CENtral Science

The Haystack’s Favorite Chemistry Things

Chemjobber got our creative juices flowing this Monday morning when he came up with a list of his favorite things about chemistry, and called on us (and others) to come up with our own. Azmanam’s already answered the call. Here’s our top ten, with its pharma/journalist twist, of course.

1. Academics who think like entrepreneurs and industry folk with a soft spot for academia
2. Environmentally friendlier high throughput screening and the idea of a droplet suspended in air in an acoustic liquid handler
3. The familiar smell of the med chem. lab when touring a pharma company’s R&D site
4. An exquisitely detailed micrograph
5. Chemists who deep-sea dive in icy cold waters for a treasure trove of natural products
6. Biochemical/pharmacological papers where the structure of the compound is actually reported on the first page
7. Motivated chemists with a backstory- like a relative or coworker who’s dying of the disease they’re trying to treat
8. Itty-bitty molecular model kits
9. The conferences-They’re an information bonanza and a reunion rolled into one.
10. When a new drug gets approved by FDA-Sure, nothing’s perfect. But it means on some level, chemistry is helping people

We’ll broaden the call, too. TotSyn, Sceptical Chymist and Chemistry World folks, let’s hear from you.