shenanigans

Somehow I need to reorient myself to the holiday of New Year's Eve, because I just am not much of a fan of it. I think it's a holiday tailor made for extroverts. As a card-carrying introvert the parties, crowds, and general noisiness causes me stress.

So for a slightly intellectual, introspective take on noisy New Year's party fun I'd like to introduce you, dear Reader, to Bassam Shakhashiri. "Dr. Fun" is so utterly fun and charming that he can make an auditorium full of chemical educators sit on the edge of their seats, waiting to see him demonstrate something they've not only seen 10 times before, but that they have probably done themselves 10 times before. THAT's how cool he is. He's a smiling sage.

I got to thinking of him as I thought forward to the fireworks that will come out tonight. You might want to look at his web page on fireworks. And if that's not your thing, help yourself to any of the other marvelous and accurate descriptions of chemicals of the week, or for that matter anything else at Science is Fun.

After all it's a new year tomorrow, and an opportunity to do something new.

restaurant recipe hack: successes and failures

This entry would go into a category titled "trivia," if I had such categories for my posts. It also shows I've been away from the lab for a little too long.

One of my favorite menu items at a local pub is tortilla chips with artichoke-jalapeno dip. The dip is awesome but it goes over the top good because they bring the stuff out and it's all hot. I realized a while back that having warm chips was key to making this stuff special. And then I found some really good dip at the store, and decided I could easily heat everything at home.

So I hacked the recipe--or more like the presentation--by heating the chips for about 5 minutes in a 300 degree oven. It was perfect.

The next day I thought I'd repeat the experiment. But I didn't want to wait for the oven, I was hungry, and for a moment I stopped thinking and stuck the stuff in the microwave for 30 seconds.

Result? Bubbly hot dip. Cold chips.

And a reminder that microwaves work by heating water, which absorbs microwave radiation. There is virtually no water in tortilla chips. The oven is worth the wait.

read any good books lately?

I'm looking ahead to next term, when some of my Organic students will once again need to write a term paper. Last term's topic was Green Chemistry and the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge awards.

For the past few years I have had students read Carl Djerassi's autobiography, The Pill, Pygmy Chimps and Degas' Horse, but for a variety of reasons I may not assign it this year. The problem is finding another book that fits the bill: I need something that is ideally focused on organic or synthetic chemistry, I need something that is a narrative of sorts (not a text), and I want a book that brings up things that don't get brought up in class. These are reasons I have enjoyed assigning Djerassi's book. It's a great window into the life of a synthetic organic chemist.

I'm running up to the library tomorrow to pick up a copy of a book called the Carbon Age by Eric Roston, which sounds like it has some potential. But I'm looking for other possibilities. Have you read anything good? Is it about Chemistry? I'd be delighted to hear your suggestions--or warnings about books that wouldn't be suitable.

oh, chirality!

You can scroll back to an entry from January 2009 to find the article I wrote on chirality. For those who are in my class this year, and who weren't last, this could be interesting.

For those of you who have been in the fan club for a while, go ahead and disregard this note.

let go of the side of the pool

Thanks to my undergraduate advisor Cathy for noticing this link at Scientific American. Don't fear your mistakes! Share them with others and use them to focus your mind and attention. There are indications that you will learn better (and I promise I won't judge you for making an error in front of me).

As the ever-wise Zelda says, you can't swim until you let go of the side of the pool.

Circium Pitcheri

Many many many many years ago (it was the 90s) I spent about 1.5 years' worth of Thursday mornings in the lab at Chicago Botanic Garden, working with Kayri Havens genetically typing a number of rare plants including the Pitcher's Thistle. We usually talked about our samples using their Latin names. In this case it was Circium pitcheri.

What a great blast from the past to see them in the New York Times! As I was digging into the article I was thinking, "oh my gosh I think this is work done by people I know!" then "oh my gosh I think I know that project!" then "oh my gosh I think this is a plant I have worked on myself!"

Working with the scientists at ChiBot taught me that there is a lot more in museums, beyond displays for the public to look at. I gained a deep and persistent appreciation for plants, for their ability to adapt to specific environments and expand their territories.

I also learned that my lab skills allowed me to make contributions in areas far outside my specific field of expertise. After all, what business did I have in their lab? Was I a plant expert? Nope. But life is like this: sometimes we imagine we have less to offer than we really do have. Speaking up is the first step to being in on some great stuff.

Is the periodic table the same around the world?

I was asked this question last week. I answered incorrectly. I stand corrected. I said yes, thinking only about how the element symbols and arrangement are universal. But the names are different in different languages, even though many are derived from latin so come out very similar in different languages. But to get a taste for the variety out there, check out these different variations, many of which are produced by the same people:

In Spanish

In French

In German

In Dutch (because I have a special place in my heart for the Dutch)

In Arabic

In Swahili

In Russian, the language of Mendeleev

It is somewhat surprising that the languages that use different alphabets would use our alphabet characters for their elemental symbols. Can you imagine learning element symbols with an alphabet different than your own? It sure would seem more cryptic.

While some element names are very different (check out Sulfur, for instance), others seem quite universal (the Noble Gases). I wonder why? Perhaps those elements that have been discovered and named more recently, since communication across the world has become easy, have internationally-agreed upon names. Hydrogen appears to have its name translated literally in German and Dutch....to wasserstof. Funny!

To top it off (if you're still reading) there is always the Periodic Table of Comic Books. I know it's not a language, but it's funny and creative so I'm including it here anyhow.