April 2008

Debate Science … Please

Posted by Rachel Pepling on April 22, 2008 in The Editor's Blog

Rudy makes an excellent point in this week’s editorial–none of the three primary presidential candidates has really addressed the science and technology issues facing the U.S. and the world. A second invitation to Science Debate 2008 for next month has been extended to the candidates. Should this invitation prove more successful than the first (consider urging your candidate of choice to participate), what are the issues you would like to see them tackle? Or feel free to debate the Debate itself–do you think it will force the candidates to really consider science and technology, or do you foresee an event of noncommittal rhetoric?

Posted in The Editor's Blog | 3 Comments »

Chemistry Newsbytes

Posted by Bethany Halford and Lisa Jarvis on April 22, 2008 in Chemistry is Everywhere

What holds together the ancient terra-cotta army? Eggs. Discovery Channel

GreenTech companies to watch. CNet

What can $350,000 buy? A Bentley, a studio apartment in brownstone Brooklyn, or a sequence of your entire genome. Short Sharp Science

The U.S. military wants to grow body parts … Slate

… and PETA wants to grow meat. NY Times

For their next marketing maneuver, skin cream makers turn to “stem cell technology.” LA Times

Gattaca Watch: DNA evidence used for deeper examination of the accused. Washington Post

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The Sound Of Science

Posted by Ivan Amato on April 18, 2008 in Uncategorized

At the Silver Spring Metro Station just north of Washington, D.C., because of some misalignment of mechanical parts or wear or some other mechanical flaw, an escalator that transports riders from the entrance level to the train platform periodically makes a most unexpected sound. It is alluring, sonorous, and oddly familiar. It starts out with a low intensity comprising mostly a high but pleasant frequency atop a subtle lower pitch foundation. Then with an increasing rate of attack and intensity, it crescendos to an exuberant peak before going silent and giving way to the background muhmuh-muhmuh-muhmuh of the escalator’s machinery. Every 10 seconds or so, another clarion burst reverbs through the station.

When I first heard this most welcome sonic motif, my eyes darted around the station’s interior, searching, without anticipating success, for an elephant. But when I heard the trumpet call again, and then again, during a single escalator descent from the station’s platform, I knew it was a troubled machine that was making the arresting music. That realization, by way of the inscrutable neural logic that underlies streams of thought, opened up a memory ingrained a decade ago. In the memory, I am strolling with Craig Venter, the most visible of the Big Biology visionaries, in what was then his brand new, football-field-sized DNA-sequencing facility at the then-brand-new genomics firm Celera in Rockville, Md. This was the place where Venter would execute his bid to beat the government in the quest for a completely sequenced human genome. Venter didn’t know it, but what struck me most as we passed by row after row of the latest and greatest sequencing machines was the musical drone the machines were making. It was a vast, mechano-Gregorian chant hovering close to what I estimated was A above middle C.

Ever since then, I have made it a point, when visiting a lab, to listen. Each one of these places of discovery has a unique assembly of instruments, a one-of-a-kind orchestra of cooling fans, pumps, stirring motors, robotic sample changers, test-tube shakers, centrifuges, and myriad other sound-making furnishings. In time and with enough attentive listening behind me, I am hoping to be able to enter a lab blindfolded, any lab, and yet still know what kind of research goes on there, by hearing the sound of the science unfolding in that space.

C&ENTRAL Science would love to listen to the signature sounds of your lab or to read how you describe them. Send your recordings to webmaster.cen@acs.org or post a description of your lab’s sonic character in the comments.

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Chemistry Newsbytes

Posted by Bethany Halford and Lisa Jarvis on April 18, 2008 in Chemistry is Everywhere

Behold the evolution of the library: Browse the notebooks, drawings, and publications of Charles Darwin online. Darwin Online

FSU chemistry: Looking to be competitive. Tallahassee Democrat

Weighty issues on the future of the kilogram. LA Times

Athletes volunteer baseline body chemistry in antidoping effort. Washington Post

Bad news for Fluffy and Fido. Pets carry higher concentrations of certain chemical contaminants. NPR

The biochemistry of profit and loss: Analyzing stockbrokers’ spit. WSJ

Academic etiquette (or how to respond to “You reviewed my paper…”). Female Science Professor

Before signing up for that genetic testing service, you may need to move to a new state. Forbes

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Professor Of Corn?

Posted by Melody Voith on April 16, 2008 in Chemistry and Food

It’s a common complaint that “there’s nothing good on TV”. Last night I was clicking through the channels–it was already 10 PM–when I came across a PBS Independent Lens film called “King Corn.”

The movie is about two young guys who drive to Iowa to learn about growing corn in the industrial farm age. I was already intrigued and was deciding whether to stay up and watch when I noticed that the filmmakers were interviewing my college chemistry professor. Steven A. Macko studies isotopes. And he can tell you what your diet consists of by analyzing your hair. “That’s my chemistry professor!” I yelled. “He analyzed my hair!”

Turns out, as “King Corn” illustrates in great and fascinating detail, that most Americans eat so much industry-grade corn in our processed food, soft drinks, and meat, that we are literally made out of corn.

If Steve analyzed your hair, what would he find? Keep in mind that he’s analyzed the diets of dinosaurs and ancient mummies with isotopic analysis. If you’ve been drinking too much Classic Coke, he’ll be able to tell.

You may still have a chance to see the film on your local PBS station. Check it out!

Posted in Chemistry and Food | 3 Comments »

A Little Night Music

Posted by Carmen Drahl on April 16, 2008 in 2008 Spring National Meeting, ACS Meetings

Exactly one week ago today, I was at the ACS national neeting, trolling the convention center in New Orleans for interesting talks in the Organic Division, when I chanced upon an unassuming stack of black-and-white photocopied fliers. They promised both music and refreshments at that night’s joint poster session with the Medicinal Division. I like music and refreshments, so I stuffed the flier into my bag.

It should come as no surprise to you that chemists also like music and refreshments. Long after the last poster was lovingly rolled into its case, they were tapping and dancing along to the Zydepunks, who I think were the best example of interdisciplinarity at the meeting.
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Posted in 2008 Spring National Meeting, ACS Meetings | 2 Comments »

Designer DNA Analysis

Posted by Lisa Jarvis on April 15, 2008 in Chemistry is Everywhere, Uncategorized

En route to a meeting in Manhattan’s trendy SoHo area yesterday, I happened upon a bizarre store hawking, of all things, DNA analysis. So I stopped in to see what DNA NYC, a temporary installation of Redwood Shores, Calif.-based Navigenics, was all about. For a mere $2,500 and a bit o’ spit, I could find out if I have a greater than average risk of developing 18 different diseases, including breast cancer, type 2 diabetes, obesity, Alzheimer’s, and, oddly enough, restless legs syndrome.

Genetics testing, though vital to the introduction of that holy grail of personalized medicine, is also something of an ethical minefield. We’re only now starting to understand the emotional fallout from knowing in advance that we are likely to end up with a devastating disease. I asked the kind folks from Navigenics about this issue.

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Posted in Chemistry is Everywhere, Uncategorized | 5 Comments »

Chemistry Newsbytes

Posted by Lisa Jarvis on April 15, 2008 in Chemistry is Everywhere

Spellements: Make your own personalized element banner. Theodore Gray

Winning teams: chemists and VCs. WSJ (sub req’d)

Scientists finally figure out why arsenic works as a cancer treatment. The Guardian

Metal bands planning their next tour take note: Lasers are now being used to create electrical activity in thunderclouds. Scientific Blogging

Community college students learn the art of preserving people in plastic. LA Times

Chemist aids art conservator. Concord Monitor

Musings on plastics. NY Times

Wired’s take on the ACS National Meeting. Wired Science

Posted in Chemistry is Everywhere | 4 Comments »

Grand Science Challenges

Posted by Rachel Pepling on April 14, 2008 in 2008 Spring National Meeting, The Editor's Blog

From this week’s Editor’s Page:

One of the numerous presidential events at last week’s ACS national meeting in New Orleans was a session titled “Energy Research: Future Challenges & Opportunities.” The symposium was jointly sponsored by ACS and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

The keynote speaker at the session was Raymond L. Orbach, undersecretary for science at the Department of Energy. In his talk, Orbach said there “are the two questions that loom over humanity today: How will we supply all this needed new energy, and how can we do so without adding dangerously to atmospheric greenhouse gases?

“The energy and environmental challenge confronting us in the century ahead is truly monumental. It may be one of the biggest challenges humanity has ever faced.”

Read the rest of the editorial

Posted in 2008 Spring National Meeting, The Editor's Blog | 1 Comment »

Chemistry Newsbytes

Posted by Bethany Halford and Lisa Jarvis on April 11, 2008 in Chemistry is Everywhere

Zapping fruits and veggies with radiation to kill E. coli. LA Times

Light-activated tooth whitening: brighter smiles or bunk? NPR

Chemists look for biobased feedstocks. NY Times

Baseball players use performance enhancing drugs, should we be surprised about scientists? WSJ Health Blog

Roads that go pink in icy weather. Autoblog

Mythbusters discuss the joy of blowing stuff up. A.V. Club

We knew climate change was a threat to polar bears, but beer production? Oh no! Green Tech

Organic chemists, which reference book do you think is a must have? The Chem Blog

Posted in Chemistry is Everywhere | 2 Comments »