Act 4 Chemistry

2011 International Year of Chemistry = Global Outreach

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:06:00 -0400

So the other day I was walking up the creek in my backyard with my son and he asked me, "Dad how do we know if the creek water is clean?"

I answered, "Chemists test the water quality."

He then asked, "Can I help?"

To which I said, "Yes you can!" I then talked to him about the International Year of Chemistry (IYC).

Next year, during IYC, there will be a global chemistry experiment performed by thousands of school children across the world - is the biggest chemical experiment ever conducted. Students will participate in modules that examine the properties of their local water and explore how chemistry provides the world clean drinking water. Results will be electronically showcased as an interactive global data map at the end of 2011, demonstrating the value of international cooperation in science.

Since IYC is right around the corner, I encourage you to begin planning your activities and stay up to date with the latest information on celebrating IYC : the ACS IYC 2011 Community Outreach web page includes an overview of ACS resources for outreach activities during 2011; ACS IYC 2011 Toolkits include a number of ideas, guidelines, and templates for your IYC celebrations; and ACS IYC 2011 Nano-Grants for ACS Local Sections have been launched to aid ACS Local Sections in financing elements of their IYC celebrations (the deadline is September 29th). Subscribe to the IYC Bulletin to stay posted on IYC activities.

IYC will be a perfect opportunity to share the passion we have for chemistry to the world.

Two years of work explained in one hour...

Tue, 07 Sep 2010 17:27:00 -0400

That’s nothing – I explained 6.5 years of research in 45 minutes at my dissertation defense. Explained probably isn't the right word...how about "bored to tears".

In August of ’08 the NSF’s National Science Board formed a Task Group to identify strategies for increasing the number and quality of future STEM innovations. The Board will publicly release their report on September 15 at 9:45am at the National Press Club. You should attend. There will be very smart people with strong ideas about all things STEM - and food.

For more information, please see below or visit: http://www.nsf.gov/nsb/stem/

RSVP to NationalScienceBrd@nsf.gov or call (703)-292-7000

Please direct media inquiries to Maria Zacharias, mzachari@nsf.gov or (703)-292-8454

The Science Guy Interview

Tue, 07 Sep 2010 10:09:00 -0400

I came across this interesting interview of Bill Nye (the Science Guy) and thought it should be shared. I remember meeting Bill Nye at a Congressional Briefing on STEM education a few years ago and was struck with his passion.

Would you be willing to share your passion for science like Bill Nye? If so, I encourage you to check out the ACS Chemistry Ambassador site to learn more.

Size Matters

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 12:19:00 -0400

The thickness of a single sheet of paper is about 100,000 nanometers. So is the width of a human hair. Thanks to scientists at Rice University and Hewlett-Packard, digital switches, an integral component of a computer chip’s memory, are now reliably being produced that are only 5 nanometers.

This advancement is based on the potentially revolutionary finding that silicon oxide (SiO₂) can be modified into a nanocrystal resistor and work well in an environment that is completely metal free. The original research paper was published this week in the ACS journal Nano Letters, and then quickly picked up by the New York Times.

Cool (but Impractical?) Research

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 10:35:00 -0400

BBC news is reporting on a new type of research that may get aboard the International Space Station in 2013. This Russian-led endeavor would try to use the vacuum of space to create ultra-pure crystals. We can't do this on Earth because, unlike a perfect vacuum, there is always something hanging out that will lead to an impurity in the crystal.

The research sounds pretty cool and I am sure we can learn a great deal from ultra-pure crystals, but the article then takes a left turn and begins to discuss how the crystals could be applied to everyday technologies to make them better.

I think that is nuts - maybe I am being short sighted - but I just don't see the feasability of scaling-up any product for mass market consumption that can only be produced at zero-gravity in space.

According to NASA, one space shuttle costs $1.7 billion dollars. To put it into space once costs $450 million dollars.

Again, maybe I am being shortsighted.

I am all for basic research. I think this is valuable research that will tell us a great deal about crystal morphology and will certainly improve our techniques for crystal growth on the ground. I just find the commercialization argument here pretty faulty.

What do you think?

Lab Safety

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 16:48:00 -0400

Check out the piece in this week's Chemical and Engineering News about a lab explosion at Texas Tech.

He believed that the compound was safe when “wet,” so he added some hexane and—wearing safety goggles but working at a bench in the middle of the lab, with no blast shield —“very gently, very, very gently” used a pestle to try to break up the chunks.

If you think that sounds like the chemistry equivalent of Jaws theme music right before the shark eats someone, you'd be correct.

http://pubs.acs.org/cen/science/88/8834sci1.html

Impact of Recovery Act Investments in Innovation, Science and Technology -- Update

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 09:43:00 -0400

Vice President Biden and Secretary Chu will be speaking today about a new report showing how ARRA funds have benefited science and technology. It should be pretty interesting.

You can watch live HERE. The fun begins at 10:45.

UPDATE: Here is the report (pdf).

Here is Politico's take:

THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING – Vice President Joe Biden and Energy Secretary Steven Chu today will unveil a new government analysis of the impact of stimulus investments in science and technology. The Recovery Act poured more than $100 billion into energy and other science-heavy industries, and the event will be the latest push from the administration to convince the American public that the investments are leading to economic growth, job creation and more domestic clean energy production.
MORNING ENERGY FIRST LOOK – According to a White House official, today’s report will show that thanks to the stimulus cash the U.S. is now on track to: cut the cost of solar power in half by 2015, putting it roughly on par with the cost of retail electricity from the grid; cut the cost of electric vehicle batteries by 70 percent by 2015, bringing the lifetime cost of a plug-ins in line with their non-electric counterparts; and double domestic renewable energy generation and manufacturing capacity by 2012.

The National Academy of Sciences Wants YOU!

Fri, 20 Aug 2010 09:22:00 -0400

Are you a graduate level scientist or engineer looking for a way to burst into the DC policy scene? There is no better opportunity than serving as a National Academies Science and Technology Policy Fellow. As a 2009 graduate, I can attest that an Academies S&T Fellowship will provide you a courtside seat into the inner workings of Congress and other lawmaking bodies. Fellows get to directly work with the people that influence policy decisions while developing their research skills in new and exciting ways. Whether you’re looking for a career transition into science policy, or just want a taste of what DC has to offer, the Academies Fellowship can provide either.

Applications for the Winter 2011 Class (January 24-April 15) are being called for now. The application deadline is October 15th so don’t delay! For further details go here

NASA and the Vastness of the Universe...

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 11:54:00 -0400

The Earth and Moon from 114 million miles:

Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

Here is what John Hopkins has to say about this beautiful photo:

Date Acquired: May 6, 2010
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 181616382
Instrument: Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
WAC Filter: 2 (clear filter)
Field of View: The WAC has a 10.5° field of view

Of Interest: In the lower left portion of this image, the Earth can be seen, as well as the much smaller Moon to Earth's right. When MESSENGER took this image, a distance of 183 million kilometers (114 million miles) separated the spacecraft and Earth. To provide context for this distance, the average separation between the Earth and the Sun is about 150 million kilometers (93 million miles). Though it is a beautiful, thought-provoking picture, viewing our planet from far away was not the main reason that the mission team planned the collection of this image. Instead, this image was acquired as part of MESSENGER's campaign to search for vulcanoids, small rocky objects that have been postulated to exist in orbits between Mercury and the Sun. Though no vulcanoids have yet been detected, the MESSENGER spacecraft is in a unique position to look for smaller and fainter vulcanoids than has ever before been possible. MESSENGER's vulcanoid searches occur near perihelion passages, when the spacecraft's orbit brings it closest to the Sun. Today is another such perihelion, and MESSENGER is taking a new set of images to search for tiny asteroids lurking close to the Sun.

Finding the next oil...

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 10:10:00 -0400

ARPA-E, the Department of Energy's version of DARPA, is spending heavily on research across that country that is being done to find cost efficient alternative energy.

Today the New York Times has a great write up on some of the projects that are getting grants from ARPA-E. There is some pretty interesting stuff here. If even one pays off, then ARPA-E will be considered an amazing success.

Read the whole article! Here is an example to spark your curiousity...

Take Michael Raab, whose start-up, Agrivida, in Medford, Mass., is tinkering with the genes of grass and sorghum to develop plants that make the enzymes internally and digest their own cellulose on cue, leaving behind a murky brown concoction of sugars that can be converted into gasoline, diesel or jet fuel.

Deep inside their cells, his plants produce a smooth, nonreactive molecule, but when the plant is exposed to heat and a change in acidity, the molecule breaks open, like a beer bottle smashed against the bar. The jagged edges are enzymes. They rip apart cell walls and leave fragments that are useful sugars.

Flexible energy

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 15:02:00 -0400

Have you ever dreamt of slipping on a pair of jeans that could power your ipod? How about plugging your PDA into the frames of your Ray-Ban’s? You may soon have the opportunity to do either, as scientists are finding new ways to convert solar radiation directly into electrical energy. Traditionally solar panels, or more specifically photovoltaic cells, are made of rigid silicon wafers. It has recently been discovered that photovoltaic cells can also be created from organic compounds, allowing them to spread across flexible substrates. This finding is setting the solar energy industry ablaze, and products such as light-harvesting clothes and energy generating glass tinting may not be too far in the future.

Here for more details

Boston Symposia!

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 09:14:00 -0400

In just a couple of days, chemists will come from all over the planet to talk chemistry in Boston. That is right...it is time for another ACS National Convention.

As always, the agenda is jam packed full of chemistry goodness. Check out the online schedule HERE.

I did want to highlight some symposia that caught my eye.

· Chemistry and Policy: Solving Problems at the Interface
Monday, August 23^rd, 8:30 am -5:00 p.m., Seaport

· Translational Chemical R&D: The Driving Force of Job Creation
Sunday, August 22^nd, 1:30 pm – 5:00 pm, Boston Convention & ExhibitionCenter

· Gulf Oil Spill: Tackling the Chemistry and Food Science Implications
Tuesday, August 24^th, 2010 8:00 am – 6:00 pm, BostonConvention & ExhibitionCenter

For those of you traveling - enjoy the conference!

Arctic Ocean - Not a Great CO2 Sink

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 14:29:00 -0400

NSF - News from the Field - brings us word that the Arctic Ocean has been shown to be a surprisingly poor sink for CO2. Previously, scientists had hoped that as sea ice melts due to climate change, the new ocean water would pick up large amounts of CO2.

Here are some excerpts from the University of Georgia press release on the research discovery:

The summer of 2010 has been agonizingly hot in much of the continental U.S., and the record-setting temperatures have refocused attention on global warming. Scientists have been looking at ways the Earth might benefit from natural processes to balance the rising heat, and one process had intrigued them, a premise that melting ice at the poles might allow more open water that could absorb carbon dioxide, one of the major compounds implicating in warming.
Now, though, in research just published in the journal Science and led by a University of Georgia marine chemist, that idea may be one more dead end. In fact, a survey of waters in the Canada Basin, which extends north of Alaska to the North Pole, shows that its value as a potential carbon dioxide “sink” may be short-lived at best and minor in terms of what the planet will need to avoid future problems.

What Cai and colleagues found was that as greater areas of ice melt each summer, the Canada Basin’s potential as a CO₂sink will diminishdramatically mainly because of the rapid uptake of CO₂ from the atmosphere. And because of this carbon dioxide uptake, the waters become quite acidic and “a poor environment for calcium-carbonate shell-bearing marine organisms,” Cai said.
The findings are at once intriguing and disappointing because carbon dioxide and other gases dissolve more readily in cold water than warm water, and so scientists had long thought that seas of melting polar ice would at least have the trade-off of being good places for the absorption of carbon dioxide.

American Chemical Society Launches “Green” Roof Project

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 12:03:00 -0400

Continuing on Kevin's blog earlier this week the ACS has announced a green roof project. Below is the complete announcement. What do you think?

The American Chemical Society (ACS), the world’s largest scientific society, today took another major step in transforming its headquarters into one of the most energy-efficient and sustainable structures possible with existing technology by starting construction of a meadow on the roof -- a “green roof” for its headquarters building.

Only 1 in 10 office buildings in the Washington, D.C., area have these innovative surfaces, according to Joanna Brosnan, director of ACS’s Facilities Department, who initiated the project. Green roofs use green plants growing on a specially engineered surface to absorb carbon dioxide from the air, save energy on heating and cooling, promote cleaner air, and reduce stormwater runoff that can overburden city sewers.

When completed in the autumn, the ACS’ Clifford & Kathryn Hach Building, 1155 16^th Street NW, will sprout a garden consisting of a specialized mix of plants that thrive in the harsh, dry, hot conditions that exist at roof level. Employees will be able to enjoy lunch or breaks in an observation area and enjoy the wildflowers, grasses, and water-storing, drought-resistant flowering sedums in the meadow-on-the-roof.”

“We are delighted to be able to transform our headquarters building into an even-more environmentally friendly and sustainable structure,” said Madeleine Jacobs, ACS Executive Director and CEO. “This project is consistent with the core values of ACS, the world’s largest scientific society -- to work for a more sustainable city, country, and world.”

Green roofs:

· Retain stormwater. Most stormwater from rooftops in cities washes into the municipal storm sewer system, sometimes leading to flooding, sewage backup, congestion of waterways and water quality problems. The green roof will absorb up to 90 per cent of rainwater and snowfall melt.

· Improve air quality. One square meter of green roof can filter approximately 4.4 lbs of polluting aerosol dust and smog particles from the air each year. In addition, the roof’s plants and soil absorb nitrates and other harmful materials in the air and from rainfall.

· Lessens the “heat island” effect. Heat given off by residential buildings, industry, and traffic make cities hotter than the suburban areas. Scientists term this -- the higher temperature in cities –– the urban heat island effect. Green areas and parks, including green roofs, help control the heat island effect.

· Increases energy efficiency. Green roofs can cut energy use for a building by lowering the air-conditioning costs for that building.

Michigan State University scientists, in a study published in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology, report that that replacing traditional roofing materials with green in an urban area the size of Detroit, with a population of about one-million, would be equivalent to eliminating a year’s worth of carbon dioxide emitted by 10,000 mid-sized SUVs and trucks.

The green roof is just the latest in a series of projects to make the Hach building a more sustainable structure, including some that have brought national honors. In 2009, for instance, the ACS Facilities Department was awarded Gold Certification for the ACS Hach building in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, Existing Building: Operations and Maintenance (LEED-EB O&M) program, sponsored by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). The USGBC is the nation’s leading non-profit authority for green buildings and is a nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high performance green buildings. The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded the Hach Building an Energy Star rating each year since 2006 for energy efficiency.

ACS in 2008 gave the Hach building a white roof with white coatings that reflect the sun, and help reduce energy consumption associated with summer cooling.

The Society also is deeply involved with protecting the environment through its ACS Green Chemistry Institute^® (ACS GCI), which works to promote green chemistry and green engineering in all aspects of the global chemical enterprise.

“I’m really excited about this project,” said Brosnan “It’s important for ACS to continue to be in the forefront of the environmental sustainability movement for the community and for its members.” She noted that the D.C. Anacostia Watershed Society (AWS), through the D.C. Department of the Environment, will award ACS a rebate on the green roof project. Furbish Co. of Brooklyn, Md., a firm specializing in “living” roofs and walls, is the contractor for the green roof project, Brosnan said.

Congrats ACS - 2010 D.C. Mayor’s Environmental Excellence Award!

Tue, 10 Aug 2010 08:35:00 -0400

Washington, DC, home of the ACS Othmer and Hach Buildings, gives annual awards to local businesses and non-profits for their environmental stewardship, innovative best practices, pollution prevention, and resource conservation.

ACS picked one up this year for "Outstanding Achievement by a Large Facility". Congrats ACS!

You can read about the work ACS has done to make Othmer and Hach more energy efficient and make DC's decision to award ACS a no-brainer. Check out the DC - ACS Case Study here.

Excerpt:

The American Chemical Society (ACS) Board of Directors and the Senior Management team have long supported sustainability efforts and American Chemical Society has made it a core mission objective to work on implementing sustainability best practices over the last 7 years. In addition, they have engaged staff by encouraging participation in our sustainability effort such as recycling. ACS has worked with their contractors to foster an understanding of their sustainability goals and partner to achieve them.
The quest for sustainability has been a long, deliberate process that has taken "the village" to lead ACS to where they are now. Through their efforts they have achieved the prestigious USGBC gold certification for LEED Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance. They were the second building in the District to have achieved this certification and at certification one of only 40 in the country.