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Category Archives: Basic Science
TEDxCaltech Recap: Part 1
“I see your sleepy kitty and raise you EVERYTHING!” January 25, 2011 Wow.
TEDxCaltech: Ideas Worth Spreading
It’s time for the TED talks! January 13, 2011 As I mentioned in a previous post, Caltech is hosting a TEDx program tomorrow, Friday January 14, 2011 at 10:00am (PST). The event is guided by the original TED conference format, but as with all TEDx events, is self-organized. TEDxCaltech sold out in record time, but you can watch the TEDxCaltech website. Cheers ~gk
The Chemistry of Caramel
mmmmmm … January 12, 2011 There has been a lot of discussion lately in the chemistry community about making chemistry more approachable and visible to the general public. Paul ponders this issue at the end of part 1 of his 2010 Chemmy Awards post in his ruminations on whether or not chemistry needs a “hero”. In this vein, the fine crew at Nature Chemistry took it upon themselves to conduct a quick poll to decide who is the greatest chemist of all time. This post and poll generated lots of chatter and strong opinions, which included Paul expanding on his top-5 chemists. Icanhasscience has some really fun ideas (including possibly utilizing Lady Gaga and, dare I say it… Justin Bieber) on what we can do to more effectively communicate chemistry. One problem with this, which Chemjobber and Th’Gaussling point out, is that chemists live in the details. We need all … Continue reading
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MONDAY! MONDAY! MONDAY!!
Chemistry and Tech Job Policy December 13, 2010 Just a quick note: This Monday, ScienceGeist is going to be part of a roundtable discussion on the state of jobs in the chemical industry and academia, and by default, the things we talk about will be 100% applicable to any employment in any technical arena. The schedule is as follows: Monday: Chemjobber will discuss why the current view (espoused by the President’s Scientific Advisory Council and many other agencies and CEO’s) is wrong. The background for this post will be an article by Beryl Benderly. So, do your homework and check it out! Tuesday: Leigh Krietsch Boerner will discuss over at her blog on CENtral whether or not we are training more chemists in PhD programs than we actually need to be. I’m sure a lot of our readers have strong opinions on this one. Wednesday: Paul Bracher will give his … Continue reading
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SpaceX and Arsenic
Bad for NASA(?) Good for science(!) December 9, 2010 We’ve had a lot of NASA in the news recently, and not necessarily for things that NASA is/should be happy about. I want to get one thing straight from the outset of this post. NASA is one of the finest drivers of science/engineering/innovation that the United States has ever sponsored. They continue to produce unmatched science and promising young scientists and engineers (many of whom I personally know and completely admire). However, one of NASA’s perceived missions is that it is around to do the completely impossible (note: this is the my opinion of the public perception of NASA). NASA is supposed to go to the moon. NASA is supposed to give us the Mars rovers. NASA is supposed to do things that we can only imagine. The public face of NASA today seems to show an organization that is about … Continue reading
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Forums for Thought
The thighmaster: neither a thigh, nor master. Discuss. December 07, 2010 It’s like the SNL skit, Coffee Talk… Dorothy Parker: famous wit and salon participant. Now I turn to the internet to find my muse and to reach out into the community of “thinkers”. So let’s talk about TED. As many of you know, TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design. TED began in 1984 as a nonprofit “devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading” and has since broadened its scope to include 2 annual conferences in California, a TEDGlobal conference in Oxford UK, and multiple sites broadcasting the best performances/TEDTalks online for free. The idea is simple: bring together the world’s most passionate thinkers and inspired doers and give them 18 minutes to explain themselves in the most interesting ways possible. These conferences have captivated the attention of millions of viewers and spawned programs such as the TED Open Translation Project … Continue reading
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Tagged Art, Every Day Life, Forums
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Snowflakes are Hexagonal
And why this would be obvious if you could see individual water molecules November 29, 2010 One of my favorite observations in chemistry is how symmetry on a molecular scale translates into something we can observe. (That is: really, really, really, really itty-bitty shapes that we can only “see” with super-fancy microscopes become the shapes of materials that we see every day) Take sodium chloride (common table salt, NaCl) for example. Individual sodium ions and individual chloride ions come together to make tiny little cubes of NaCl. A rendering of the cubic crystal of sodium (green) chloride (purple). (Image credit) When a sodium chloride crystal continues to grow and becomes a salt granule that we can hold in our hand, it retains its cubic shape. Cubic crystals of sodium chloride. (Image credit) I am continually amazed with this observation. Small shapes keep stacking up to become bigger versions of themselves. … Continue reading
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The Goblin Element
No, I’m not going to talk about Harry Potter again November 23, 2010 Cobalt Cobalt is element 27, i.e. it has 27 protons in its nucleus. Cobalt may be my favorite element. It was instrumental in charting the course for our modern understanding of inorganic chemistry (the chemistry of non-carbon-based things … you know … the interesting stuff). Cobalt-based materials are used in the chemical industry for processing carbon monoxide (steam reforming to produce H2 and in the conversation of carbon monoxide and hydrogen into synthetic petroleum. And, materials made with cobalt are very likely going to play a key role in producing cheap solar energy (more on this later). Metallic cobalt. (Image from wikipedia. Please see my important note on wikipedia.org in the comment section.) Cobalt gets its name from the German word Kobold, meaning goblin. Cobalt wasn’t discovered early enough to play a role in the development of … Continue reading
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Not your father’s invisibility cloak
Why science is so much cooler than magic November 18, 2010 As I am sure many of you are aware, the penultimate Harry Potter film opens at midnight tonight. For all of the fans (addicts?) out there, this is one of the last chances to get their rush from something new out of the world of Hogwarts. (Seriously, the UK should just give up the whole austerity thing and, instead, should publish the next J.K. Rowling book. It’s like printing money.) Anyway, in the final book, Harry’s invisibility cloak is revealed as one of the Deathly Hallows from which the book takes its name. In the novels, we never learn what the Cloak of Invisibility is made out of. We do know that the particular cloak that Harry possesses, which he inherited from his father, is possibly the greatest invisibility cloak that had ever been made. While that might sound … Continue reading
Step on in to the science cafe
What can we do for you? November 15, 2010 Carl Zimmer wrote a feature for the New York Times Science section recently titled, “Voices: What’s Next in Science.” Well, that’s certainly a big question. Zimmer interviewed ten scientists from various fields (space science, conservation, game design, ocean science, climate change, genomics, engineering, neuroscience, biotechnology, and mathematics). Their responses are very directed and specific (as you might expect their comments to be … they are scientists for heaven’s sake). Actually, I have a feeling that Zimmer pressed them to be concrete. It’s a great read. And, I am always fascinated when the world’s top scientists are talking about where they think the future of research is headed. Taking off on a somewhat related theme, one of last week’s biggest topics in the science-interweb-bloviating world (which you guys are sure to know that I am a huge fan of) is the degree … Continue reading
