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Making Life Easy
For those of you at the meeting in Boston, come on by the expo hall (Pubs booth, #527), and turn in your keywords for an awesome t-shirt. Wear your t-shirt in the expo hall Monday or Tuesday for a chance at a VISA gift card ($10-$50).
And to make life super simple, find the words here, here, here, here, here, and here.
This Month in Chemical History
Before July bids us adieu, I thought it might be fun to list some of the notable events this month in chemical history (after the jump). This list is by no means comprehensive. For more historical tidbits, visit Dr. Leopold May’s Chemistry Calendar and ACS’s This Week in Chemical History (there are lots of other sites, too, that I’ll mention in a posting next month.)
Slate And The Periodic Table
Image from Slate
Alert readers who visit or “like” C&EN’s Facebook page may have noticed an item posted a few weeks ago that pointed out Slate’s periodic table blog. This month, contributor Sam Kean has been writing some entertaining posts on the elements in conjunction with the release of his book, The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World From the Periodic Table of the Elements. In his introductory post, Kean says he’ll write about only 25 or so of the elements. Including today’s post (featuring cobalt), he’s written 17. So even though July is nearly over, that just means you have enough entries to occupy you while you wait for the next one. Happy reading!
We Want Your Pics
After what seems like eons of planning, I’m happy to announce that C&EN has launched its inaugural photo contest. From now until September 30, upload your photos (and micrographs) of the theme, “Your Science Up Close,” to C&EN’s Flickr group site, and tag them with “CEN-UpClose10″. Winning photos will garner cash awards and publication in the October 18 issue of C&EN. See C&EN Online for complete rules and gory details.
Credit: Jes Sherman
We hope to create a nice little resource of chemistry-related images for all to enjoy, hence the Flickr group. Keep an eye out for more contests in the future, and feel free to suggest themes.
Special thanks to senior editor Beth Halford and contributor Aaron Rowe, who each proposed the idea at different points in time, for their nudgings and ideas. And also to excimer and psi*psi over at CBC for agreeing to share their lovely images for inspiration.
Credit: Aaron Finke
This Day In Chemical History: Johan Gadolin
Johan Gadolin was born on this date in 1760. And why care about Johan Gadolin, you ask? In 1794,the Finnish chemist discovered yttrium, the first known rare earth element.
(Hat tip to Dr. Leopold May at The Catholic University of America)
Google Doodle Chemistry
Google unveiled today the 2010 winner of the Doodle 4 Google contest held for K-12 students. Chemistry may not have inspired the winner, but it did inspire one of the 40 regional finalists, Emily Caudill. The 15-year old mixed her enthusiasm for chemistry with artistic license to create Google’s logo by way of chemical structures.
She explained her doodle’s connection with the contest’s theme of “If I could do anything, I would…” with this answer:
“… start a chain reaction. If you are wondering how chemistry fits into this, well… it’s simple. The world is made up of chemistry. Every thing in the world is chemistry, and I would make a chain reaction, and make it healthy again.”
Google representatives traveled to each of the regional finalists’ schools to congratulate the students. At Emily’s presentation, she confirmed that she has not yet had a chemistry class. You go, girl.
Perhaps we can convince the professional Google Doodlers to build upon Emily’s submission and render a more chemically-accurate version for the International Year of Chemistry.
A New Electron Pusher
It’s been a little–OK, a lot–quiet around these parts. Sorry about that.
However, I am very happy to share the news that on June 1 Leigh Boerner (of the bunsen boerner) will be stepping in as our electron pusher. Or non-electron-pusher, if at the end of her job search, she discovers a different way of chemistry life. I’m certainly looking forward to reading about both her experiences and the people in nontraditional chemistry careers she’ll encounter along the way.
And speaking of job searching, C&EN currently has two positions to fill. One for a staff artist and one for a digital products manager to join the online team. A chemistry background is not required for either position, but it wouldn’t necessarily go to waste, either.
Tik Tok Chemistry
Update 5/21/10: We’ve decided to remove the “Tik Tok Chemistry” video posted here earlier. We originally posted the link because the video is, in many ways, funny and irreverent. Nevertheless, the numerous, glaring safety violations that permeate the video do provide the wrong message about proper behavior and protocol in chemistry labs. As we learned from the tragic death of Sherharbano Sangji at UCLA in January 2009, safety in chemistry labs is really nothing to joke about.
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It’s the middle of the week–a perfect excuse to share entertaining diversions such as this chemistry parody of Ke$ha‘s “Tik Tok” (kids these days…). And remember, whether in fun or earnest, always remember to wear appropriate safety attire and follow safety practices in the lab. We don’t want anyone showing up on The Safety Zone’s Friday Roundup. Happy Wednesday!
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