2015 JLC New Year's Resolutions

And so we close another year on the chemblogosphere. Instead of recounting the highs and lows of 2014, I've decided this year to focus on what lies ahead for Just Like Cooking.

A goofy, fitting send-off to 2014,
courtesy of the San Fran ACS Meeting

Three areas I'll try to focus on for 2015:

1. Photocatalysis. It's exploding in all areas of chemistry, with new complexes and new (old) dyes appearing daily. Hopefully 2015 will show more light-promoted reactions as key steps in total syntheses.

2. Antibiotic Development. Dire predictions swirl around our readiness, as a species, to defend ourselves against the ever-evolving horde of microorganisms surrounding us. Hopefully 2015 - whether by luck or skill - finds new molecules to address this challenge.

3. Alternative Careers / Leaving the Lab. (Refer to my apologia from a few weeks ago...)



Wishing you and yours a happy, healthy start to 2015!
See Arr Oh

Two New Knights of the Periodic Table

Sir Martyn Poliakoff (RSC)

Hearty congratulations to two chemists receiving 2015 Honours as Knights Bachelor "for services to Chemistry."

Sir Martyn Poliakoff, Professor of Chemistry at the University of Nottingham, and star of the Periodic Table of Videos.

Sir Simon Fraser Campbell, former senior VP at Pfizer, who helped to discover drugs Viagra, Norvasc, and Cardura.

Scientists recognized with OBEs "for services to Chemistry" included Prof. Ian Mark Mills (Reading) and Prof. Kenneth Richard Seddon (QU Belfast).

Sir Simon Fraser Campbell (Nature)