Pictures of the Month - Turbines and Beams

I don't know what it is about late March. Spring has sprung, flowers are blooming, grass growing green...and researchers are releasing killer images and wild papers at breakneck speed. This week, two images really caught my eye - a heart turbine, and a molecular beam generator. 

Artificial dual-turbine heart | Credit: New Scientist / Jeremiah Zagar

First up, a still from the short film Heart Stop Beating, shown courtesy of New Scientist TV. You're not imagining things - that's a dual-turbine pump, in a man's chest cavity! What's more, the man in question, Craig Lewis, lived for 5 weeks with this device in his chest, apparently no worse for wear, and died of an unrelated condition. 


In a Popular Science article from last month, one of the doctors behind the tech, Billy Cohn, described the materials used to construct the heart turbine:

"The materials needed to be blood-friendly. The structure needed to be resilient to deformation. It had to be formable in a limited space. We needed to be able to sew it, but the needle holes couldn’t let blood leak. And we had to be able to customize it in the OR by cutting it. I bought some ordinary Dacron from the fabric store and RTV silicone from Home Depot to impregnate the outside. I did all this in my garage."

Here's my question: What other materials could we construct replacement hearts out of? Perusing the stent literature, it seems like medical device makers try two different tactics: either a non-allergenic metal alloy, like nitinol (Ni-Ti) or cobalt chromium; or a biodegradable polymer, like a polyamide or poly-lactic acid (PLA). I'm hoping one of my materials-leaning readers could help me work through this in the comments.

Bumper Sticker: "My other car is a Molecular Beam Generator"
Credit: G. Meijer, Chem. Rev.

Next, in keeping with the "unbelievable machines" motif, here's the abstract picture for a recent Chem. Rev. on molecular beam generation. I'll admit, I'm not a physical chemist, but I would offer to learn if I got to play with a device like this! 


Molecular beams are formed, in the words of Prof. Gerard Meijer (Fritz Haber Institute | Max Planck), through a "controlled leak" from a pressurized cavity into a vacuum. Electromagnetic fields can be used to "shape" the beam, which chemists direct at targets, or smash into another beam to simulate basic binding events. My second question: What else could we do with these beams? Brief explorations into physics texts mention roles in quantum dots and nanocrystals, but I'd like to learn more. Readers?

Everyone Play Nice: A Blog Comment Code of Conduct

(Note: This post is not directed at any of my beloved regular commenters here at Just Like Cooking. You've all been very helpful, friendly, and insightful. But not all blogs can claim that luxury...)

The two-way street of blogging?
Credit: Patappo

We've all been on blogs; after all, you're reading one right now! We know that blog audiences encompass a wide swath of humanity, with different viewpoints, different cultures and different experiences. Blogging in specific - and the 'Net in general - offer some great perks at virtually no cost to the reader: expert analysis, humor, activism, and a sense of community.

But it's a two-way street. In exchange for posts and analysis, bloggers usually hope for a bit of critical or complimentary feedback. In another great example of online democratization, nearly any reader can leave a message on a blog, through the 'Comments' window at the bottom of the page. 

Lately, the tone and message of these comments, even on scientific blogs, has taken a downward turn. Now, I'm not trying for "Malaise" here, but I've thought about this, and I'd like to offer a short set of suggestions for improving the interaction between writers and commenters, and, more generally, the blogging community:

1. Follow the "Golden Rule."

2. Be professional. 

3. Offer critiques, not attacks.

4. Don't use offensive language.

5. Try not to exaggerate.

6. Think about writing your comment in stone, to stand the test of time.

7. If you still disagree, go start a blog!

"A Crisis of Blogging Confidence"
Credit: Wikipedia | Library of Congress

Let's explore these a bit. The first, usually summed up as "Do unto others," advocates simply for empathy and understanding. Suggestions #2-4 follow naturally from the first: everyone wants to be heard, but achieving that requires cogent, thoughtful statements, polite disagreement, and, when needed, clear arguments. 

For #5, I've used the word try, because exaggeration for satirical or humorous purposes is usually OK...and even encouraged! Number six addresses the (very real) phenomenon of web caching. Sites like Internet Archive, and yes, Google, keep shorthand copies of websites stored on their servers for future retrieval. What does that mean? That we write with indelible ink; the great paradox of the Internet marries the transient nature of emails and tweets to the realization that your data never truly vanishes. 

The ideal blog community promotes useful discussion, with fellow commenters joining together to crack down on "drive-by" posts which aim to inflame, incite, or indict. For the spurned, I have another suggestion (#7): write a blog with your viewpoint, come back, and link out to it from another blog's comments. Two reliable (current) options are Blogger and WordPress.

Latte Foam Designs
Seattle, WA

You might say "Well, it's the Internet, what can you do?" While it's true that people go online to lose themselves for a time - in games, in music, in chat-rooms, on social networks - they're still people, and the folks writing blogs are, too. Before you click "Send," think about the person on the other side of the connection. It would make for a much more fulfilling experience, for all involved.

Now go forth, and comment!

(More chemistry to follow, I promise!)

Thanks for reading,

See Arr Oh

LFTB - Not Just Meat (Thanks, Internet!)

The Luning-Fencemaker Belt
Looks like you drive out of Reno on US80, then hike in...
Credit: University of GA Geology Dept.

Over at Sci Am blogs, I've recently written a post about LFTB, the processed meat product some call safe and others call "slime." When I first heard read the acronym, I thought it would be a snap to find information, since that can't stand for too many other things...right?

LFTB means:


An Airport in Southern France - Marginane looks like a quaint little place to visit! This designation "LFTB," an ICAO code, helps direct air-traffic controllers.

A Geological Formation - The Luning-Fencemaker Fold-Thrust Belt, a twist of rock in Nevada. Apparently, you can date rocks and determine geological events using argon isotope data. The More You Know (TM), I guess.

Early Biofuels Research? - A now-defunct New Zealand-based organization, the Liquid Fuels Trust Board, seemed to be among the early pioneers in developing waste-derived fuels and methanol-powered vehicles.

An Anti-Litter Campaign - Thunder Bay, ON, Canada, would like to remind you to keep their community spotless, and wants to instill a "litter consciousness" in its townsfolk. Bonus Geographical Moment: Thunder Bay sits on Lake Superior, right across from Isle Royale and Pie Island. Sounds beautiful.

Flight School: Want to Drive an Airbus? Lufthansa, the German airline, operates 11 flight simulators at  a facility in Berlin, which can teach pilots to fly all the big craft, from Boeing 777s to Airbus A320-200s.

Things I Never Knew Existed, Part the Third: Beef!

Every so often, when you're looking up references for paper boilerplate, or to flesh out a new post, you come across references in other fields you've never seen before. Bonus if they have catchy titles or shiny logos.


While researching a follow-up post on pink slime, I encountered a few new-to-me food science logos.

First, we'll check out the Institute of Food Technologists. Organizations like this keep one foot in chemistry, and one in agriculture - they usually have symbols that evoke both, and this looks par for the course. Two leaves are pulverized, and then added into the test-tube shaped space between "I" and "F." (The first line on their 'about' page encourages me to "Envision what the very best minds in food science can achieve when they work together")

Next, see the American Meat Institute, whose blood- red 3-letter logo looks just like a porterhouse steak, right down to the white spaces (marbling?). I guess nothing says "meat research" quite like, well...meat. (The site includes some not-so-subtle wordplay, inviting you to "Meat AMI...")

Later, I found myself digging through piles of government info, which meant downloading public-access documents from the GPO. Not heard of it? It's the U.S. Government Printing Office, which produces forms and booklets, and helps increase federal transparency (and they run an online bookstore!).


The GPO logo is sleek and formal, with a nod towards typesetting, and an homage to the digital age in the "O." (Although that might also be an 8-bit Nintendo graphic, I'm not too sure...)

Chemistry "Hacks" (The Good Kind)

My hackathon drink of choice, coffee!
(And hey, ACS, why no more mugs?)

Last week, a fascinating article, "The 48-Hour Startup," appeared in Wired magazine. It explored the world of hackathons - events where pizza and Red Bull fuel two straight days of programming, hacking, and rebuilding code to create a functioning, marketable smartphone app. The upshot: some prize money, and sufficient street cred to attract more through angel investments. This article made me wonder . . .why don't more chemists have hackerspaces, like programmers and engineers do?


Let's go all the way back to the beginning of chemical research - who were we? Alchemists, who worked after hours, scribbling in secret languages; some hoped for profit, and some just loved the thrill (Sound familiar?). They didn't follow the implicit hegemony we do today: school student -> university trainee -> graduate study -> postdoc -> junior professor -> original ideas? By the time you're done jumping through hoops, you might have left your sense of curiosity and wonder behind.

Early Chemical "Hacker"
Alchemist with Scale, Johannes Weiland
Credit: Chemical Heritage Foundation

Well, how do we discover anything? If you believe much of the popular press, either by accident (saccharine, guncotton, Velcro), or by deep thought and monastic contemplation (relativity, total synthesis, calculus). I'd add a third avenue: cross-fertilization, the genius behind Bell Labs' design for their "idea factory."


Ever beat your head against a research problem, only to find the answer at a neighboring department's seminar? Borrowed something the next lab down the hall had on the shelf? Not to wax all Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance on you, but I subscribe to human quality precognition, a subtle mental undercurrent that guides you toward the right reaction or correct conditions. Others might call this gut instinct, and I've heard process chemists chat about initial optimization ("lucky on the first try!").


So why not speed this process along? Could we take a page from the video game designers, the hackers, and the dorm-room dot-com stars?


Here's my proposal (which, incidentally, might work pretty well at a large, national chemistry conference, just sayin'): What if visiting chemists had access to an open lab space, replete with all the latest catalysts, equipment, and reagents? One could imagine equipment dealers sponsoring this space, much like Cuisinart and KitchenAid sponsor cooking shows. 

Picture this, but with more fume hoods and Buchwald ligands

Access to a well-shimmed NMR and tuned LC-MS, along with a few high-speed internet connections and journal subscriptions, would complete the experience. Professors, hearing about a fantastic new reaction, wouldn't have to brief their lab groups. International scientists could mingle, and compare lab technique. Best of all? You could just play, try experiments for fun, on a whim, or because you were just curious about the result.


Who knows? Maybe, in time, the phrase "chemistry hack" might mean something good!

Pharma's 'Four Horsemen' - Small Companies Benefit

As the economy struggles to escape recession, many incentives of the "stable corporate job" once taken for granted have disappeared. Eight-hour work day? Nope. Full benefits, perhaps with retirement? Nowhere I've worked. Flexible work hours, or the ability to vacation without checking email? Don't even think about turning off that cell phone!

Yeah, some days. Only, with a lab coat.
Source: SciAm Blogs / istockphoto

I'll admit, I had spent some time in pharma when it seemed to have no upper limit: company parties, annual bonuses, guest lecturers, the whole enchilada. But nowadays, with news of mass layoffs at every major chemistry firm, and certain sites closing altogether, I've had the discussion several times about whether we'll ever see salad days again.


One of my ex-'Big Pharma' contacts forwarded along a cheery little document from Cliff Ennico, a lawyer who appears to specialize in small business and entrepreneurship. He had visited their campus to suggest potential career routes for laid-off employees. The tract essentially advocates for self-reliance through small business ownership, skill development, and networking. But his ideology caught me off guard: he compares current corporate practice to the Apocalypse! 


Here's Ennico's "Four Horsemen of Corporate America:"


Computers - If your function can be automated, you might be next on the chopping block.


Overseas Competition - China and India are specifically mentioned, which segues to...


Outsourcing - Well, if you haven't sent med-chem work to CROs, or offshore, you're in the minority. For another example, consider the contract positions seen on ACS Careers (three months, really?)


Overwork - Quoth the paper: 

"Big corporations these days are obsessed with 'maximizing productivity,' which often translates [to] 'getting the maximum amount of work out of your employees for the minimum amount of compensation.'"

"Hang on . . .which one of us was Outsourcing, again?"
Source: photobucket.com, user: the_pug

So, all doom and gloom, right? Well, maybe so, maybe not. After mass 'Big Pharma' layoffs, small companies - like mine - tend to benefit from an influx of well-trained, poised people ready to try something new. And while the hours are still long, and the pace hectic, it's both humbling and exhilarating to watch something grow from the ground up. Best part? They'll need you to "pinch-hit" on a variety of projects, which imparts some job security.


New grads, post-docs: Make sure to think 'small' when filling out those job applications. It's stressful, sure, but well worth the effort.

The Dreaded Placeholder Post

Hello there, internet! I see you've been visiting me a little more lately. 

Monument to the Immigrant
Mississippi River, New Orleans

Thanks so much. I really love to see so many new faces. (Well, unique IP addresses, but same diff!)


I must apologize, but I'm going to spend time on "back burner" projects this week, so I won't be able to update here every day. But this is a perfect chance for you, o loyal readers:


What would you like to see me cover?


(I know I ask this every lunar cycle or so, but I'm really very interested. Of course, I have ideas of what I'd like to cover, but I could bow a bit to reader demand. 
My vote? For next week, some catalysis, maybe some chit-chat about functional groups, book reviews, a np isolation paper, and some more sociology / science pride stories.)