provided the simple explanation. According to company spokesperson Jennifer Armstrong, GSK is moving its Philadelphia operations to a brand new building, which opens this weekend. ‘The new workspace is completely open, without any individual offices, so we don’t have so many interior walls to hang artwork. The walls we do have are also used for other purposes – they’re either glass, or for writing on or tacking things to,’ she says.

GSK's new Philadelphia home

— GSK’s new Philadelphia home

I guess this is part of a trend of moving to more energy-efficient designer buildings. And while GSK’s employees enjoy the sweeping views of the city from their new glass and steel quarters, the artwork that hung in the old ones will be finding new homes. Employees were offered first dibs on any pieces to which they had formed a particular attachment through a series of internal auctions, Armstrong says.

Many of the paintings in the collection are by local Philadelphia artists. But one, The trial of the bow by N C Wyeth, was part of a series depicting scenes from Homer’s Odyssey, thought to have been lost forever. The company donated the picture to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which stands less than a mile from the old office building. The proceeds from the auction of the rest of the works will go to supporting local art charities.

The sale brings up an interesting question about workspaces and ergonomics. What value do you place on how your work environment looks and feels? Does having art on your workplace walls inspire and comfort you? Should it be relevant to what your organisation does? That can be a dangerously slippery slope in chemistry – especially if you end up with some random stock images or don’t check with a chemist first.

Phillip Broadwith

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Source:
http://prospect.rsc.org/blogs/cw/2013/04/05/why-is-gsk-selling-off-its-art-collection/

How geckos can beat non-stick

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Gecko

— One of the participating tokay geckos. Photo: Ethan Knapp and Alyssa Stark

I love a good gecko story, and I love how the cute little critters can climb up most things but would apparently struggle with my non-stick frying pan. Now I’ve found out that if my frying pan was still wet from the washing up Mr Gecko would have a better chance of holding on.

There is a serious side to this science. Hundreds of systems have been developed mimicking the adhesive power of gecko toes and all rely on creating a large surface area that can get in contact with whatever surface you want to stick to using van de Waals forces to do the rest. Understanding how different surfaces affect adhesion is obviously important and it’s been anecdotally known for a while that as well as struggling with Teflon, geckos can’t stick to wet glass despite their feet being superhydrophobic. In rainforests, things can get quite wet so how do the geckos manage?

To test this out Alyssa Stark‘s lab at the University of Akron, Ohio, placed geckos on different surfaces to investigate when the geckos slipped and when they stuck. To get more data than slip versus stick, those little geckos were fitted with harnesses and slowly pulled off surfaces using force meters to record the gecko adhesion values. If ever there’s a day you’d have liked to have been in someone’s lab, the day harnessed geckos were slid around for science has got to be up there (at least for me).

The findings are, in part, to be expected. Wetting surfaces usually makes them more slippery for geckos but it’s only wet glass that causes a real problem – hydrophobic surfaces that were wetted could still be clung on to as the lizard’s hydrophobic feet helped get rid of the water and form a contact with the dry surface beneath. So the lab work confirms that wet leaves shouldn’t be a problem. The exception, which also contradicted the Akron group’s modelling, was PTFE, or Teflon. Wet Teflon, it seems, is much easier for the geckos to hold on to. The why is not certain yet though, so I for one am looking forward to more gecko science, ideally with videos…

Laura Howes

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Source:
http://prospect.rsc.org/blogs/cw/2013/04/02/how-geckos-can-beat-non-stick/

Out with the old, in with the new!

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Since January you may have noticed a new, cheeky addition to the puzzles page – a geektastic, scientific comic strip for all to enjoy! Replacing our ‘Through the lens’ section, the comic strip provides a humorous outlet for topical issues facing scientists today, drawn by a different illustrator each month.

I am proud to present the very first comic strip below, which was drawn by the talented Nik Papageorgiou, whom some of you may recognise from The Upturned Microscope

The Upturned Microscope - January issue

— The Upturned Microscope – January issue

Of course, I’m not forgetting all those loyal ‘Through the lens’ fans out there, have no fear, this has now become a nomadic, full-page spread within the magazine – enabling the beautiful, eye-catching imagery to be displayed in all its glory! You can also view the collection of ‘Through the lens’ images online

I hope you enjoy the new look and, as always, do let us know what you think by leaving any comments below.

Emma Shiells

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Source:
http://prospect.rsc.org/blogs/cw/2013/04/03/out-with-the-old-in-with-the-new/