News

Chemical health and safety news from the past week: Added to Derek’s “Things I Won’t Work With” list: Selenophenol C&EN’s take on the NRC report released last week on chemical manufacturers and inherently safer process design: Promoting safer manufacturing The Interior Department proposed disclosure rules for hydraulic fracturing chemicals Random inspections improve workplace safety, according [...]

Let me state unequivocally at the outset: I LOVE Think Geek. This purveyor of hip nerdgear – “Stuff for Smart Masses” – has saved me every Christmas, the occasional birthday, and brought me great personal pleasure with their clever offerings. But most important to me about Think Geek is that I know when giving a [...]

The green corrosion on copper artifacts, sculptures and buildings is so aesthetically pleasing that countless recipes exist in books and online so that do-it-yourselfers can create the same look on anything made from the metal. But depending on the recipe or the environmental conditions, that pretty green color could be any one of a handful of [...]

Silly samplings from this week’s science news. Compiled by Bethany Halford and Lauren Wolf. Ever thought it might be fun to eat a chocolate replica of your own brain? This guy did. + video [Instructables] When dropped on the floor, dry foods such as biscuits pick up less bacteria than hydrated foods such as pasta. [...]

Wicked Lasers doesn’t just have a fun name. The Hong Kong-based company also likes to have a little fun with its products. In this week’s print column, we wrote about how Wicked Lasers teamed up with marine biologist and TV host Luke Tipple to achieve a dream of “Austin Powers” supervillain Dr. Evil: “sharks with [...]

Chemical health and safety news from the past week: A former chemical hygiene officer guest-posted at ChemistryBlog and answered questions on Reddit Also via ChemistryBlog and Reddit, the marvel of a Sigma-Aldrich vending machine for NMR supplies. A robotic tray moves to the correct shelf to catch purchases. Chemjobber posted about the importance of a [...]

Silly samplings from this week’s science news, compiled by Bethany Halford and Lauren Wolf. Putting water on cereal is weird. Now there’s science to prove it. [Discoblog] Buying your own wedding ring is for weaklings. This guy forged his from a meteorite. [io9] Roadkill, it’s no longer just good eats. It’s doing science. [Wired] Welcome [...]

The University of California, San Diego, has a great new video on eye protection. It was produced by the chemistry department’s Haim Weizman, who was also the man behind A day in the lab, To be (safe) or not to be, Flash chromatography 101, and a trio of videos on working with pyrophoric reagents and [...]

Chemical health and safety news from the past week: The National Science Teachers Association posted about Safety in the science lab The May issue of AIChE’s Process Safety Beacon focuses on mechanical integrity of tubing (pdf) and notes “Don’t forget about tubing just because it is usually small.” (lab scale chemists, pay attention!) California’s San Onofre [...]

Thank you, SkyMall catalog. Not only do you provide distraction during seemingly endless flights to destinations around the world, you’ve also given me a good laugh on this humdrum Friday. And thank you, Leverett Smith, a Newscripts reader from El Cerrito, Calif., for sending in the SkyMall advertisement that delighted me so. SkyMall, not content [...]