My background is in organic chemistry, but the great thing about a meeting like this is that I can learn new things. So yesterday, I decided to explore the strange (to me) world of inorganic chemistry. Frankly, I had no idea what I would discover. I half expected the inorganic attendees to fall silent when I walked into the room, staring at me with hostile eyes, before announcing “We don’t like organic chemists in these parts”. I think the jetlag is making me paranoid.

But no, it was all cool and I saw some great stuff. Naively, I would never have expected to see an enzyme crystal structure outside of a drug discovery seminar. But then I discovered bioinorganic chemistry, and there were active sites everywhere. John Lipscomb and Steve Lippard gave some cracking talks about the metal species found in enzymes, such as Rieske dioxygenases and bacterial multicomponent monooxgenases. These proteins can be thought of as the original C-H activation specialists. On a similar vein, Thomas Rauchfuss is doing some amazing chemistry to model the active site of hydrogenases.

What I really liked about these sessions was that the lecture rooms were smaller (it was standing room only for Lippard’s talk), and the debate was lively. Every talk inspired interesting discussion, and I was impressed by the spirit of academic engagement, which I hadn’t really encountered elsewhere. So, if you’re sticking closely to your own areas, why not go foraging in foreign territory? You might like what you find.

Andy

Andrew Mitchinson (Associate Editor, Nature)

This year is the Whitehead Institute’s 25th anniversary. This afternoon, there’s a celebratory shindig going on there. On the Whitehead’s website is an interesting compilation of photos and anecdotes looking back over the last 2 decades. It’s not only a commentary of the institute’s history, but also a look at how much biology has changed in the last 25 years.

Highlights include a slide show if you like looking at famous Cambridge scientists with their 1970s-style mustaches and hairdos. Also some interesting pics showing the neighborhood around the Whitehead back in the early 1980s, when there was almost nothing else around (stark contrast to today).

And if you’re looking for some light Friday afternoon reading, take a look at this online forum where Whitehead folks have posted anecdotes and memories: some funny, some introspective, some a little unbelievable, some a bit gossipy and some even sentimental.