Chemical whimsy to transport you away

"Elements of chemical whimsy" can transport you away when you "encounter them amidst the serious business of science."  This is the premise of a new volume in the American Chemical Society Symposium Series: A Festival of Chemistry Entertainments, edited by Jack Stocker and Natalie Foster.

There are, indeed, little gems of witty observations and rye humor here.  It will be most meaningful to readers with a nodding acquaintance to chemistry - but not only to those chemically minded individuals.  Read about the cat who co-published a seminal paper in low temperature physics, a parody published by the distinguished German journal Berichte der deutschen chemischen Gesellschaft, the shortest abstract (one word) published in Chemical Abstracts (the database now known as SciFinder), and plenty of obscure clues for chemistry themed crossword puzzles - not to mention a rousing update to the song of chemical elements.

Now on the new book shelf.

Protect the coast lands before we arrive at the last beach

The Last Beach, by Orrin Pilkey and Andrew Cooper, is a scary and true story - multiple stories - of the many ways we are racing towards degradation of that thin place between sea and land that was once pristine.  The threats to robust shorelines impact every part of the planet, since an ecologically sound interface between ocean and terrestrial life is essential for a healthy ocean and the world's oceans are integral to maintaining global ecosystems.

All is not lost nor hopeless, but action is needed now - scientifically based action, not for political or spurious economic gain - to restore beaches to their proper role in the ocean/land equation.

The print copy is now on the new book shelf, or read the book online [access through OBIS].

Dodging extinction

Here's another book to add to your collection of "stuff to read when I have more time" -- and then reconsider its placement on the pile and spend some time with it right now.

You can read a preview on the NCSE website:
Dodging extinction : power, food, money and the future of life on Earth, by Anthony D. Barnosky University of California Press, 2014

Barnosky is a Professor in the Department of Integrative Biology, Curator in the Museum of Paleontology, and Research Paleoecologist in the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at the University of California, Berkeley. "When a paleontologist warns that something very unusual in Earth's history is taking place right now, everyone ought to pay attention," writes Elizabeth Kolbert, the author of The Sixth Extinction. "Dodging Extinction should serve as a wake-up call to the world." [excerpted from Evolution and climate education update for February 20, 2015]

Thanks to the National Center for Science Education for making the preview available.  The science library copy is available to borrow, as of this afternoon.  Come check it out!  There is plenty of other thoughtful reading at the NCSE site; head on over to the blog for more: ncse.com/blog

Publication from FitzGerald and Rowsell, with staff and student collaborators

This just published: a collaborative effort of physics and chemistry faculty, staff and a recent alumna.  We remember here with great affection the late Jesse Rowsell, associate professor of chemistry.

Journal homepage

as indexed in Web of Science:

Infrared overtone spectroscopy of adsorbed hydrogen in MOF-5.
FitzGerald, Stephen A. (Physics); Nelson, Jocienne N. ‘14 (Physics); Gilmour, Elizabeth (Physics); Rowsell, Jesse L. C. (Chemistry).
JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SPECTROSCOPY, 307 20-26;  JAN 2015
access in OhioLINK Electronic Journal Center or Elsevier's sciencedirect.com

Semiexperimental Equilibrium Structure in Polyenes

A new publication from Emeritus Professor of Chemistry Norm Craig et al., as indexed in Web of Science:

Electron De localization in Polyenes: A Semiexperimental Equilibrium Structure for (3E)-1,3,5-Hexatriene and Theoretical Structures for (3Z5Z)-, (3E5E)-, and (3E,5Z)-1,3,5,7-Octatetraene

Craig, Norman C.; Demaison, Jean; Groner, Peter; Rudolph, Heinz Dieter; Vogt, Natalja

JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY A, 119 (1):195-204; 0.1021/jp510237h JAN 8 2015