Summer Conference Blues

(Warning: Major #FirstWorldProblems grumbling ahead...regularly-scheduled content resumes tomorrow)

I want to go to a conference. Very, very badly.

It's been some time since I've met my scientific brethren to talk, dine, listen, exchange ideas, and play random pickup sports.

I miss you all terribly!

I've never actually been on one.* Would love it.
Source: Forbes.com

Young professors stew in that perfect mix of nerves, excitement, and exhaustion as they're expected to fly here and there to give talks, consult, and generally build their tenure case. Big Pharma, too, makes a point of sending their best out into the world to scope out new drug leads or build academic connections for future hiring.

Tiny companies? No travel budget. No conferencing. Do not pass Go, don't collect that per diem.

It's a Catch-22 of sorts - Without conferencing, you don't meet new folks who could potentially get you the kind of jobs that would send you to conferences. Rinse, repeat.

So, dear readers, I'm wondering: Does anyone know of industry awards one can apply for for travel / registration assistance? I'm aware of ACS' Young Investigator Symposium, and I think some industry-types get invited to Lindau.

Help me think of a few more?

*To clarify, I've never been on an Airbus, or flown to a posh international destination. I've certainly been on planes enough, see: job search.

Wordle Challenge 3: Nobel Edition

Did you have fun playing Wordle Chem Challenge One and Two?

This one kicks up the difficulty another notch. I've searched through the Nobel Prize website, and grabbed the press release / presentation speech (pre-1972) for several laureates. Can you piece together who's who?

(Note: As in past challenges, I've stripped out the names of the winners, as well as certain non-helpful terms - URL, website, etc.)

Entry 1

Entry 2

Entry 3

Entry 4

Entry 5

Entry 6

Entry 7

Entry 8

Entry 9

Think you know 'em? Leave answers in the comments!

Just Turn the Crank...

I know we're only six months into 2013, but I'm calling it:
GEARS are the "hot" item to have in your graphical abstract this summer!

Source: Chem Rev. 2013, ASAP

Source: JACS 2013, 118-121

Source: Chem. Sci. 2013, Advance Article

Anybody know when it became popular to depict cascade / multi-step reactions as Rube Goldberg devices?

Readers: Seen any more "industrialized" abstracts? Send 'em my way!

Another Wordle Challenge

Did you have fun playing the first Wordle chemist challenge?

I recall garnering some good-natured criticism, when I counted papers, for only including male chemists in the first go-'round. In the spirit of equality, here's three more Wordles for well-known female organic chemists!

Entry 6

Entry 7

Entry 8

Submit your answers in the comments!

A Wordle Challenge

BRSM wrote a fun post today analyzing my blog's content using Wordle, an infotainment app for gauging word frequency (really? Really.)

I thought I'd extend the concept a bit, and turn Wordle loose on some unsuspecting academics. Below, I've shown five graphics culled from the "Publications" page of five well-known synthetic organic chemists - minus a few* common words.

I've removed the main author's name from each, but can you still guess who they are?

Entry 1

Entry 2

Entry 3

Entry 4

Entry 5

Leave a guess in the comments...if you dare!

*Supporting Information, Chem, Author name, pdf

WWWTP? Epigenetics Edition

Dan Hurley's piece in Discover's May 2013 issue really fascinated me. Covering the mouse research of Profs. Meany and Szyf, Hurley explained how tragic events in ancestral lifetimes are passed down to offspring via DNA methylation, altering gene expression for generations.

As my chemist's eyes flitted across the page, I smiled at some familiar friends on p. 51 - line structures of nucleotide base cytosine. Just one* a few small problem(s)...did you catch them???

Source: Discover 5.2013

****


See that nitrogen at the bottom? In the language of my sophomore organic professor, it's "very unhappy" that way. Nitrogen usually gets three bonds and a lone pair of electrons; I won't over-critique the missing dots, but there needs to be one of three things on that structure:

1. A generic R-group (meaning a new carbon chain)

2. A proton (indicating the free cytosine base)

3. A "minus" sign (indicating an anion)

Kudos to the graphic artist, though, who actually used standard chemical notation here. Many general science mags would have just used a colored-in hexagon.

*Update, 6/17/13 - As commenters have piled on, we note the empty valences on the two aromatic carbons (carbanions?), as well as questions over whether a methyl group counts as a "compound."

What's Important? Data Analysis

Thanks again to everyone who wrote in with their two (or three) most important job criteria.

We had a final tally of 42 (!) respondents, who gave a total of 94 answers. Here's the much-vaunted pie chart I promised on Friday:

Comments:

1. Many people wanted "meaning" behind their daily work. There're a lot of terms one could use to describe that special feeling of fulfillment - they're all included in the largest pie wedge.

2. Only a tenth of you indicated salary or benefits as part of your criteria. Two percent mentioned promotions or advancement. Shocking, really, especially in a down economy.

3. The "Misc" category included responses such as autonomy, lack of bureaucracy, morality, health, and...free food.

4. Prediction: If I offered a 5-year job working on cures for neglected diseases, starring top-flight, team-oriented colleagues located 10 minutes down the street from your house, most of you would take it.

Right?

So, in the end, have we vindicated Mr. Sturgeon's beliefs about modern science workers? I believe we have. Interesting work and collegiality really do seem to matter most!*

*Limitations: Now, this only surveyed 42 chemists, so I'm missing out on the other 90,858. I'm well aware that the survey only caught 1) chemists reading blogs, 2) chemists on Twitter, and 3) chemists who could comment on blogs during (presumably) working hours. Not exactly perfect conditions for such a study. My 'analysis,' such as it was, had no tests for accuracy, and no way to filter out trolls. C'est la vie.

Challenge: I'd love to see this survey writ large...wouldn't you? Perhaps a larger journal or scientific society could issue the survey to their members (lookin' at you, ACS, Science...).

Readers: Questions, comments? Feel free to contact me (Seearroh_AT_gmail).