ENT: Chemistry came together for album

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Select a Publication: N E W S P A P E R S ---------------------------------------------- ---Alberta--- Airdrie - Airdrie Echo Banff - Banff Crag and Canyon Beaumont - Beaumont News Calgary - The Calgary Sun Camrose - Camrose Canadian Canmore - Canmore Leader Central Alberta - County Market Cochrane - Cochrane Times Cold Lake - Cold Lake Sun Crowsnest Pass - Crowsnest Pass Promoter Devon - Dispatch News Drayton - Drayton Valley Western Review Edmonton - Edmonton Examiner Edmonton - The Edmonton Sun Edson - Edson Leader Fairview - Fairview Post Fort McMurray - Fort McMurray Today Fort Saskatchewan - Fort Saskatchewan Record Grande Prairie - Daily Herald Tribune Hanna - Hanna Herald High River - High River Times Hinton - Hinton Parklander Lacombe - Lacombe Globe Leduc - Leduc Representative Lloydminster - Meridian Booster Mayerthorpe - Mayerthorpe Freelancer Nanton - Nanton News Peace Country - Peace Country Sun Peace River - Peace River Record Gazette Pincher Creek - Pincher Creek Echo Sherwood Park - Sherwood Park News Spruce Grove - Spruce Grove Examiner Stony Plain - Stony Plain Reporter Strathmore - Strathmore Standard Vermilion - Vermilion Standard Vulcan - Vulcan Advocate Wetaskiwin - Wetaskiwin Times Whitecourt - Whitecourt Star ---Manitoba--- Altona - Alton Red River Valley Echo Beausejour - Beausejour Review Carman - Carman Valley Leader Gimli - Interlake Spectator Lac Du Bonnet - Lac Du Bonnet Leader Morden - Morden Times Portage la Prairie - Portage Daily Graphic Selkirk - Selkirk Journal Stonewall - Stonewall Argus and Teulon Times Winkler - Winkler Times Winnipeg - The Winnipeg Sun ---Ontario--- Amherstburg - Amherstburg Echo Bancroft - Bancroft this Week Barrie - Barrie Examiner Barry's Bay - Barry's Bay this Week Belleville - Intelligencer Bradford - Bradford Times Brantford - Expositor Brockville - The Recorder & Times Chatham - Chatham Daily News Chatham - Chatham This Week Chatham - Today's Farmer Clinton - Clinton News-Record Cobourg - Northumberland Today Cochrane - Cochrane Times Post Collingwood - Enterprise Bulletin Cornwall - Standard Freeholder Delhi - Delhi News-Record Dresden - Leader Spirit Dunnville - Dunnville Chronicle Elliot Lake - Standard Espanola - Mid-North Monitor Fort Erie - Times Gananoque - Gananoque Reporter Goderich - Goderich Signal-Star Grand Bend - Lakeshore Advance Haliburton - Haliburton Echo Hanover - The Post Ingersoll - Ingersoll Times Innisfil - Innisfil Examiner Kapuskasing - Kapuskasing Northern Times Kenora - Kenora Daily Miner and News Kenora - Lake of the Woods Enterprise Kincardine - Kincardine News Kingston - Frontenac This Week Kingston - Kingston This Week Kingston - Kingston Whig Standard Kirkland Lake - Northern News Leamington - Leamington Post Lindsay - The Lindsay Post London - The London Free Press London - The Londoner Lucknow - Lucknow Sentinel Midland - Free Press Minden - Minden Times Mitchell - Mitchell Advocate Napanee - Napanee Guide Niagara-on-the-Lake - Niagara Advance Niagara Falls - Review Niagara Falls - Niagara Shopping News Niagara Falls - W. Niagara Community Newspapers North Bay - North Bay Nugget Northumberland - Northumberland Today Norwich - Norwich Gazette Orillia - Packet and Times Ottawa - The Ottawa Sun Owen Sound - Sun Times Oxford - Oxford Review Paris - Paris Star Online Pelham - Pelham News Pembroke - Daily Observer Peterborough - Peterborough Examiner Petrolia - Petrolia Topic Picton - County Weekly News Port Colborne - Inport News Port Hope - Northumberland Today Port Elgin - Shoreline Beacon Sarnia - Observer Sarnia - Sarnia This Week Sault Ste Marie - Sault Star Sault Ste Marie - Sault This Week Seaforth - Seaforth Huron Expositor Simcoe - Simcoe Reformer St. Catharines - St. Catharines Shopping News St. Catharines - Standard St. Thomas - St. Thomas Times-Journal Stirling - Community Press Stratford - The Beacon Herald Strathroy - Strathroy Age Dispatch Sudbury - Sudbury Star Thorold - Thorold News Tillsonburg - Tillsonburg News Timmins - Daily Press Timmins - Timmins Times Toronto - The Toronto Sun Trenton - Trentonian Wallaceburg - Wallaceburg Courier Press Welland - Tribune Welland - Welland News West Lorne - The Chronicle Wiarton - Wiarton Echo Woodstock - Sentinel Review ---Saskatchewan--- Meadow Lake - Meadow Lake Progress Melfort - Melfort Journal Nipawin - Nipawin Journal MAGAZINES & SPECIALTY PUBLICATIONS --------- Biz Magazine Business London Cottage Home and Property Showcase Food and Wine Show Hamilton Halton Weddings Hamilton Magazine InterVin International Wine Awards Kingston Life London Citylife Muskoka Magazine Muskoka Trails Niagara Food and Wine Expo Niagara Magazine Ontario Farmer Ontario Golf Sault Good Life Simcoe Life The Home Show Vines Magazine What's Up Muskoka

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ENT: Chemistry came together for album

History, Heartbreak And 'The Chemistry Of Tears'

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In Peter Carey's new novel, The Chemistry of Tears, the hero and the heroine are separated by 150 years. It is an object a piece of technology that brings Catherine and Henry together: An enormous, 19th-century, mechanical duck.

Catherine, a horologist an expert on the inner workings of clocks is restoring it in the present day. It's a distraction from the sudden death of her married lover. Henry, more than a century earlier, commissions the duck as a giant toy for his beloved, but very sick child.

As the two narratives unfold, the duck becomes a swan, and many of its inner workings are revealed. This is not exactly true for the difficult, mysterious characters who populate the book. Carey, a two-time Booker Prize winner, talks with NPR's Rachel Martin about his 12th novel.

On humans as inventors and victims of technology:

"I began thinking about how all of that wonderful, bright invention of the 19th century and the Industrial Revolution and before that demonstrates human beings as playful and inventive and capable of amazing things, and how all of that has really led us to the present plight we face on the planet, where we appear to be poisoning ourselves. So that's the relationship between humans and technology, in which the humans are at once the pure inventors and pure souls and then also the victims of technology."

On the use of a dual narrative:

"I was interested in the present, and I was interested in the past. And the only reason I'm ever really interested about the past is because of its effect on the present. And although part of this book is set in the 19th century, with characters living in the 19th century, we, too, are living in the consequences of the 19th century. So, it's really quite simple in this case. I mean, you have one character who's living in 2010 and one character who's living in 1858, and these are ways to know them directly, to know them from inside."

On tears and combining science and feeling:

"I shouldn't really admit this, but what the title came from was a Google search. Because I thought, I don't know anything about tears, but I bet you they do all sorts of things I don't know about. And indeed, they do."

"It seemed to me to encapsulate the book, in the sense that we are looking at human yearning and human pain and loss and fear of death and searches for other meanings. And at the same time, the notion of chemistry, which seems to sort of go against the feeling of things. So I wanted to combine science and feeling, I suppose."

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History, Heartbreak And 'The Chemistry Of Tears'

VC chemistry instructor honored

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Originally published May 12, 2012 at 11:42 p.m., updated May 12, 2012 at 11:42 p.m.

Chemistry instructor Ron Reese was recognized during Victoria College's spring 2012 commencement ceremony Saturday with the Distinguished Teaching Award.

Reese has been teaching chemistry in VC's Division of Science, Mathematics and Physical Education since he joined the faculty in 2008. He teaches organic chemistry along with general, analytical and instrumental chemistry.

"Dr. Reese is a highly motivated teacher who cares about each of his students," said Dean of VC's Division of Science, Mathematics and Physical Education Jerry Hamilton. "His dedication and willingness to help every student makes him very popular on campus. Most importantly, he provides his students with a fundamental understanding of chemistry that will allow them to be successful in their future endeavors."

Following his nomination by current students Jason Zissa, Luke Kelly and Aaron Escalante, Reese received supportive acclaim from numerous students and colleagues citing his dedication to teaching and outstanding student support.

"I enjoy interacting with my students," Reese said. "I encourage them to work hard in their current studies and strive to help them get ahead."

According to his peers, Reese possesses a collaborative work ethic that elevates the quality of instruction for the entire department. His fellow instructors also recognize his passionate dedication to teaching chemistry along with his ability to challenge his students while making his classes interesting and enjoyable.

His students also appreciate his teaching style, which former student Daniel Welder said fostered a new appreciation for chemistry and gave him a new perspective on education in general.

"Dr. Reese instills in students the importance of learning and retention, providing countless real-world applications of the subject material," said Welder.

Reese encourages his students not to settle for mediocrity, but to reach as high as they can reach. He is impressed with the heights some of his students have attained.

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Scientist accused of stealing secret formulas from Utah chemistry company pleads guilty

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SALT LAKE CITY A scientist accused of stealing secret formulas from a Utah chemistry company has pleaded guilty to a federal computer charge.

Prabhu Mohapatra entered the plea Friday in U.S. District Court to one count of unlawful access to a protected computer, in exchange for prosecutors dropping 25 other charges against him, the Deseret News reported (http://bit.ly/JOw00o ).

Mohapatra, 42, had worked for North Logan-based Frontier Scientific Inc. from 2009 to 2011. He admitted to accessing a company chemical resource notebook and emailing the formula for meso-Tetraphenylporphine, or TPP, to his brother-in-law in India.

Investigators say that relative was setting up a competing company to undercut Frontier Scientific on prices it charges for pharmaceutical chemicals. Frontier Chemical, which supplies chemicals for research and drug discovery, says no other company in the world produces TPP in such large quantities.

The case marked the first time federal authorities filed industrial espionage charges in Utah, according to FBI officials. Until 1996, the theft of trade secrets wasn't a federal crime, and the FBI had spotty success trying to prosecute such cases using other statutes.

Congress then passed the Economic Espionage Act, giving the FBI full authority to pursue the cases. Many companies handle such cases internally, afraid the news will lower their company's stock or send investors fleeing, federal authorities said.

Mohapatra in December pleaded not guilty to federal charges, including computer fraud and theft of trade secrets. He was arrested Nov. 14 and released the same day after his moves were tracked on a company computer.

He was placed on leave Oct. 26 and later confessed his role in a meeting with company executives, according to court documents.

Mohapatra faces up to five years in prison when he's sentenced Aug. 28.

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Perfect chemistry

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OKLAHOMA CITY - It started with a few amateur music videos, a couple kids emerging from their teenage years getting together to hang out.

These days, just about anyone can get a taste of the friendship that has blossomed between All-Star Kevin Durant and Oklahoma City Thunder teammate James Harden, most famous in the past two weeks or so for the elbow to the head he took from the Los Angeles Lakers' Metta World Peace.

Along with developing into a dangerous third scoring threat for the Thunder, Harden is starting to gain notoriety by starring alongside Durant in commercials. Harden stars opposite Durant in a spot for the movie "Battleship," the two playing one-on-one at the Thunder's old practice gym between images of ships exploding at sea. They show their goofier side alongside Kate Upton in a "Take a Supermodel to Work" commercial for Skullcandy headphones.

"We just instantly clicked when he got here," Durant said. "He's one of those guys you really respect for what he does, and just a good person to hang around. We've been like brothers ever since he's been here. It's kind of hard to explain. When he first got here, it was like we've known each other for a long time."

Away from basketball, Durant and Harden started getting together with Jeff Green - who was drafted the same year as Durant but has since been traded to Boston - during Harden's rookie year two seasons ago. Harden was 20 and Durant 21 and both had the same taste in music, even if Durant had a more reserved personality than Harden, shown by the way he dresses and refuses to trim his beard.

"I bring it out of him," said Harden, the No. 3 pick in the 2009 draft. "That's what I'm here for, on the court off the court. I make him have a good time and laugh. Opposites attract."

Lately, he's also playing the best basketball of his three-year career. Harden had the first 40-point game of his career last month in Phoenix, close to where he played at Arizona State, and he took over in the fourth quarter to lead Oklahoma City back from 13 points down for a 103-97 win in Game 4 in Dallas to complete a first-round sweep.

"I think I've gotten into a groove this past month, month and a half, just getting a feel for it, especially going into the playoffs, knowing where we came from last year and where we want to go this year," Harden said. "Obviously, I want to play my best basketball even when I'm not making shots."

Harden was the NBA's top-scoring reserve (averaging 16.8 points) and is a leading candidate for Sixth Man of the Year, while Durant won the league's scoring title for the third straight year this season.

Combined with All-Star point guard Russell Westbrook, Harden and Durant make up the highest-scoring threesome in the league - better even than Miami All-Stars LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. Coach Scott Brooks said Harden's offensive performance in the fourth quarter of Game 4, when he scored 15 of his team-high 29 points, went beyond being the best Harden could play.

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Perfect chemistry

Grace Receives Awards for Energy Efficiency, Safety and Product Stewardship Improvements

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COLUMBIA, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

W. R. Grace & Co. (NYSE: GRA - News) has received Responsible Care Energy Efficiency Awards, Facility Safety Certificates and a Performance Award from the American Chemistry Council (ACC) for implementing energy efficiency improvements and achieving certain safety and product stewardship milestones.

Individual ACC member companies nominated specific energy efficiency projects and safety milestone achievements for recognition. Winners were selected by members of the judging committee, and were recognized at the 2012 Responsible Care Conference and Expo in Hollywood, Florida on April 30.

The Responsible Care Energy Efficiency Awards Program is among ACCs many ongoing initiatives to improve energy efficiency in the chemical industry. In 2011, the total annual energy savings achieved by all of the projects that won ACC awards was 16.9 trillion BTUsenough to power all the homes in a city the size of Norfolk, Virginia for one year (95,000 housing units, according to the U.S. Census Bureau).

The Energy Efficiency Program Award is given to companies with broad programs to achieve energy-efficiency improvements, with components such as establishing energy teams, goal setting, communications, management support and recognition. Graces Alumina manufacturing plant in Lake Charles, Louisiana received an Energy Efficiency Program Award for reducing its steam and natural gas usage by 80% and 15%, respectively, from 2010 to 2011.

The Environmental Impact Award is given for initiatives with substantial environmental benefits, including reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, in addition to improvements in energy efficiency. Graces Lake Charles facility won an Environmental Impact Award for reducing the volume of waste water requiring treatment by 25% from 2010 to 2011.

The Non-Manufacturing Improvement Award is given for improvements resulting from energy-efficient lighting, insulation and other building improvements, and other non-manufacturing energy improvements. Graces global headquarters in Columbia, Maryland won a Non-Manufacturing Improvement Award for reducing its electricity and natural gas usage by 12% and 7%, respectively, from 2010 to 2011.

These changes reduced the companys annualized emissions of carbon dioxide by 8,594 short tons.

A total of 13 Grace locations received Facility Safety Certificates. Facilities in Cambridge, Massachusetts; Chattanooga and Mt. Pleasant, Tennessee; Chicago 51st Street and 65th Street, Illinois; Columbia, Maryland; East Chicago, Indiana; Edison, New Jersey; Hesperia, California; and Houston, Texas received Certificates of Excellence for having operated without fatalities, days away from work, safety-related job transfers or restricted work among both employees and contractors in 2011.

Graces facility in Chicago 71st Street, Illinois, received a Certificate of Honor for having operated without fatalities, days away from work or safety-related restricted work in 2011.

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Chemistry making Metuchen dangerous tournament team

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Chemistry making Metuchen dangerous tournament team

MHS baseball team sports 12-4 mark

BY JIMMY ALLINDER Correspondent

Within the confines of the Greater Middlesex Conference Blue Division, Metuchen High Schools baseball team has fared well, posting a 12-4 record and finishing in second place to unbeaten Middlesex. The question is, can the Bulldogs make their mark in the upcoming conference state tournaments?

Tournaments always come down to which teams have the most effective pitching, reliable defense and timely hitting, says Leo Danik, Metuchen coach. This year, both [GMC and Central Jersey Group I] tournaments arewide open, so it will be quite a challenge for us to win.

Metuchen appears to have all the ingredients to not only go far in the states, but make its mark in the GMCs. The pitching has been reliable with seniors Steve Fortuna, Michael Redshaw and Jon Pertakakos receiving the majority of starting assignments. Fortuna sports a 5-0 record, has given up just two earned runs and struck out 55. Redshaws record is 4-2, and Pertakakos has posted a 3- 1 mark.

Fortuna has helped himself at the plate by leading the Bulldogs in hits (25) and runs batted in (25) and is hitting a team-leading .532. No less than five other regulars are also hitting above .300 to help the offense. Junior Michael Hronich is hitting .465 with 20 hits and 22 RBIs, junior Kyle Salmon is batting .460 with 23 hits and 12 RBIs, Petrakakos has a .375 average with 15 hits and 9 RBIs, senior Tim Redshaw maintains a .317 average with 23 hits and a team-leading 16 runs scored, and Nicholas Aretino is hitting .423 with 17 hits.

Danik says Redshaw and sophomores Paul Rhoades and Chris Micak have come up in big spots and have delivered at the plate and in the field.

The chemistry thats developed with this team, says Danik, has been a big factor for us coming together sooner than I expected. A lot of that has to do with our senior leadership. We have individuals in key positions that have come through time after time to get us to where we are now. There are no single-minded individuals here. Everything we do is focused on how it will contribute to the team winning.

The GMC will determine the seeds for its tournament on May 11, and first-round games are scheduled for May 15 at the home of the higher seed. The state tournament begins May 21. The Bulldogs traveled to Colonia for a regular-season game on May 7 and host Linden on May 9 and South Plainfield on May 11.

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Chemistry making Metuchen dangerous tournament team

White House hails blind chemistry grad student as “Champion of Change”

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May 7, 2012

Hoby Wedler demonstrates his molecule builder set, which depicts the structure of ethyl acetate broken into parts. It helps him form a mental image of the chemical bonds. (Gregory Urquiaga/UC Davis photo)

Henry "Hoby" Wedler, a graduate student in chemistry at the University of California, Davis, will be one of 14 individuals honored today (May 7) at the White House as Champions of Change for leading the way for people with disabilities in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

STEM is vital to Americas future in education and employment, so equal access for people with disabilities is imperative, as they can contribute to and benefit from STEM, said Kareem Dale, special assistant to President Obama for disability policy. The leaders weve selected as Champions of Change are proving that when the playing field is level, people with disabilities can excel in STEM, develop new products, create scientific inventions, open successful businesses, and contribute equally to the economic and educational future of our country.

Wedler, who is blind, is working toward his Ph.D. in organic chemistry. Inspired by programs offered by the National Federation of the Blind in high school and with encouragement from professors, colleagues and others, Wedler gained the confidence to challenge and refute the mistaken belief that STEM fields are too visual and, therefore, impractical for blind people.

Wedler is not only following his own passion; he is working hard to develop the next generation of scientists by founding and teaching at an annual chemistry camp for blind and low-vision high school students. Sponsored by the National Federation of the Blind, the camp's goal is to demonstrate to these students, by example and through practice, that their lack of eyesight should not hold them back from pursuing their dreams.

Wedler was nominated by Douglas Sprei of Learning Ally, a nonprofit formerly known as Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic. The organization allowed Wedler to excel in school.

The Champions of Change program was created as part of President Obamas Winning the Future initiative. Each week, a different sector is highlighted and groups of champions, ranging from educators to entrepreneurs to community leaders, are recognized for the work they are doing to serve and strengthen their communities.

To watch this event live, visit http://www.whitehouse.gov/live at 1:30 p.m. ET, 10:30 am Pacific Time today (May 7).

For more than 100 years, UC Davis has engaged in teaching, research and public service that matter to California and transform the world. Located close to the state capital, UC Davis has more than 32,000 students, more than 2,500 faculty and more than 21,000 staff, an annual research budget that exceeds $684 million, a comprehensive health system and 13 specialized research centers. The university offers interdisciplinary graduate study and more than 100 undergraduate majors in four colleges Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Biological Sciences, Engineering, and Letters and Science. It also houses six professional schools Education, Law, Management, Medicine, Veterinary Medicine and the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing.

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White House hails blind chemistry grad student as “Champion of Change”

Chemistry: Scientists unlock mystery of how 'handedness' arises in proteins, other functional molecules

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ScienceDaily (May 8, 2012) The overwhelming majority of proteins and other functional molecules in our bodies display a striking molecular characteristic: They can exist in two distinct forms that are mirror images of each other, like your right hand and left hand. Surprisingly, each of our bodies prefers only one of these molecular forms.

This mirror-image phenomenon -- known as chirality or "handedness" -- has captured the imagination of a UCLA research group led by Thomas G. Mason, a professor of chemistry and physics and a member of the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA.

Mason has been exploring how and why chirality arises, and his newest findings on the physical origins of the phenomenon were published May 1 in the journal Nature Communications.

"Objects like our hands are chiral, while objects like regular triangles are achiral, meaning they don't have a handedness to them," said Mason, the senior author of the study. "Achiral objects can be easily superimposed on top of one another."

Why many of the important functional molecules in our bodies almost always occur in just one chiral form when they could potentially exist in either is a mystery that has confounded researchers for years.

"Our bodies contain important molecules like proteins that overwhelmingly have one type of chirality," Mason said. "The other chiral form is essentially not found. I find that fascinating. We asked, 'Could this biological preference of a particular chirality possibly have a physical origin?'"

In addressing this question, Mason and his team sought to discover how chirality occurs in the first place. Their findings offer new insights into how the phenomenon can arise spontaneously, even with achiral building-blocks.

Mason and his colleagues used a manufacturing technique called lithography, which is the basis for making computer chips, to make millions of microscale particles in the shape of achiral triangles. In the past, Mason has used this technique to "print" particles in a wide variety of shapes, and even in the form of letters of the alphabet.

Using optical microscopy, the researchers then studied very dense systems of these lithographic triangular particles. To their surprise, they discovered that the achiral triangles spontaneously arranged themselves to form two-triangle "super-structures," with each super-structure exhibiting a particular chirality.

In the image that accompanies this article, the colored outlines in the field of triangles indicate chiral super-structures having particular orientations.

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Chemistry doesn’t concoct playoff magic for Predators; tough choices for roster ahead

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NASHVILLE, TENN. The Nashville Predators can console themselves knowing they aggressively made moves in an all-out effort to win the Stanley Cup. Now they will spend the off-season finding out just how costly those decisions will be after coming up short in the Western Conference semifinals for a second straight year.

The Predators lost 2-1 to Phoenix on Monday night and dropped the semifinals in five games a game less than a year ago when they lost to eventual Western champ Vancouver.

We had high expectations as an organization, but we didnt get it done, coach Barry Trotz said after the loss. The teams that made the playoffs in the West, everyone had a legitimate chance to represent the West and win the Cup. There are no poor hockey teams this year. That is parity. That is the NHL.

The Predators showed their commitment to winning by sending a second-round pick in Junes draft and young forward Blake Geoffrion to Montreal in February for defenceman Hal Gill, and they followed that at the trade deadline by sending this years first-round pick to Buffalo for centre Paul Gaustad.

The moves helped a roster that started the season as the NHLs youngest roster and a group that remained the leagues second-youngest coming out of the All-Star break. Nashville also welcomed back wayward forward Alexander Radulov in March, four years after he bolted back home to Russia to the Kontinental Hockey League.

All the trades resulted in Nashville finishing with 104 points, the third-highest in franchise history. The Predators grabbed the No. 4 seed and finished ahead of Detroit in the final standings. They also beat the Red Wings in the playoffs all for the first time, which made the quick loss to the Coyotes that much more stunning.

It is tough to swallow, said goalie Pekka Rinne, a two-time Vezina Trophy finalist. When you lose a series, it goes by so fast. It is over even before you realize it. It is hard to realize right now. We played a lot of good hockey this year, and now it is done.

The Predators thought the path to the Cup was wide open with Detroit, Chicago, Vancouver and San Jose all gone. Those teams all had ousted Nashville in the post-season.

Instead, the NHLs best power-play unit in the regular season fizzled in the post-season. They went 0 of 23 on home ice, and they never could solve Phoenix goalie Mike Smith or the Coyotes, who simply beat the Predators at the defensive, grinding style theyve used since hitting the ice in 1998.

Were past the expansion stage. Were past that, and youve got to go through these hard lessons sometimes, Trotz said.

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Chemistry doesn’t concoct playoff magic for Predators; tough choices for roster ahead

Who’s who?

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We have just had the photos of the Chemistry World columnists turned into portraits by Australian artist Chelsea Gustafsson (you can see more of her work here).

Any favourites in there? Mine is Paul Docherty of Totally Synthetic. He looks like a very happy man! I also love the fact that Andrea from Classic Kit gets to retain his lab goggles… What do you think?

— Charlotte Ashley-Roberts

— Bibiana Campos-Seijo

— Derek Lowe











— Paul Doherty

— Andrea Sella

— Phillip Ball
































Bibiana Campos Seijo

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Bye bye pi-pi?

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An interesting title popped up in my feed the other day: Chelsea R Martinez and Brent L Iverson’s Perspective article ‘Rethinking the term pi-stacking’ (Chem. Sci., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C2SC20045G). I don’t think I’d ever thought much about pi-stacking if I’m honest; the concept seemed to make sense and it just got absorbed into my brain along with those other concepts that I now find are mutable, like hydrogen bonds.

I’ll leave the complexities of the argument to the paper, but considering that pi-pi interactions seem so ubiquitous, especially in biological and supra molecular chemistry, where do they say we’ve been going wrong? Essentially, the point Martinez and Iverson make is that just because interactions involve pi-bonds doesn’t make them inherently different from other interactions. For example, they discuss alternating electron rich and deficient aromatic systems. Is that face centred stacking really special, or is it just normal donor-acceptor chemistry?

So what do you think, and what other contentious chemistries do you enjoy debating?

Laura Howes

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Mapping drugs in Barcelona’s groundwater

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Barcelona

A study reveals the presence of illegal drugs in the groundwater of the Catalan capital

What is going on in Barcelona’s water? Well, quite a lot! Besides the fact that it contains a variety of illegal drugs (including cocaine, amphetamine compounds, opioids, cannabinoids and so on) it also appears, according to a recent study published in Science of the total environment, that the type of drug found is closely related to the geographical location, a finding that allowed the researchers to draw a map of drug use in the city.

But first things first: how do the drugs make it into the groundwater system? Surprisingly – I found this quite shocking but perhaps it shows a certain degree of naivety – the main source of the drugs appears to be leakage from the sewer system. The good news is that the drugs in the water are not a threat to public health – phew! - as this subterranean water is generally used to clean streets and water public parks and gardens (ever noticed anything different about the flora of Barcelona?).

So when scientists analysed groundwater for traces of drugs of abuse and their metabolites and then mapped the findings against the A-Z of Barca they discovered that drug consumption is related not only to geographical location, but also to social status, with cocaine and its metabolites dominant in more prosperous neighbourhoods, while the more affordable 3,4-methylenedioxy-N-methylamphetamine (more commonly known as MDMA or ecstasy) was the dominant drug of abuse in poorer areas. So, around Calle Mallorca in the popular Eixample – an affluent area well know for its nightlife - cocaine is the drug of choice and is present in higher concentrations-  the metabolite of cocaine can be found at concentrations of 16.3ng per litre of water. Conversely, in a more working class neighbourhood, such as that around Avenida Paral.lel, the drug detected at the highest concentration is ecstasy, with the area around the river Besòs showing the  highest levels of methadone.

When interviewed by El Pais, the researchers also confirmed a finding of up to 60ng per litre of unmetabolised cocaine in the area around Eixample and admitted they were ‘very surprised by the presence of traces of cocaine, as if someone had thrown the drugs down the toilet’.

Bibiana Campos Seijo

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New American Chemical Society journal

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Public release date: 2-May-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Michael Bernstein m_bernstein@acs.org 202-872-6042 American Chemical Society

WASHINGTON, May 2, 2012 American Chemical Society (ACS) Publications announces ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, a new peer-reviewed journal with a focus on advancing research that aims to minimize environmental harm and achieve sustainable processes. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering will provide a comprehensive and topically inclusive flagship forum exclusively dedicated to the high-quality publication of content that spans the breadth of sustainable chemistry and engineering. The journal will publish its first issue in January 2013, and in keeping with the spirit of the journal's theme and with other recent new ACS Publications journal launches, it will be available online only.

The journal will be led by Editor-in-Chief David T. Allen, Ph.D., of the University of Texas at Austin. Allen is the Gertz Regents professor and chair of Chemical Engineering and the director of the Center for Energy and Environmental Resources of the Cockrell School of Engineering. He recently served as the associate editor for ACS Publications' Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research. Allen is well-recognized as a leader in the field, having received many awards, most recently the American Institute of Chemical Engineers' Sustainable Engineering Forum Award and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers' Cecil Award for Contributions to Environmental Engineering.

"This journal will address the grand challenges for sustainability in the chemical enterprise and the principles of green chemistry and green engineering," Allen said. "It will provide a focal point for the work of a rapidly developing research community in the chemical sciences, focused on sustainability, complementing the work of the ACS Green Chemistry Institute."

Susan King, Ph.D., senior vice president, ACS Journals Publishing Group, says, "ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering meets the publication needs of a growing global community of scientists and engineers engaged in this endeavor, providing rapid publication, free of mandated author fees, on award-winning online and mobile delivery platforms. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering brings together disparate parts of the community into a single forum to advance knowledge and technology."

The editor invites experts in the field to contribute original peer-reviewed research letters and articles. Authors are encouraged to establish correlations between their research and the principles of green chemistry and the principles of green engineering. The journal scope will emphasize five focal areas of research:

ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering complements the ACS portfolio of more than 40 peer-reviewed journals, with close connections established with sister journals, such as Environmental Science & Technology, and new opportunities for collaborations with the ACS Green Chemistry Institute.

Bob Peoples, Ph.D., director of the ACS Green Chemistry Institute, adds, "Green chemistry and sustainability has developed significantly across disciplinary boundaries in the last decade, and research dollars are being invested at a rapidly growing rate. This new journal from ACS Publications allows for coverage of the full interdisciplinary field, thus ensuring a successful future for the journal. ACS Publications has a reputation for launching successful journals at the forefront of chemistry, and this is an area that will benefit immensely from having such a prestigious journal available. Green chemistry today is the chemistry of the 21st century. We welcome this new opportunity to collaborate to advance green and sustainable chemistry."

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New American Chemical Society journal

Opals seek right chemistry to turn silver into gold

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Back home Lauren Jackson has cut short her WNBA season in the US to take part in a two-month training camp in preparation for the Games. Photo: Steve Christo

LAUREN JACKSON has enough Olympic silver medals to sink a ship. If the Opals want gold, something has to change.

So Jackson, who has won silver at the past three Olympics, has cut short her WNBA season to help rebuild Australia's ''chemistry'' at a two-month training camp in Canberra. The Seattle Storm star arrived in Australia late on Wednesday night to take part in a lengthy schedule aimed at forging a strong bond among players for the London Games.

The lack of understanding within the squad caused the Opals' poor showing at the 2010 world championships - where they were the defending titleholders. An abrupt quarter-final loss to hosts Czech Republic, then ranked three places below Australia, highlighted the lack of team unity and poor preparation for the championships, Jackson said.

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Dashing ... Olympians at the launch of the back to the future uniforms. Photo: Steve Christo

''Chemistry is the biggest part, from the world championships two years ago we didn't know each other, we went in blind to the world championships with all this talent but we never played together and that was evident,'' Jackson, 30 said. ''I think the government and Basketball Australia have done a great job at getting all the players back to Australia to prepare for the Olympics.''

Australian coach Carrie Graf has lobbied to stage the camp three months before the Games, including several warm-up games to prevent a similar outcome. ''We didn't have much preparation time as a team, we had basically that world championship team come together only two days before the world championship our preparation as a group was extremely limited,'' Graf said.

Jackson has spent the two years after the championships playing in the US and with club Ros Casares Valencia in Spain. While her overseas club career has limited her opportunities to gel with the Opals, she believes her absence will not be an issue because of the time the team will spend together in the build-up for London.

''Obviously I played with the girls in the world championships but we've got the next two months together, we really don't break from each other from now, and I think chemistry will be good come the Olympics.'' Jackson said. ''I feel confident with the team and talent. I'm hoping that we get the chemistry right and hoping that we have no more injuries and we go into the Olympics feeling good.''

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Opals seek right chemistry to turn silver into gold

Chemistry helps volleyball team to hot start

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Righettis Frankie Platero goes for the spike on Arroyo Grandes Taylor Jenish and Andrew Midyett in Tuesday nights volleyball match. //Joshua E. Duffy/Contributor

The Arroyo Grande High School boys volleyball team is off to a hot start, thats for certain.

The Eagles improved to 7-1 overall and 3-0 in PAC 7 League play after a 3-0 victory over the defending league champion Righetti Warriors on Tuesday.

The Eagles are a young team starting on the floor this season, with two sophomores currently in the rotation.

Our team is well-rounded, and thats why we are successful, Arroyo Grande head coach Laurel Allen said. We depend on everybody to play their part.

A few of the players having an impact so far this season are sophomore Jack Empey and senior Tanner Howard.

Empey is the setter, who despite being a sophomore brings a lot of experience to the floor.

You can see his experience and confidence on that court moving the ball around, Allen said of Empey.

Howard plays the libero position and has really worked hard over the past seasons to become one of the key players on the team, Allen said.

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Chemistry helps volleyball team to hot start

Dow to Share Laboratory Safety Expertise with University of Minnesota

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MIDLAND, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE: DOW - News) and University of Minnesota are expanding their strategic partnership by launching a pilot program to improve safety awareness and practices in the Department of Chemistry and Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science in the universitys College of Science and Engineering. The pilot program will leverage key elements of Dows best-in-class practices to help improve university laboratory safety.

The safety partnership reinforces Dows commitment to advancing research and development at leading U.S. universities. In support of the companys goal to support breakthrough technologies and ensure a strong pipeline of scientific talent for the nations workforce, Dow announced in October 2011 it would invest $25 million per year for 10 years among 11 academic institutions, including the University of Minnesota.

At Dow, we see it as part of our mission to support universities continue the tradition of excellence in chemical engineering, chemistry, and materials science, said Dr. William F. Banholzer, Ph.D., Dows chief technology officer and executive vice president of ventures, new business development, and licensing. The safety pilot program expands the partnership with University of Minnesota and leverages our strength in laboratory safety, which is a continuing challenge for universities everywhere. The Dow safety mindset is based on driving behavior toward incident prevention, sustained by renewed employee engagement and the responsibility to provide a safe work environment to our employees.

University laboratory safety has improved steadily over the last two decades, thanks largely to the enactment of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration Laboratory Safety Act in 1990. However, with a transient student population and, at times, inadequate infrastructure (especially in pre-1990 facilities) nurturing and sustaining a safety culture is a challenge, say university researchers.

"This partnership is a tremendous opportunity for us to learn how to improve the safety culture in our two departments, which is always of paramount concern as we perform research at the forefront of chemistry, materials science and engineering," said Department of Chemistry chair William Tolman. "The insights and help we glean by working closely with Dow, an industry leader in safety practices, will be invaluable in promoting safe work in our laboratories."

University administration recognizes the impact of this new partnership to improve safety and the importance of partnering with industry leaders.

Dows partnership with the University of Minnesota is a great example of how todays companies can work with universities to accomplish mutual goals while contributing to our society, said Eric W. Kaler, president of the University of Minnesota. The safety partnership with Dow will help bring a renewed culture of safety awareness to our laboratories that supports our mission of education and driving groundbreaking research.

Successful elements of this safety pilot program could be leveraged to other departments within the University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering and potentially to other universities.

"We are thrilled to partner with the Dow Chemical Company in this critically important aspect of research and education," said Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science head Frank Bates. "The consequences of this unique and innovative program will reverberate across Universities around the country."

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Dow to Share Laboratory Safety Expertise with University of Minnesota

Chemistry Graduate Students Honored for Their Research

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UC Riversides Zhenda Lu and Qiao Zhang receive Silver Awards from the Materials Research Society

By Iqbal Pittalwala on May 1, 2012

Zhenda Lu (left) and Qiao Zhang are Ph.D. graduate students in the Department of Chemistry at UC Riverside. Photo credit: Yin lab, UC Riverside.

Two Ph.D. graduate students at the University of California, Riverside have won Silver Awards given out by the Materials Research Society (MRS) for their academic achievements and current materials research, which exhibit a high level of excellence and distinction.

Zhenda Lu and Qiao Zhang, who both work in the lab of Yadong Yin, an associate professor of chemistry, received the awards on April 11 during the 2012 MRS Spring Meeting in San Francisco. They were honored for their oral presentations given at the meeting the previous day.

In total, 23 graduate students, selected from 105 applications, were recognized by the society with Graduate Student Awards. Prizes consisted of $400 and a presentation plaque for the Gold Award winners and $200 and a certificate for the Silver Award winners.

Lu developed a number of general self-assembly processes for the synthesis of multi-functional nanoscale composites which show superior performance in various applications including bioseparation, catalysis and energy harvesting.

Such assembly approaches will provide the research community a highly versatile, configurable, scalable, and reproducible process for the preparation of various multifunctional nanostructures, he said.

Zhangs research was focused on the development of highly efficient titanium dioxide (TiO2)-basednanostructured materials for harvestingsolar energy. By controlling the composition, geometric configuration, doping, and interface, he was able to produce photocatalysts with significantly enhanced efficiency in solar-assisted waste water treatment and hydrogen production by splitting water.

The demand forcheap, clean, and sustainableenergy sources is ever-increasing in this energy-hungry world. Solar energy is the best candidate as it is free, clean, and long-lasting, he said. A grand challenge facing the research community is to develop materials capable of transforming solar photons efficiently, stably, and cleanly into chemical or electrical work.

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Chemistry Graduate Students Honored for Their Research