J.J. La Clair, the controversial chemist (for background, see https://www.nature.com/news/2006/060731/full/442492c.html) in the mutton chop sideburns, gave a talk today to a packed room. It was hot, stuffy, and young in there, as he talked us, mic-less, through what he called “an approach used in a number of labs that I’ve developed, optimized and made easier to use.” As far as I could tell as a layman, the approach had to do with designing synthesis of natural products with florescent labeling and biological tests in mind. I’ll leave an evaluation of the technical content to others more synthesis (or biology)-savvy than I. I’ll just mention that his first slide talked about his Xenobe Research Institute (which is pronounced “zen-OH-bee”). His slide said that the company was working on 80 studies with academe, industry and government. He must be a pretty busy man.

He acknowledged the contretemps over his claimed synthesis of hexacyclinol—and even included on his acknowledgement page a shot of the T-shirt being sold which memorializes the controversy, saying that he salutes creativity in all forms. And yes, that was my headline on the shirt, but I didn’t write it. Reporters very rarely write our own headlines—but we do get to write our own blog post titles. So I decree that the title of this post shall be: “butternut squash soup”, since that is what I am eating right now.

Shuttle managers have set tomorrow at 12:39 EDT as the new launch date for STS 115. This time, things are looking a little better: there’s only a small chance of thunderstorms and no tropical storms or hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico.

Still, the Air Force weather folks, who do forecasting for launch days, say that lift off isn’t a sure thing. Strict launch weather conditions mean that puffy cumulous clouds may be enough to force a scrub, and there is a chance of scattered showers at the Shuttle Landing Facility a few kilometres from the launch site. The bottom line is that the shuttle has only a 70% chance of getting off the ground tomorrow.

I’m headed back this afternoon, and I’ll write more when I arrive.