In the June 4, 2007 issue of Chemical & Engineering News (which is behind a paywall accessible only to ACS members and those with institutional subscriptions, I’m afraid) there’s an article on how college and university labs may be impacted by the interim final regulation on chemical security issued recently by the Department of Homeland Security.
In a nutshell, that impact looks like it could involve thousands of hours and hundreds of thousands of dollars for a single university to comply with the rules, even if the chemicals they use fall into those specified by DHS as being at the lowest level of risk. As you can imagine, the colleges and universities are kind of freaked out.
Category Archives: Chemistry
What do we know about nanomaterials?
Via a press release from Consumers Union, the July 2007 issue of Consumer Reports will include a call for more testing and regulation of nanotechnology:
[T]he risks of nanotechnology have been largely unexplored, and government and industry monitoring has been minimal. Moreover, consumers have been left in the dark, since manufacturers are not required to disclose the presence of nanomaterials in their labeling.
Homeschooling and chemistry.
The April 16 issue of Chemical & Engineering News has an interesting article about homeschooling families looking for chemistry curricula. (You need an individual or institutional subscription to view the article; it might be worth checking with your local library.)
I’m far from an expert on homeschooling (as we’re availing ourselves of the public schools), but I’m fascinated by the ways some of the families featured in the article are piecing together what they need for their kids.
Another expert weighs in on chemistry matches in the Sweet Sixteen.
The pregame show has already started on the Acid vs d-orbitals game, but we’ve just received another set of predictions about this game and the Fossil Fuels vs. Erlenmeyer Flask match (hmm, should I say “match” there?) from the Molecule of the Day guy. Adjust your best accordingly!
Science Spring Showdown Sweet Sixteen: Game venues announced!
You’ve been waiting patiently. It’s almost here!
2007 Science Spring Showdown: Experts handicap the third round chemistry matches.
As we head into the Science Spring Showdown Sweet Sixteen, it seemed prudent to turn to some experts for their predictions on the two remaining games in the chemistry region, Acid vs. d-orbitals and Fossil fuels vs. Erlenmeyer flask. (Of course, we won’t soon forget the exciting first and second round games that brought these four teams to the Sweet Sixteen.)
Here’s what some members of the chemical cognoscenti have to say:
Chemistry round two: results for MORTAR AND PESTLE bracket announced!
1st ROUND RESULTS | PRESS CENTER | PRINTABLE BRACKETS
Welcome to coverage of the 2007 Science Spring Showdown second round play in the Chemistry region. The fans in Chemical Arena resorted to a face centered cubic strategy to pack themselves into the stands. You could almost feel the electricity in the air as the products of the first round match-ups were poured into the separatory funnel of the second round. The fans and the teams shook things up. Which teams came out in the top layer, and which saw their hopes of going all the way drained out?
Chemistry fans get excited as second round games in MORTAR AND PESTLE bracket draw near.
PRESS CENTER | PRINTABLE BRACKETS
Even given a weekend to come back to equilibrium, some chemistry fans are still perturbed by some of the results of first round play in the MORTAR AND PESTLE bracket. FTIR’s upset win over NMR has many a Monday morning spectroscopist splitting his peaks trying to analyze what went wrong. And while Ethanol is a perennial powerhouse in this conference, many tournament watchers had anticipated celebrating Caffeine at their Monday morning lab meetings.
Friday’s games were just the first step in a mutli-step synthesis of a tournament champion. Tomorrow, just four teams will emerge from the crucible of second round play in the Chemical Arena. The match-ups will be:
Chemistry Conference first round results!
PRESS CENTER | PRINTABLE BRACKETS
The March weather in California has taken a turn for the beautiful this afternoon, but to chemistry conference fans, the natural beauty of the great outdoors is no match for the beauty of the competitions inside the Chemical Arena. The crowds donned their safety goggles and souvenir nitrile gloves and piled in to observe the action. The press box was a flurry of strip-charts and lab notebooks. After some excited play, here are the first round results:
Chemistry is game on! (MORTAR AND PESTLE bracket opens)
PRESS CENTER | PRINTABLE BRACKETS
It’s time for a quick run down of the teams from the Chemistry Conference who made it to the tournament this Spring — some who we fully expected to see here, and a few surprises. But it’s also time for you, the fans, to make some noise in support of your favorite teams! If we follow your observations on these competitors down to the quantum level, they’re bound to effect the outcome (albeit in a probabilistic way).
Here are the first round match ups: