Periodic Tabloid

Today CHF’s First Friday will focus on dyes from bugs. Karen Karuza of the Philadelphia Art Institute’s Fashion Design Department will discuss her work with a Mexican red dye.

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. 

Ever wonder why that # sign is called a “pound sign”? Or, for that matter, why the abbreviation for pound is “lb.”? An alchemical manuscript in Sir Isaac Newton’s handwriting provides part of the answer.

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.

On Thursday, September 30th, come to CHF and watch a simulcast of the 2010 Ig Nobel Prize ceremony. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

Sensible ________ policy. Readers may fill in the blank with whatever current issue is of high interest: scientific research, immigration, health care, economic development, jobs, climate change, space exploration, campaign financing, infrastructure renewal, etc.

Just when researchers thought it was safe to study stem cells... restrictions and controversy strike again.

When visiting researcher José Ramón Bertomeu-Sánchez opened the cover of CHF’s copy of Orfila’s landmark Traité des poisons (Paris, 1814–15) he discovered the writing on the waste paper was in Spanish rather than French. Why would a book published in France contain pages from a Spanish book pasted in the cover?  Remarkably, he also recognized the origin of the text.

Innovation is like motherhood and apple pie—everyone is for it.  Yet, how does the innovation process actually take place? How are innovations successfully brought to market? CHF’s Center for Contemporary History and Policy has been examining the subject through its Studies in Materials Innovation project.