So I’ve just returned from Germany, one of many lands of superior chocolate goodies… Oops – that’s not related.

Anyway, while I was riding the train across central Germany, and eating some food of some sort, I noticed that I was getting my daily dose of Natrium (that’s Sodium for us Americans, in case that isn’t clear…). It made me wonder how much easier it would be to learn the periodic table if the names actually matched the symbols. Unfortunately, since most of the original names appear to have Latin roots, it’s unlikely that any particular current language is using all of the ‘real’ names. (although please correct me if I’m wrong?!)

So, since changing the symbols seems unlikely, I suggest we revert to the original names of these crazy elements. Let’s call them Natrium and Wolfram, and Aurum, Argentum and Kalium. Ok, maybe not Kalium, as that sounds like something out of Superman.

Alternatively, we could make up new names entirely, like Nancy and William, Aurelius and Agamemnon… what do you guys think? Is Na by any other name still as reactive?

In any case, hope you like the food for thought.

Catherine (associate editor, Nature Chemical Biology)

Study adds to evidence of a physical basis for ‘Gulf War syndrome’.

Regions of the brain important for thinking and memory may have shrunk in some veterans of the first Gulf War, according to a new study. The decline is at its worst in veterans who report more symptoms of what is commonly called ‘Gulf War syndrome’, the mysterious condition that has afflicted as many as one in seven veterans from the 1990-1991 war.

Read the story here.