Archive by date | August 2007

I’ve got my spine…

Well, I didn’t want to disrupt the flow of the ACS entries, so I’m a bit late in telling you that our September issue has gone live. This month we’ve assembled articles on alternate approaches to antibiotic action and applications, an assortment of antitumor agents that associate with and antagonize mRNA-altering appliances, and also advances in the artificial assembly of antibacterial and antifungal asymmetric asterriquinones and ACP-dependent architectures.* Phew! And, in keeping with the title of this entry, the spine includes pages 517-592, so I hope you enjoy it! If not, feel free to go out and get yourself an Orange Crush (and, in case you read this wikipedia entry, be aware that I am sticking with the misconception as being much more entertaining than the truth).  Read more

Materials Girl: Physics, summer school, and math – oh my!

Posted on behalf of Materials Girl: 1. Ah, physicists. Ampere! Faraday! Biot and Savant! All undoubtedly brilliant, but to what extent are chemists required to know the laws so named after those individuals? I jokingly asked a physics-inclined friend to take a midterm on my behalf, and was answered with a resounding, “I don’t remember that magnetic crap” (Eloquent, that boy…) Physics is indisputably my worst subject. Words such as “torque”, “flux”, and “vector field” fill me with dread, while classes in other fields have caused no major crises. Although the concepts in physics are simple enough, I rarely seem  … Read more

ACS: The party’s over

The last day of an ACS meeting is weird. Lots of people have gone already, so the cavernous convention center starts to feel a bit empty. On top of that, everywhere you look people are dismantling all the conference stands, pulling up the carpet, and, for some reason, wrapping up displays in cling-film. It reminded me of a restaurant I went to once, where I was trying to finish my dessert but the waiters were putting their coats on and turning off the lights.  Read more

ACS: Homecoming

That’s it, I’m off. I’ve had a great week, as ever the conference didn’t fail to surprise, impress (and exasperate). All good ingredients for a productive few days. I assume the delegates were equally as productive. We’ll find out in New Orleans in March, I suppose.  Read more

ACS: Worms

It’s the last day of the conference, a sleepy atmosphere pervades the air. Or at least my head, which has up until now been filled with worms – but you’ll have to pick up a copy of Nature next week to find out why I might be investigating worms at a chemistry conference. The suspense is unbearable, I know…  … Read more

ACS: Hot secrets

There was a new session in the medicinal chemistry session today, called Hot topics in medicinal chemistry. I spoke to the session organiser, Jeff Zablocki, about the motivation for the session – he wanted to get industrial parties to come and talk about new results. This wasn’t easy, he said, but he managed to pull together a session with five different companies come and talk about early results for five different drugs.  Read more

ACS: Marbles, I’ve lost mine

This week has driven me slightly insane, for a number of reasons. Included in those reasons is the vastness of the conference. We all say it, year in, year out and I’ve been trying to bite my lip. But really, ACS – can we have a conference that doesn’t involve half-hour bus trips between venues?  Read more