March 2008
Vol 45, No 2. Selected articles, reviews and InfoChem available online to all. Full issue available online to subscribers.
Column
REACH into teaching?
Will the recent introduction of the 'REACH regulations' deal another blow to the teaching of practical chemistry?
Cases packed with chemistry
In January science teachers and students at Parkview Community School, Chester-le-Street were the first to unpack Spectroscopy in a Suitcase. What did they find?
QCA to lose regulatory arm
Government proposes new independent regulator of qualifications and tests in England to take over the regulatory role of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA)
HEFCE pulls cash for returning students
Higher Education Funding Council for England confirms that from this year it will reduce the funding institutions receive for graduates returning to study in HE by £100 million by ...
Bill Bryson Science Prize
UK school and college students aged 5-18 are invited to take part in the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) Bill Bryson Prize for science communication
Review of HE chemistry experience
Higher Education Academy Physical Sciences Centre invites chemistry lecturers and their undergraduates to contribute to its review of the student learning experience in chemistry
Summer research grants
Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD) invites UK chemistry undergraduates to apply for funding to allow them to do research at their university this summer
In brief
Items: Various short items
Chemlingo
Peter Childs, University of Limerick, investigates words in chemistry. In this issue: hygrometer or hydrometer?
Soundbite molecules
Simon Cotton, teacher at Uppingham School, takes a look at those compounds that find themselves in the news or relate to our everyday lives. In this issue: extreme organic chemist...
Medicinal compounds
John Mann, Queen's University Belfast, takes a look at drugs on the market. In this issue: anti-obesity drugs
Web watch
Tony Tooth, chemistry teacher at The King's School in Ely, takes a look at some websites that may be of interest to chemistry teachers. In this issue: fun demonstrations and more
Letters
Letters
Education in Chemistry Letters, March 2008
Exhibition Chemistry
Exhibition chemistry
Demonstrations designed to capture the student's imagination, by Adrian Guy of Blundell's School. In this issue: copper sulfide
The Elements
The Elements
John Emsley, University of Cambridge, takes you on a tour of the periodic table. In this issue: Wear it sparkling on your finger, zirconium is also key to nuclear energy
Features
Experimental nanoscience for undergraduates
The recent development of low cost, user-friendly scanning tunnelling microscopes has brought nanoscience experiments into undergraduate laboratories
Good lab practice
Students who want to work as analytical chemists in industry need to be introduced to the basic regulatory requirements of 'good laboratory practice'
Reviews
Why is snot green?
Glenn Murphy
Chemistry animations CD-ROM
Flash Learning
From alchemy to chemistry in picture and story
Arthur Greenberg
Longman science for AQA: GCSE extension science
Nigel English (ed)
Four laws that drive the universe
Peter Atkins
Distillates
An unexpected source of PCB
US researchers suggest that old wood floor finishes may be an overlooked source of the environmental pollutants polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
Buckyball necklace
Chemists in Spain synthesise a new type of polymer material by stringing together fullerene molecules
Converting sunshine into petrol
Research done at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico, US, hints at a new way to make petrol using nothing more than sunshine and thin air
DNA nanorings
German researchers develop a simple approach to making rigid DNA nanorings with tailor-made functionality
Toasting a good wine
French chemists analyse how the toasting of oak staves used to make wine barrels affects the chemical composition of the wood and the final uncorked product
Infochem
