Periodic Tabloid

The 25^th anniversary of the discovery of Buckminsterfullerene was held this week at Rice University in Houston. According to established nomenclature, this would be the quasiquivigintennial. Easier to remember (and pronounce) is the more common usage—silver anniversary.

Earlier this week the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Richard F. Heck, Ei-ichi Negishi, and Akira Suzuki for their work on palladium catalyzed cross-coupling reactions in organic syntheses. Those not versed in synthetic chemistry are wondering: What on earth is that?

There are hundreds of beautifully rendered and highly detailed protein structures available for architectural inspection. But these structures are rigidly frozen and don’t show the lively movements occurring when proteins do their essential business.

Residents of the Greater Philadelphia area have been getting geology lessons recently as the local media is turning the phrase “Marcellus Shale” into a household name. 

Two years ago the first cancer genome was sequenced. Now hundreds of cancer genomes are complete and the cost is approaching the relatively affordable $10,000 range.

Bacteria are smart and tenacious little critters. They grow in any hospitable place, including the nutritious environs of a human body. 

My first experience with an electronic calculator was in 1969 as a senior in college. The chemistry department bought a Hewlett-Packard device for about $3000. 

Last week was the biannual American Chemical Society meeting in Boston. They’ve done 240 of these previously so one expects—and generally gets—a good show. 

A breakthrough in oxidation coupling techniques shows how solutions can be found when different disciplines work together.

At the American Chemical Society (ACS) Boston meeting I attended last week, some leading scientists convened to discuss the consequences of climate change. For every disagreement on how to tackle this problem (and whether it's a problem at all), agreements were made as well.