ScienceGeist

From the chemistry community. “Who’s that,” you say. *C H E M I S T R Y July 07, 2011 Scientific American has announced the make-up of their new blogging network. Their announcement set off waves of congratulations through the blogosphere yesterday. This collection of wonderful writers, put together by Bora Zivkovic will certainly rival some of the other, major, broadly-focused blogging networks (Wired Science, Discover Blogs, Scientopia, Guardian Science Blogs, PLoS Blogs, ScienceBlogs, and others). While the excitement over this new network is justified (I already read many of the contributors blogs), I must say that I am disappointed at the very minimal number of chemists contributing to the site. Of the 35 independent contributors, only 3 have any ties to the world of chemistry. And, it is safe to say that chemistry certainly won’t be a primary focus of any of these three sites. Cassie Rodenberg, a former … Continue reading →

Rebranding “Chemical-Free” The title of this post is potentially dangerous. If I were to see “My Chemical Fueled Life” on a shelf in a bookstore, I would immediately assume that the book was an autobiography of someone like Timothy Leary or Jerry Garcia. This could, certainly, be a book about the role ATP and mitochondria play in our existence. It could be a reasonable subtitle for Peter Atkins’ wonderful book, Atkins’ Molecules (side note – I love how Atkins stakes ownership of the molecules in his book). But given the context of seeing this title in a general bookstore, I would immediately presume that it is about drugs or toxins or industrial additives. I think this even though I am a scientist. I think this even though I’m a chemist, for-crying-out-loud! This is my confession for the day. I am a product of my environment. I am affected (to a … Continue reading →

All things in moderation June 1, 2011 Today, for personal motivations, I am going to list all of the wonderful things that arsenic is responsible for. Please feel free to add to this list in the comments section as you see fit. Green Apples by Paul Cezanne made w Paris Green Cu(C2H3O2)2·3Cu(AsO2)2 GaAs solar panels Arsenic-loving-author Deborah Blum and her wonderful book – The Poisoner’s Handbook Author Alan Bradley and his arsenic-loving-heroine Flavia de Luce Not only can arsenic cause you to die, but it can almost kill the interwebz too #arseniclife Where would you be without your arsole Arsenic-based sea monkeys from ThinkGeek From @Rachel (see comments) Arsenic trioxide used to treat leukemia

Making blocks with atoms is more difficult than you may think May 20, 2011 My oldest, who just turned four, has been “practicing” her letters lately. Of the many things that come easily to her – her early ability to speak and enunciate has always amazed me – writing letters is just not one of those things. (Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not concerned about her “advancement” in this area. Because there are so many things that she just does so well naturally, I’m just caught off guard at the things that don’t come easily to her.) But, being able to watch her develop is fascinating and one of the great joys of parenthood. Back to her letters … My daughter has always loved to draw and color. But her transition from hesitantly-drawn, squiggly lines to lines drawn in confidence is unmistakable (as the pictures on our home refrigerator … Continue reading →

The portrait drawn in over 50 years of studying the colors of chemicals April 05, 2011 1Publications of Harry B. Gray by color. Harry Gray (who was my postdoctoral advisor and is Gretchen’s doctoral advisor) recently celebrated his 75th birthday. A couple of weeks ago the group threw him a big bash at Caltech’s faculty club. Much of the organization was arranged by Gretchen with some help from our good friend, Paul. From all that I have heard, the evening was an absolute success. Group alumni from all over the world came out for the party. I was disappointed not to be able to make the trip back to Pasadena. But, I was fortunate enough to be able to work on a little gift for Harry. Before I say any more about this gift, I wanted to write a little bit about Harry and try (really all I can hope … Continue reading →

April 15, 2011 I meant to have a post ready for today … but I fell asleep on the couch last night and couldn’t muster the effort to finish what I had started. Ah well. Just wanted to point you guys over to The Sceptical Chymist blog run by the Nature Chemistry crew. They’ve posted a recent Q&A with yours truly. It is highly enlightening! More soon … mrh

I’ll speak for both GK and I on this one … This morning CJ started a conversation of some of his favorite chemical things and so, without further ado, here are ours: 1) Any story as told by Harry Gray 2) Any group meeting we give where Jay Winkler quietly nods in agreement 3) Single exponential fluorescence decay traces … double exponential decays are alright too 4) Pure protein that comes from a clean FPLC run and gives a straightforward mass spec result 5) The theme song from Jurassic Park (inside joke). 6) The wonderfully supportive crowd that are the world’s inorganic chemists. We’re very fortunate to be in this subfield. 7) An party thrown in honor of or by Harry Gray Go see the other lists: Sceptical Chymist, The Haystack, Curious Wavefunction, Azmanam.