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Lunch And Talk Of Cannibalism
“As it happens, there are an estimated 100,000 murderers in this country who got away with it in the past 30 years,” said Michael Capuzzo when quoting world-renowned forensic psychologist Richard Walter. “And they’re walking around free.”
Capuzzo, author of the new book “The Murder Room,” was speaking at ACS’s Division of Chemical Information (CINF) luncheon on Tuesday at the national meeting. The book, released on Aug. 10, follows the Vidocq Society, an exclusive crime-solving organization that meets on the third Thursday of each month in Philadelphia.
Walter and the other modern-day sleuths who belong to Vidocq are “like the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen,” Capuzzo said. “Most of them come from the U.S.” but also Interpol, Scotland Yard, and other agencies, he added. They are forensic chemists, polygraph experts, and ex-FBI agents. And they solve cold-case homicides over lunch.
“They have four courses and a headless corpse for dessert,” Capuzzo joked. Police officers or detectives present cases to them, and the detectives offer suggestions. Sometimes, they will even form a small investigative group of their own to pursue the case further. And it’s not unheard of for them to discuss cannibalism and other disagreeable subjects during their sessions.
“They’re just so authentic,” Capuzzo said. “They’re great detectives. They care deeply.” And they use words and phrases such as “chap,” “gobsmacked,” and “my dear boy.” “They’re not these tough guys on CSI going around with the latest technology,” Capuzzo said.
Grad Student Life, In Cartoon
Last night, just before the Graduate Student & Postdoc Reception and the alcohol-fueled fun of Sci-Mix, ACS national meeting attendees were treated to a truly imaginative lecture. Jorge Cham, who has been referred to as “the Dilbert of academia,” gave a presentation to somewhere between 500 and 600 fanboys and girls. Cham, the creator of the online comic-strip phenomenon PHD (Piled Higher and Deeper), talked about “The Power of Procrastination” and where it can get you.
Cham talks to his adoring (mostly) grad student fans. Credit: Linda Wang/C&EN
Having toiled away in robotics labs at Stanford University, where he obtained his Ph.D., Cham is no stranger to the drudgery of graduate school. During his years there, he began drawing comic strips about his experiences. “By far more popular than the research I spent years working on is what I was doing when I SHOULD have been doing research—what I was doing while I was procrastinating,” he said.
During Cham’s first term of graduate school, an ad appeared in the campus paper calling for comics from students. “I remember thinking to myself, ‘You know, there are all these stories about grad students that you really don’t hear anywhere else,’ ” Cham said. So he submitted an academia-themed comic and eventually posted his strips online. PHD went viral and over the course of a few years became a favorite website among graduate students the world over. “Apparently, it’s a global misery phenomenon,” Cham said. Continue reading →
Exposition Swag
Despite having finished graduate school four years ago, there are some habits acquired during that period of indentured servitude that I just can’t shake. One tendency is the overwhelming desire for free stuff—no matter what its form. To this day, if I hear that there will be free sandwiches or cookies somewhere, my knee-jerk reaction is to plot how many of them I can fit into my pockets to save for later.
The exposition at the ACS meeting is the perfect place to indulge that cheap-nick tendency. I always enjoy walking around the plush-carpeted floor looking at the wares vendors have brought to draw attendees in to their displays. But my days of being on “the outside” have made me picky. No longer will I stop at tables for the pedestrian hard candies and pens. I want more serious swag.
Meeting tchotchkes (santizers, mints, and a baseball). Credit: Lauren Wolf/C&EN
Cotton T-shirts (even though I don’t wear them often), mugs, and totes suck me in with the force of a tractor beam. Late last night, I got a JACS-Beta T-shirt at Sci-Mix. And let’s not forget about the sweet yellow “CENtral Science” T-shirt you can get for the blog keywords contest. I’ve also heard rumor that Sigma-Aldrich is giving out free glass beaker-like mugs in the exhibit hall. Can’t believe I missed that one.
A lot of booths this year are also offering a chance to win iPads and Kindles—a solid choice for attracting customers. Frontier Scientific is giving attendees the opportunity to play a little Wii baseball at its booth. Sadly, I didn’t hit a homerun during my turn and lost the chance to have my name entered in a drawing for Red Sox tickets. But I did get a free baseball (Frontier Scientific gets an A+ for that unique tchotchke).
Caricature artist at ACS booth. Credit: Lauren Wolf/C&EN
John Wiley & Sons, which is advertising on the back of the On-Site Program, has a number of giveaways at its booth: ear phones; aluminum sports bottles; and my favorite, a cute container of hand sanitizer shaped like a chemist. ACS’s own Chemistry for Life booth even has a caricature artist at work.
So what has drawn you in? And are there any noteworthy tchotchkes I’ve missed?
A C&EN Video Glimpse Of The ACS Meeting In Boston
What you just watched was a sneak peek of a new adventure for C&EN—video for next week’s ACS national meeting in Boston. We’re super excited to share this clip with you. You’re getting to feast your eyes on it before any of the meeting attendees in Beantown.
If you’ve been to a national meeting in the past, you know that there is usually a welcome video scrolling across the screens in the meeting halls. It’s the same video loop every day, so folks tend to tune it out after day one of the meeting (at least I did). But this year, C&EN teamed up with the Digital Services Unit in ACS’s Office of Public Affairs to produce fresh video content daily, from Sunday through Wednesday. These short clips feature our very own reporters set against some fantastic graphics. They highlight what we think are the most news- and discussion-worthy sessions each day.
In addition to being screened in the conference hall, these “C&EN Picks” will be shown on the shuttle buses to a captive-chemist audience. Of course I’m posting this early look at the videos because I’m one of the reporters in them, but the films also feature Associate Editor Carmen Drahl and Stu Borman, deputy assistant managing editor of the Science, Technology & Education group here at C&EN.
Today you only got to see Sunday’s video. Keep your eyes peeled for the others if you’re attending the meeting. Your keyword for this blog is GUESS. We look forward to seeing you there!
Many thanks to the wizards in the Digital Services Unit for making us look so good.
UPDATE: 8/21: We just learned there is an incorrect photo in this video. The photo of Chang-jun Liu in the video is of another Chang-jun Liu, a researcher at Brookhaven National Lab. Below is an accurate photo of Prof. Chang-jun Liu, from Tianjin University, organizer of the FUEL division symposium. We apologize to Prof. Liu for this oversight.
A Chemist And A Physicist Are Swinging in A Hammock …
Unfortunately, this is not the intro to a bad joke. It is a recap of Sunday night’s episode of “Big Brother” on CBS. (Did anyone else know that this show is still on TV? How is that possible?)
Bill Schulz, C&EN’s news editor, tipped me off to the fact that there was some chemistry going on between two of the houseguests—and some sexy talk about science.
Bill says:
“On the latest episode of CBS’s “Big Brother 12,” houseguest Rachel Reilly revealed that she has a degree in chemistry and is a member of the American Chemical Society. She was speaking with fellow houseguest Brendon Villegas, who indicated that he has studied physical chemistry and intends to pursue a Ph.D. in biomedical physics at UCLA. The steamy encounter between the two houseguests—who both said that they find intelligence sexy—spurred talk of a “showmance” in bloom. Alas, it may not happen because both Reilly and Villegas have been nominated for eviction.”
Damn, I was hoping for some more hot and heavy talk about ACS.
Perhaps the most priceless moment of this clip is when Villegas announces his membership to the American Association of Physicists in Medicine. Reilly, now a Vegas cocktail waitress, looks as though he just told her that he’s a billionaire and wants to take her shopping and then to his house in the clouds.
“Naturally Obsessed” Tackles Why Scientists Do Science
I’ve had documentary fever recently. A few weeks ago, I took in a film fest, and this week, I wrote a recommendation of “Naturally Obsessed: The Making of a Scientist” for C&EN’s Reel Science feature.
Although “Naturally Obsessed” was released last year in some places, it was recently made available on the website of New York’s public TV station, Thirteen. So you can now watch it anytime and anywhere (well, anywhere with an Internet connection)—for free.
The one-hour film follows the trials and tribulations of graduate students in a molecular biology lab at Columbia University Medical School. And it gives viewers a good idea of what a regular day is like for a research scientist—something that is mostly a mystery to the general public.
But this documentary isn’t just for audiences filled with nonscientists. There’s something in there for the experts as well. Maybe it’s grad school nostalgia, maybe it’s pride at having survived the trauma of the Ph.D. process, and maybe it’s inspiration to keep plugging away in the lab. In any case, it’s worth watching.
Of course, some of the technical details are watered down for general consumption, and you’ll be left wanting to know more about what happened to certain students. But as Robert Townley, one of the grad-student stars of the film, told me, it’s nevertheless “compelling and fun and dramatic.” He added, “It’s just the beginning” for this type of science-based film.
After writing the recommendation, I caught up with Townley and Lawrence Shapiro, the professor whose lab provides the backdrop for the film and who calmly advises the students in “Naturally Obsessed.” We talked about what it was like to do research under the lens of a video camera and how the documentary has affected their lives. Continue reading →
Advertising Bloopers
In this week’s Newscripts column, C&EN intern David Pittman wrote about radioactive algicide supposedly sold by the firm Par Pool & Spa, in Connecticut. Newscripts reader James Francis of Houston wrote in to point out the erroneous ad (to see it click here), which claims that BioGuard Back Up Algicide contains 95% carbon-14. “Should be very effective,” Francis told Pittman. “And besides, you wouldn’t need to turn on the pool lights at night.”
This ad reminded me of another that Newscripts has blogged about in the past. Florida Crystals advertises its natural sugar as being “carbon free.” Of course, the firm means that the sugar production process has a low carbon footprint, but it really should’ve had a chemist take a look at the packaging before running with it.
But my favorite misleading ad out there these days is the one shops frequently hang outside their doors to tout “organic dry cleaning.” Often, you’ll see the words “environmentally friendly” somewhere on the sign as well, which usually induces me to heave a loud sigh. I find it sad that these places prey on the public’s current craze for all things natural and organic. Interestingly, there is a dry cleaning process in existence that uses liquid carbon dioxide and biodegradable soaps rather than the traditional organic chemicals. Seventh Generation has an article about it here.
Has anyone else out there recently come across an ad similar to these?
“Dr. NakaMats” Film A Quirky, Heartwarming Ride
Last Saturday, C&EN colleague Carmen Drahl and I headed to the American Film Institute’s SilverDocs festival just outside Washington, D.C. During our day at the film fest, which ran June 21–27, we screened a quirky, highly entertaining documentary about science, the art of invention, and how to pick out a new camera by smelling it.
Yes, “The Invention of Dr. NakaMats” has everything Newscripts readers love, including a scene about the Ig Nobel Prizes. You see, Dr. Yoshiro Nakamatsu, the subject of the film, earned the Ig Nobel Prize for Nutrition in 2005 because he photographed every meal he had eaten for 34 years and studied the effects of the food on his health.
Although Dr. NakaMats comes off as a kooky piece of work—a Willy Wonka who deals in patents rather than chocolate—the Japanese inventor is in fact responsible for the technology behind an impressive number of gadgets. You might have heard of the floppy disk, the CD, and (of course) the karaoke machine. Continue reading →
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