Have a great weekend

Well, this was both a fun and somewhat less productive week than I had hoped. Nevertheless, important tasks were completed. Here's hoping that you had a wonderful week, and that you have a great weekend. See you on Monday. 

You can buy a CVD machine from China for $450,000?

Via Ars Technica, this news: 

In an age when you can get just about anything online, it's probably no surprise that you can buy a diamond-making machine for $200,000 on Chinese eCommerce site Alibaba. If, like me, you haven't been paying attention to the diamond industry, it turns out that the availability of these machines reflects an ongoing trend toward democratizing diamond production—a process that began decades ago and continues to evolve.

The history of lab-grown diamonds dates back at least half a century. According to Harvard graduate student Javid Lakha, writing in a comprehensive piece on lab-grown diamonds published in Works in Progress last month, the first successful synthesis of diamonds in a laboratory setting occurred in the 1950s. Lakha recounts how Howard Tracy Hall, a chemist at General Electric, created the first lab-grown diamonds using a high-pressure, high-temperature (HPHT) process that mimicked the conditions under which diamonds form in nature.

Since then, diamond-making technology has advanced significantly. Today, there are two primary methods for creating lab-grown diamonds: the HPHT process and chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Both types of machines are now listed on Alibaba, with prices starting at around $200,000, as pointed out in a Hacker News comment by engineer John Nagle (who goes by "Animats" on Hacker News). A CVD machine we found is more pricey, at around $450,000.

I guess I'm not too surprised about all of this, but the rate at which laboratory-grown diamonds have advanced feels awfully fast. 

House passes BIOSECURE Act 306-81; awaits Senate passage

Via FiercePharma:

After much anticipation and concern, the BIOSECURE Act—which would prevent U.S. companies from working with certain Chinese biotech service providers—has passed a key threshold.

Late Monday, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 306-81 in favor of the bill, which was introduced in January and seeks to halt federal contracts with five named Chinese life-sci companies—WuXi AppTec, WuXi Biologics, BGI Group, MGI and Complete Genomics—over alleged national security concerns.

...With the bill having passed through the House, it will now be up to the Senate to decide on the fate of the BIOSECURE Act.

Still, the most likely route for the bill to become law would involve tucking BIOSECURE into a larger legislative vehicle, such as the annual defense bill or government funding legislation, according to Stat.

...Despite support for the BIOSECURE Act in Washington, industry watchers have raised concerns about the complicated work that would be required for U.S. and European drugmakers to untangle themselves from their Chinese contractor partners. The current version of the bill would require drugmakers to sever ties with the named Chinese contractors by 2032 to retain their positions on Medicare and Medicaid, which serve as crucial sales drivers for many pharmaceutical companies.

I am once again surprised that it has gotten this far, but I'm not very good at predicting Congress. I have my doubts this will make it through the Senate, but maybe I should learn a lesson and simply say "I dunno." 

The 2025 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List: 219 research/teaching positions and 14 teaching positions

The 2025 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 219 research/teaching positions and 14 teaching positions. 

Want to help out? Here's a Google Form to enter positions.

To see trending, go to Andrew Spaeth's visualization of previous years' list.

On September 12, 2023, the 2024 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 223 research/teaching positions and 13 teaching positions.

Want to talk anonymously? Have an update on the status of a job search? Go to the first open thread. 

Don't forget to click on "load more" below the comment box for the full thread. 

Are you having problems accessing the Google Sheet because of a Google Documents error? Email me at chemjobber@gmail.com and I will send you an Excel download of the latest sheet. 

The Chemical Engineering Faculty Jobs List: 28 research/teaching positions and 10 teaching positions

 The Chemical Engineering Faculty Jobs List (by Heather LeClerc or Daniyal Kiani) has 28 research/teaching positions and 10 teaching positions. 

Here is a link to the open thread for the year.

C&EN on NHL general manager/PhD chemist Eric Tulsky

I typically don't add Newscripts items to the Monday C&EN review, but a NHL general manager makes the cut, I think (article by Chris Gorski): 

What if I told you a researcher found a way to spend more time solving problems instead of going to meetings, writing grants, and performing administrative tasks? For Eric Tulsky, what made that possible was going to work for a hockey team.

And now, he says, “I’m probably the first person in the history of the [National Hockey League] to be interviewed by C&E News.” In June, he was named the general manager of the Carolina Hurricanes hockey team, responsible for overseeing hockey operations.

How does a chemist land that kind of job?

After completing his PhD and a postdoctoral fellowship, Tulsky worked on nanotechnology for multiple companies. As much as he enjoyed that work, his interest in another analytical pursuit grew: interpreting hockey data. After spending many years doing science by day and hockey projects on the side, Tulsky joined Carolina in 2014...

Good article - read the whole thing. I imagine that technical people from all fields are tempted to get into professional sports analytics, but to move all the way to GM probably points to skills that were present before graduate school in the sciences... 

Reuters: "Democrat to vote against bill restricting China's WuXi Biologics, BGI"

Via Reuters, this news: 

Sept 6 (Reuters) - An influential Democratic U.S. congressman said on Friday that he will vote against legislation that would restrict business with China's WuXi Biologics (2269.HK), opens new tab, BGI and other biotech companies on national security grounds. Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, the ranking member on the House Rules committee, told Reuters he is trying to convince colleagues to join him in opposition.

McGovern said there was no process for how companies were included in the legislation, and that he could not get a straight answer for why Wuxi Biologics was added. The company is building a facility in his district.

The Biosecure Act is scheduled for a vote on Monday by the U.S. House of Representatives. Supporters say the legislation, which would subject the companies to federal contracting bans, is needed to protect Americans' personal health and genetic information as well as U.S. pharmaceutical supply chains.

McGovern, the top House Democrat on the Congressional-Executive Commission on China and a critic of China's human rights abuses, said, "Companies providing sensitive information to the Chinese government is a real and important issue."

"But the bottom line is, this is a lousy bill."

The bill is scheduled to be voted on under a process which limits debate, does not allow for amendments and requires a two-thirds majority vote for passage.

I'm genuinely interested to see the outcome of this vote, and how many employment/constituent-related objections there are to this. A brief scan of FEC records does not indicate a huge amount of donations from WuXi to McGovern (zero, to be exact), but I'm guessing there will be more now! 

Have a great weekend

Well, this was an unexpectedly fun week, even with the travel on Labor Day. I hope that you had a great short week, and I hope that you have a fun weekend with your family. I know I'm looking forward to it. See you on Monday.

BIOSECURE Act to receive a vote on week of September 9

Via C&EN's Aayushi Pratap, this news on the BIOSECURE Act, from the ChemOutsourcing trade show: 

At ChemOutsourcing, a pharmaceutical ingredients conference held early this month in Parsippany, New Jersey, the Biosecure Act was on the minds of many.

The legislation, introduced in January and slated for a vote by the US House of Representatives during the week of Sept. 9, seeks to prevent firms that receive federal funds from using five Chinese drug service companies.

One of those firms is WuXi AppTec, a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) that counts multiple US pharmaceutical companies among its clients. The company was singled out for its alleged sponsorship of “military-civil fusion” events in China and investments from a military-civil integration investment fund. Also named is WuXi AppTec’s sister company, WuXi Biologics, which was added in a May update of the bill.

David Gunn, an executive at a European CDMO, anticipates that even if the bill passes into law, not much will change for WuXi AppTec’s business prospects. For one, he said, most US firms that work with the Chinese CDMO don’t receive government funds, meaning that the act would not legally affect them. “Moreover, many of the bigger pharma companies have long-standing contract relations that can’t be unwound so easily,” he said...

That will be interesting to watch! I bet those firms are watching this very closely. Via FiercePharma, more context on the action in Congress: 

After running up against a roadblock earlier this summer, the controversial BIOSECURE Act could gain new momentum next week.

The U.S. House of Representatives is slated to consider the legislation during the week of Sept. 9, according to a website maintained by the congressional chamber. The bill was introduced in January and seeks to halt federal contracts with certain Chinese biotech equipment and service providers over national security concerns.

In its current form, the bill calls out five Chinese life science companies by name, including R&D powerhouse WuXi AppTec and its manufacturing-focused sibling WuXi Biologics—though more companies could be added to the list in the future.

WuXi AppTec and WuXi Bio have repeatedly rejected the claims laid out in the bill, which accuses them—and the genomics companies BGI Group, MGI and Complete Genomics—of having ties to China’s military, internal security forces or intelligence agencies.

Notably, the bill is set to be considered under the House's "suspension of the rules" procedure. This process is generally used to quickly pass noncontroversial measures, Axios reports.

As for what comes next for BIOSECURE, Axios noted that votes on standalone bills are less common in the Senate. In turn, the most likely path forward for the legislation is for it to be folded into the annual defense policy bill this year.

BIOSECURE has won wide bipartisan support since its introduction by former Republican congressman Mike Gallagher early this year. The bill advanced out of the House Oversight Committee with a 40-1 vote in May.

I'm shocked it's going to get a vote on the House floor, but maybe they know that it won't get through the Senate. We shall see... 

Job posting: Research Chemist, USDA / ARS / NCAUR, Peoria, IL

Via C&EN Jobs: 

Research Chemist

GS-1320-12/13

Salary Range of $86,962 to $134,435

Announcement Open: September 3, 2024 to October 2, 2024

The incumbent serves as a Research Chemist in the Bio-Oils Research Unit, National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research in Peoria, Illinois. The focus of the unit is to develop new technology for using vegetable oils as renewable sources for value-added industrial products.  

The assigned project is "New High-Value Biobased Materials with Applications Across Industry.” Incumbent will be an expert in biobased polymeric materials and conduct research addressing needs of national interest for value-added industrial materials from agricultural commodities, especially plant oils. Incumbent provides expertise on synthesis, analysis, characterization, structure/function relationships, and industrial applications of biobased materials to the Research Leader, Lead Scientist, domestic and international collaborators, ARS Office of National Programs, and stakeholders. Incumbent is responsible for conceiving, initiating, planning, executing, evaluating, and publishing research on plant oil-based materials and technologies. 

Incumbent has authority to identify research priorities and to develop collaborations both within and outside of ARS, including other federal agencies, universities and cooperating industrial stakeholders. Incumbent will develop a stakeholder base to advocate for enhancing the research and to enable commercialization of products to meet mandated technology transfer objectives with the potential to increase funding.

U.S. Citizenship is required. Applications are being accepted via the USAJobs Web site: https://www.usajobs.gov/. For further information and complete application instructions, go to the USAJobs Web site and refer to announcement number ARS-D24MWA-12524769-HCL. Applications must be received by the closing date of October 2, 2024.  *Please note that the announcement number will not be accessible on USAJobs until Tuesday, September 3, 2024.

Contacts:

Application procedures: Heather Lee at heather.Lee@usda.gov or 301-956-3803

Scientific information: Dr. Steven Cermak at steven.cermak@usda.gov or 309-681-6233

 Full ad here. Best wishes to those interested. 

In C&EN, "Proposed names for intermolecular forces"

Via C&EN, this letter:

What is a protopole?

After having spent my career at Henry Ford College (HFC), once Henry Ford Community College in lovely Dearborn, Michigan, as an adjunct in 1995 and then as a full-timer in ’98, on the eve of my retirement, I find it somehow fitting to submit my first letter to C&EN. First, a shout-out to the HFC faculty, staff, administration, and most of all, my students, who helped make this a career beyond what I could have imagined. Thank you all!.

Over the years, I have enjoyed giving a colorful rant about what a disservice we are doing to our students when we chemistry instructors force them to first learn the concept of hydrogen bonding and then the next week tell them that during a chemical change, bonds are broken or made. The students who remain on top of things put this together after 2 weeks: “So when you boil water, you are breaking hydrogen bonds; therefore, that must be a chemical change.” Then we say, “No, hydrogen bonds are intermolecular forces, not bonds, so that is not a chemical change but, rather, a physical one.”

Do you see how ridiculous we sound when forced to say a bond is not a bond? The students who are less on top of things just think, “Chemistry is too hard. How can I ever get this?” With this in mind, I have the following simplified names for the three major intermolecular forces:

• Old name: hydrogen bond
• New name: protopole

• Old name: dipole-dipole attraction
• New name: dipole-dipole attraction (keep that one; it is good!)

• Old name: London forces/van der Waals forces
• New name: vacillipole

I feel that keeping pole in each name will help students. The word vacillate serves us well in science and English, ergo the last suggestion. As for London and van der Waals, don’t get me started on scientists and their love of putting their names on things. This is an equal disservice to our students, who have to learn both the concepts of science and the names of people who think they discovered something that has existed for billions of years. This is not your discovery, “Dr.” Columbus! I don’t want to sound disrespectful to the wonderful work of our dedicated predecessors, but should we remove some of these barriers to learning, perhaps chemistry can be made more understandable and easier to learn (even though I would lose my opportunity to rant).

Todd Whitaker
Eastpointe, Michigan

I think "hydrogen bond" is going to stay, but "protopole" and "vacillipole" are definitely memorable. 

The Chemical Engineering Faculty Jobs List: 17 research/teaching positions and 8 teaching positions

The Chemical Engineering Faculty Jobs List (by Heather LeClerc or Daniyal Kiani) has 17 research/teaching positions and 8 teaching positions. 

Here is a link to the open thread for the year.

The 2025 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List: 186 research/teaching positions and 11 teaching positions

The 2025 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 186 research/teaching positions and 11 teaching positions. 

Want to help out? Here's a Google Form to enter positions.

To see trending, go to Andrew Spaeth's visualization of previous years' list.

On September 5, 2023, the 2024 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 191 research/teaching positions and 13 teaching positions.

Want to talk anonymously? Have an update on the status of a job search? Go to the first open thread. 

Don't forget to click on "load more" below the comment box for the full thread. 

Are you having problems accessing the Google Sheet because of a Google Documents error? Email me at chemjobber@gmail.com and I will send you an Excel download of the latest sheet. 

Happy Labor Day

Today is Labor Day, a holiday in the United States. Back tomorrow.

Have a great weekend

Nothing like a short week to make it a good one. I hope that you had a wonderful work week, and I hope that you have a great long weekend. We'll see you on Tuesday. 

C&EN: "Fires at 2 Indian plants kill many"

Via C&EN, this bad news (article by Aayushi Pratap): 

Fires broke out at two pharmaceutical chemical companies just days apart in southern India, killing more than 20 workers.

On Aug. 21, an explosion resulted in a fire at Escientia Advanced Sciences’ plant in the Anakapalle district of Andhra Pradesh state, an area known as a pharmaceutical hub. The blaze killed 18 workers and injured over 30 others. The 5-year-old company manufactures intermediate chemicals and active pharmaceutical ingredients.

According to Indian media outlets, the blast occurred during the lunch break, which prevented more people from getting injured or killed. But the vapor cloud caused by the explosion made it difficult for fire officials to rescue those trapped inside. The Press Trust of India news agency reported scenes of workers with peeling skin being rushed to the hospital.

Government officials told local news outlets that the company had 381 employees working two shifts. While an investigation is ongoing to identify the cause of the fire, officials suspect it was caused by faulty electrical equipment at the plant, according to media reports.

On Aug. 23, not far from Escientia, a flash fire at Synergene Active Ingredients was reported to have killed three workers and injured another. Local news outlets say the fire started during production of the blood pressure medicine losartan potassium.

Deepak Monga, a fire safety and evacuation expert based in Mumbai, India, says the incidents are a reminder of how safety is often overlooked at high-risk chemical plants in India.

“It was shocking to see that in the case of Escientia’s pharmaceutical plant explosion, the workers weren’t wearing personal protective equipment,” Monga says. He contends that companies cut corners and don’t invest in adequate fire safety protection and equipment, even though laws mandate it.

“It feels like these companies don’t value human life,” he says.

I would like to think that the Western world knows the human cost of purchasing its drugs from the developing world. Yes, audits exist, but not enough of them. Best wishes to the families of the victims. 

Job posting: Senior Research Chemist, Parallel Squared Technology Institute, Watertown, MA

From the inbox: 

Parallel Squared Technology Institute (PTI) is a non-profit research institute aiming to catalyze a leap in protein analysis technology and use it to explore new biological frontiers. PTI supports open research and educational opportunities supporting rapid career development for scientists, engineers, and mathematicians.

New career opportunities

Members of PTI will be supported with industry-level resources to lead research projects and disseminate their discoveries and innovations to the broader biomedical community through frequent publications, presentations, and submissions to public data portals.  

Summary of Position

We are looking for an individual contributor who has experience modifying and functionalizing small molecules for protein modifications and/or degradation. This position will involve the investigation and development of mass tags for proteomic analysis. The successful candidate will work in a team environment with other scientists. In order to be seriously considered for this position, we require a cover letter as part of the candidate’s application.

Responsibilities:

• Design and synthesize small molecules for protein modification.
• Define new directions for technology development that can unlock new testable hypotheses.
• Collaborate with other scientists to use machine learning and other computational approaches to learn principles for mass tag design.
• Mentor scientists and research associates. 
• Prepare internal reports and manuscripts as well as present results at internal or external scientific meetings as appropriate.
• Demonstrate a commitment to diversity, inclusion, and cultural awareness through actions, interactions, and communications with others.
• Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications:

• PhD in Chemistry or Chemical Biology, or related field.
• 5+ years of experience in medicinal chemistry in a professional setting.
• Experience in synthesizing small molecules for protein modification. 
• Strong quantitative and analytical skills, with a proclivity for reasoning from first principles.
• Highly motivated and organized researcher with strong analytical and coding skills.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with mass spectrometry proteomics data analysis.
• Experience working with isotopes of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and hydrogen.

Full ad here. Best wishes to those interested.

TIL "malaxer" | also, the problem of low-cost avocado oil adulteration

Bet you've never heard of a malaxer before
credit: Washington Post

Via the Washington Post, this fascinating article: 

Avocado oil is a rising star in the culinary world. It’s a heart-healthy cooking oil with a mild flavor that appeals to health-conscious consumers.

But scientists say that adulteration and mislabeling are rampant in the avocado oil industry, and that many people who believe they’re buying pure avocado oil are being misled by some of the nation’s largest retail chains.

Scientists at the University of California at Davis tested avocado oil samples, and have for the first time revealed the names of a dozen retailers who they say sold products labeled as avocado oil that contained cheap seed and vegetable oils, including Walmart, Sam’s Club, Kroger and Safeway. The companies didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Regrettably, I'm not very surprised to learn that avocado oil is adulterated with less expensive oils. I am, however, delighted to learn that Dr. Selina Wang of UC-Davis was an organic chemist before she moved into food science. Very cool! 

(genuinely, this is a great article, please do click and read) 

NYT on Eastman's "mass balance" calculations in recycled content

Via the New York Times, this article on recycling plastic and mass balance: 

...To grasp what mass balance accounting entails, you first have to know a bit about the two methods of plastic recycling.

The first, which has been around for decades, involves sorting, washing, shredding and melting down plastic waste and reshaping it into pellets. Much of the recycled plastic produced by this method, called mechanical recycling, is of lesser quality than the original. And only certain types of plastics can be recycled mechanically.

The second, newer method, chemical recycling, is an energy-intensive process that typically uses high temperatures, pressurization and chemical solvents or other chemical processes not to simply melt plastic but to break it down into its chemical building blocks. The recycled chemicals are then mixed with all sorts of other materials, including fossil-fuel-derived virgin plastic, to make new products.

This year, Eastman began operating one of the largest chemical plastic recycling plants in the world. Near the company’s headquarters in Tennessee, the plant uses methanol, heat and pressure to transform plastic waste. It takes plastics not accepted in most curbside recycling programs, like clamshell containers, colored plastics used in food and beverage packaging, and plastic fibers used in carpets and textiles.

Eastman wants to be able to market as recycled the products made with this material. But while it’s theoretically possible to physically track plastic pellets from recycled water bottles to a new life as plastic lawn furniture, it’s virtually impossible to trace basic chemicals dissolved from plastic waste and mixed with other materials to any particular batch of plastic products...

I think the criticisms of the mass balance calculations are reasonable (i.e. is there a good reason that Eastman should be trusted? Not really?) That said, if Eastman is truly hiding something and the material isn't being recycled, it will definitely start piling up or their landfill bills will start increasing. A thorough and public accounting of their warehouses (to be fair, the inputs and outputs of their plastic recycling system) would seem to me to be the only way that you could independently verify that mass balance is a reasonable way to calculate chemical recycling content. 

The 2025 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List: 161 research/teaching positions and 10 teaching positions

The 2025 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 161 research/teaching positions and 10 teaching positions. 

Want to help out? Here's a Google Form to enter positions.

To see trending, go to Andrew Spaeth's visualization of previous years' list.

On August 29, 2023, the 2024 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 177 research/teaching positions and 10 teaching positions.

Want to talk anonymously? Have an update on the status of a job search? Go to the first open thread. 

Don't forget to click on "load more" below the comment box for the full thread. 

Are you having problems accessing the Google Sheet because of a Google Documents error? Email me at chemjobber@gmail.com and I will send you an Excel download of the latest sheet. 

Job posting: assistant professor, Department of Textile Engineering, Chemistry and Science, NC State University, Raleigh, NC

From the inbox: 

The Department of Textile Engineering, Chemistry and Science (TECS) at NC State University is seeking dynamic and talented candidates for a tenure track faculty position at the assistant professor level with a preference given to synthetic polymer chemists with strong backgrounds and interest in polymer synthesis, structure-property relationships of fiber-forming polymers, polymer recycling and sustainable polymers related to the textile industry. The successful candidate is expected to teach polymer chemistry courses in the Polymer and Color Chemistry (PCC) undergraduate program and fiber and polymer science courses in the Textile Chemistry and Fiber and Polymer Science graduate programs, as well as establish a robust research program with a focus on sustainable polymers. A typical faculty load in TECS is 45% research, 45% teaching, and 10% service.

Full ad here. Best wishes to those interested.

Job posting: assistant professor, computational/theoretical, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH

From the inbox: 

The Department of Chemistry at Case Western Reserve University invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor position in Chemistry. The successful candidate will establish innovative research programs in computational and theoretical chemistry. Research programs with a focus on applications in chemical biology, drug discovery, materials discovery, and/or energy conversion and storage, and that involve the use or development of artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) are especially encouraged. The successful candidate will be expected to develop an internationally visible research program supported by extramural funding, teach undergraduate- and graduate-level courses, and be committed to diversity and inclusion. The normal teaching load for faculty with active research programs is one course per semester plus ancillary duties.

Full ad here. Best wishes to those interested. 

Postdoctoral opportunity: Lewis Lab, Department of Chemistry, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN

From the inbox:

The Lewis Lab in the Department of Chemistry at Indiana University is taking applications for a postdoctoral research position. The position offers an opportunity to develop and apply cutting-edge protein engineering techniques to address fundamental challenges in synthetic chemistry and biocatalysis. The successful applicant will use a deep understanding of organic and organometallic chemistry, combined with state-of-the-art methods directed evolution, next gen sequencing, and laboratory automation to develop enzymes or artificial metalloenzymes for new chemical transformations. Motivated applicants with PhD training in any area of chemistry or biochemistry will be considered. Experience with either molecular biology or synthetic chemistry is strongly preferred.

Full ad here. Best wishes to those interested. 

The Chemical Engineering Faculty Jobs List: 15 research/teaching positions and 8 teaching positions

The Chemical Engineering Faculty Jobs List (by Heather LeClerc or Daniyal Kiani) has 15 research/teaching positions and 8 teaching positions. 

Here is a link to the open thread for the year.

MOFs in Bloomberg

Via Bloomberg, a pretty cool article from early August about chemists attempting to commercialize MOFs for water extraction: 

At a laboratory in a Southern California warehouse, scientist Heng Su unveils what could be a world-changing solution to the global water crisis. The small handheld object looks unremarkable, consisting of stacked white fins that resemble a miniature old-fashioned apartment radiator. But when Su puts the device on a scale, it silently gains weight within seconds. As the minutes pass, it gets heavier and heavier. That’s because the gadget is invisibly gathering water molecules from the surrounding air.

A few feet away, four of the water harvesters sit inside a plastic enclosure shaped like a transparent birdhouse. The warm air inside dislodges the H2O molecules from the harvesters and a condenser transforms the water vapor into liquid, which is dripping into a beaker. The technology, called metallic organic frameworks (MOFs), doesn’t require electricity and can produce water with just ambient sunlight. It’s Irvine-based startup Atoco’s vision for how to provide water in an increasingly arid world.

Both Omar Yaghi's startup Atoco and another MOF startup AirJoule are covered. Pretty interesting to think that moisture farming could be a real thing someday.

C&EN: "Fraudsters dupe chemical maker Orion out of $60 million"

In this week's C&EN, this unfortunate news (article by Alexander H. Tullo):

The carbon black maker Orion has been scammed out of $60 million in a wire transfer fraud scheme.

The company rooted out the fraud earlier this month, it disclosed in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. An employee, the filing says, “was the target of a criminal scheme that resulted in multiple fraudulently induced outbound wire transfers to accounts controlled by unknown third parties.”

Orion adds that it will record a pretax charge of $60 million if it can’t recover more of its misappropriated funds. Such a loss would be significant for Orion. In 2023, the company earned just over $100 million in profits on $1.9 billion in sales.

The company is cooperating with law enforcement and declines to comment further about the breach because of the ongoing investigation. But the scam bears the hallmarks of a business email compromise (BEC) attack, according to Selena Larson, a threat researcher at the cybersecurity consulting firm Proofpoint.

I find this kind of thing pretty alarming, in that it seems it could happen at any company, no matter how large.