View From Your Hood: Balbes Consultants West Coast Office edition

Credit: Lisa Balbes

From friend of the blog Lisa Balbes.

(got a View from Your Hood submission? Send it in (with a caption and preference for name/anonymity, please) at chemjobber@gmail.com; will run every other Friday.) 

What's your favorite kind of prep chromatography system?

From the inbox, a request from a longtime friend of the blog who needs to choose between two kinds of flash chromatography systems (edited for privacy and clarity): 

Please do you know any colleagues who can share their impression on recent LC flash silica models from Biotage - and from Buchi? 

The first option that they are pitching us is a Biotage Isolera Prime. So this is their economy model with 1 wavelength UV detector and single rack fraction collector, for $15,200.  

The second option is slightly used Buchi Reveleris X2-UV, which is a mid-range model, with dual wavelength UV detector and two rack fraction collector, and supposedly better pumps, for $21,600.  

Personally, I would feel lot more comfortable with Teledyne-ISCO but I cannot choose it. I have had unpleasant experience with clunky Biotage models a very long time ago so I am biased but it is probably not relevant. The Buchi system looks similar to Combiflash. But I have seen that Buchi also sometimes does not make great products (for example their teflon vacuum pumps and automated vacuum control boxes, designed as knock-off of KNF pumps, used to be a major weakness of the Buchi rotovaps)

I haven't loved the Revelaris systems that I have seen/worked with, but I'm probably biased. The Biotage systems that I worked with a long time ago were just fine. Readers, your thoughts?  

The Medicinal Chemist Jobs List: 246 positions

The Medicinal Chemist Jobs list (curated by Joel Walker and myself) has 246 positions.

Want to help out? Here's a Google Form to enter positions, but if you want to do the traditional "leave a link in the comments", that works, too.

Want to chat about medchem positions? Try the open thread.

Positions I'm not including: positions outside the United States, computational positions (this will likely change), academic positions (likely never.)

The Analytical Chemistry Jobs List: 10 positions

The Analytical Chemistry Jobs List has 10 positions; this is curated by the ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry. Want to help out? Fill out this form. 

29 new positions at Organic Chemistry Jobs

Over at Common Organic Chemistry, there's 10 new positions posted for November 25 and 19 positions posted on November 20. 

The Process Chemistry Jobs List: 245 positions

The Process Chemistry Jobs List has 245 positions.

Want to help? Here's a form to fill out.

Want to chat process jobs? Try the open thread. 

TIL "Mr. Whippy"

That van has a lot more character than the Econovans I tend to see.
credit: freeindex

Via a recent article in the New York Times, a reminder of somewhat unusual alternative chemistry jobs:

The Bank of England has decided to honor a scientist with its next bank note design. One of the nominees? Margaret Thatcher, Britain’s first female prime minister.... 

...Mrs. Thatcher, then Margaret Hilda Roberts, studied chemistry at the University of Oxford, and after graduating went to work as a chemist at J. Lyons, a British restaurant chain that also sold its own lines of food and, for a while, some of the world’s first business computers. 

The claim that Mrs. Thatcher helped invent soft-serve ice cream while at Lyons is widely distributed, even appearing in the address given at her funeral in 2013 by the then bishop of London, who described her as “part of the team that invented Mr. Whippy,” the major British soft-serve brand. 

Charles Moore, her authorized biographer, is skeptical. “She was quite a good chemist as a student at Oxford; she was a serious chemist,” he said in a phone interview on Tuesday. She worked at J. Lyons for about 18 months, he said. Of the soft-serve claim, he added: “I’ve never been able to establish that it’s definitely true.”...

As a very big fan of soft-serve ice cream (Dairy Queen, chocolate), I am amused to learn of "Mr. Whippy." Cute vans! 

The 2019 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List: 476 positions

The 2019 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 476 positions.

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

On November 28, 2017, the 2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 446 positions.

Interested in how this is tracking overall? Check out these sweet graphics done by Andrew Spaeth.

Want to chat? This will be the next open thread; it will open on December 1. Here's the October/November thread. Here's the pre-September thread, here's the September/October thread.

Otherwise, all discussions are on the Chemistry Faculty Jobs List webforum.

The Chemical Engineering Faculty Jobs List: 49 positions

The Chemical Engineering Faculty Jobs List has 49 positions. It is curated by Lilian Josephson (@lljosephson). 

The Academic Staff Jobs List: 21 positions

The Academic Staff Jobs list has 21 positions.

This list is curated by Sarah Cady. It targets:

• Full-time STAFF positions in a Chem/Biochem/ChemE lab/facility at an academic institution/natl lab
• Lab Coordinator positions for research groups or undergraduate labs 
• and for an institution in Canada or the United States

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

Want to chat about staff scientist positions? Try the open thread.

Parent brings lawsuit for 2018 Pennsylvania methanol fire incident

Via PennLive (article written by John Beauge): 

The mother of one of two Mount Carmel Area High School students burned by liquid methanol during a chemistry demonstration has filed a federal lawsuit claiming proper safety precautions were not taken. Karen Green of Locust Gap also contends the Mount Carmel Area School district was negligent and not prepared to treat her daughter, who is identified only as M.G. 

Green Friday in U.S. Middle District Court sued on behalf of herself and her daughter the school district, Superintendent Bernard Stellar, high school principal Lisa Varano, chemistry teacher Tammy Michaels and school nurse Leanne Ryan. 

Green contends Michaels conducted the demonstration Aug. 30 despite being aware organizations, including the National Science Teachers Association, had urged teachers to halt the use of methanol-based flame tests in open laboratory desks. The National Fire Protection Association recommends placement of a safety barrier to protect students when those type of experiments are conducted, the suit states.

The details of the incident seem pretty bad:

Michaels, who was wearing goggles, attempted to light methanol that had been poured into a container. When it did not ignite, she poured in more methanol. 

An explosion occurred on the second ignition causing the container to tip onto its side, sending the flaming methanol onto the girl's leg and her front row desk, setting both on fire. The girl, attempting to get away from her burning desk, fell to the floor crying in pain as other students rushed to her aid. 

The suit claims the classroom's fire blanket could not be removed from its shipping container and classroom shower had not been functional for two years.  

After the fire on the girl's leg was extinguished she was taken by wheelchair to the nurse's office. Green claims her daughter did not receive any treatment and was in agony the 30 minutes it took for an ambulance to arrive.

Seems like a pretty classic classroom methanol fire incident, with a combination of:

• fire
• alcohol being added to the flames
• from a bulk alcohol container with
• students being too close

I think it's pretty remarkable that almost all of the media articles these days mention that this is a known problem - I'm rather surprised that high school teachers don't seem to be getting the word. 

A photo of the burn is available here (it's a little gruesome.) Maybe now we can stop doing this demo? 

Voting in ACS elections

From this week's C&EN, this interesting comment from Attila Pavlath:

I congratulate our recently elected national officers and thank them for their willingness to lead the society and build our future. However, three aspects of our elections greatly concern me.

1. Only 14,000 members voted, which is at best 10% if we assume that foreign members did not vote. In 1971, 39% voted! Are the remaining 90% satisfied with our direction or just would like something different? This should be thoroughly studied.

It'd be really interesting to know what the peak voter participation is - I suspect it's below 50%, but I dunno. (It'd also be really interesting to understand what voting in civic organizations has done over the last 50 years - I bet that's fallen as well.) 

Happy Thanksgiving

Every year, I am incredibly thankful for my family, my friends, my community (physical and online) and my job. This particular year, I am very, very, very, very thankful for the health of my immediate family.

I am also thankful for you, my readers and commenters. Thank you for your reading, your advice, your e-mails and your brilliant, insightful comments. I am truly blessed.

[An additional note: if you would ever like to meet for a cup of coffee or a beer, please reach out to my e-mail address. I often find myself in unexpected places these days, and I love to meet readers of the blog.]

My family and I wish you a very happy Thanksgiving and if you're not in the United States, a happy Thursday and Friday! 

Warning Letter of the Week: non-uniformity edition

A love note for the CEO of Mylan Pharmaceuticals from the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research:

2. Your firm failed to thoroughly investigate any unexplained discrepancy or failure of a batch or any of its components to meet any of its specifications, whether or not the batch has already been distributed (21 CFR 211.192). 

Your investigations into out-of-specification (OOS) results and process deviations were inadequate. Root causes did not consistently include scientifically supported conclusions.... 

B. Your firm opened two manufacturing investigation reports, No. 1071629 on December 12, 2016, and No. 1106258 on January 25, 2017, to investigate atypically high assay and high variability content uniformity results for three batches of prednisolone sodium phosphate 10 mg orally disintegrating tablets (ODT). The investigations identified a root cause of untrained or inexperienced operators [redacted]. The investigation did not fully evaluate the processing factors that contribute to variability in your finished tablets. In particular, it did not evaluate the inherent variability of the [redacted] method used for charging [redacted], and identify more robust methods for performing this critical transfer that could prevent blend segregation and tablet dose non-uniformity. It also did not ensure improvements were adequately specified in batch records to enable an ongoing state of control. We acknowledge your firm’s market recall on April 30, 2018, of all batches of prednisolone sodium phosphate ODT within expiry from the U.S. market. 

C. Your firm opened multiple manufacturing investigation reports and trending assessments from July 2016 to October 2017 related to out-of-trend and OOS content uniformity results for metolazone 2.5 mg tablets. A scientifically justified root cause had not been identified, and effective CAPA plans had not been implemented. Despite substantial non-uniformity observed in multiple batches of metolazone 2.5 mg tablets, you continued to manufacture and release this drug product up to the time of the inspection.

I don't know anything about tableting, but I bet that non-uniformity isn't a fun problem to solve.

This week's C&EN

A few of the articles in this week's issue of Chemical and Engineering News:

• Cover: "The chemical search for better white light" (by Mitch Jacoby)
• "Introducing the new Dow" (by Alex Tullo) 
• Blockchain! (by Neil Savage)
• looking forward to the American Chemical Society coming up with ACSCoin in three years
• Noramco is making synthetic THC? (by Michael McCoy) 
• Some d00d yapping about professional jealousy
• I dunno, "meta-meat" doesn't sound very tasty 

The 2019 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List: 468 positions

The 2019 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 468 positions.

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

On November 21, 2017, the 2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 441 positions. The latest weather report for the Faculty Jobs List is here.

Interested in how this is tracking overall? Check out these sweet graphics done by Andrew Spaeth.

Want to chat? Here's the current open thread. Here's the pre-September thread, here's the September/October thread.

Otherwise, all discussions are on the Chemistry Faculty Jobs List webforum.

The Chemical Engineering Faculty Jobs List: 49 positions

The Chemical Engineering Faculty Jobs List has 49 positions. It is curated by Lilian Josephson (@lljosephson). 

The Academic Staff Jobs List: 21 positions

The Academic Staff Jobs list has 21 positions.

This list is curated by Sarah Cady. It targets:

• Full-time STAFF positions in a Chem/Biochem/ChemE lab/facility at an academic institution/natl lab
• Lab Coordinator positions for research groups or undergraduate labs 
• and for an institution in Canada or the United States

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

Want to chat about staff scientist positions? Try the open thread.

‘My friend, sorry, you must wait.’

An amusing aside in a New York Times article about luxury brands and their supply chains: 

Parterre, the British fragrance house, created its own on-site botanical garden at Keyneston Mill in Dorset, England, to grow the aromatic plants that would form the cornerstone of its limited-edition fragrances. Much the same instinct underpins the rise of cottage gardens at high-end hotels like Borgo Santo Pietro in Tuscany, Italy. Its Michelin-starred restaurant relies primarily on the organic farm attached to the property, which includes a dairy and an apiary. 

“They are securing the sources of their competitive advantage,” said Mario Ortelli, a luxury analyst with Ortelli & Company of London. “If your supplier works with 10 other luxury brands, and you’re not the most important client? When you ask for extra quantities, he can tell you, ‘My friend, sorry, you must wait.’”

It'd be interesting to know if Parterre purchased its own extraction as well? 

Kalrez o-rings

A list of small, useful things (links):

• The latest from Stellen für Chemiker
• The latest from All Things Metathesis
• Do check out the Organic Chemistry Jobs Company List - I think it's a neat idea
• At Sustainable Nano, Zack's Nano Adventure
• Ash, on an AI-in-chemistry poll
• xykademiqz on postdocs
• naturalproductman, on "The Synthesis of 12alpha-Hydroxy Steroids"
• Interesting essay on professor semi-retirement, by Richard C. Larson (submitted by friend-of-the-blog James Ashenhurst)
• 133 people have died from being pulled into a wood chipper in the last 9 years? (by Celeste Monforton)
• Interesting essay on alcoholism in graduate school (by Elizabeth A. Marchio)

An open invitation to all interested in writing a blog, a hobby that will bring you millions thousands hundreds tens of dollars joy and happiness. Send me a link to your post, and I'd be happy to put it up.

Have a good weekend!

Job posting: Director, Chemical Laboratory - NMR Lab, Auburn University, Auburn, AL

From the inbox:

The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Auburn University seeks to fill the position of Director of Chemical Laboratories for Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Lab. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to: (1) operating and maintaining the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry's 250 MHz, 400 MHz, and 600 MHz NMR spectrometers; (2) maintaining the computers and software needed to run the NMR instrumentation and data processing stations; (3) running samples and assisting researchers with data analysis and experimental design; (4) supervising a graduate student who will assist in the operation of the laboratory; and (5) billing for services pertaining to the NMR spectrometers.   

The following are minimum qualifications: (1) a Ph.D. from an accredited institution in NMR Spectroscopy, Chemistry, Biochemistry, or a closely related field, (2) five (5) years of experience in analyzing (bio)chemical molecules and coordinating lab operations, procedures, and instruction, and (3) knowledge of laboratory techniques, safety procedures, and teaching principles. 

Full job posting here. Best wishes to those interested. 

The Medicinal Chemist Jobs List: 246 positions

The Medicinal Chemist Jobs list (curated by Joel Walker and myself) has 246 positions.

Want to help out? Here's a Google Form to enter positions, but if you want to do the traditional "leave a link in the comments", that works, too.

Want to chat about medchem positions? Try the open thread.

Positions I'm not including: positions outside the United States, computational positions (this will likely change), academic positions (likely never.)

The Analytical Chemistry Jobs List: 10 positions

The Analytical Chemistry Jobs List has 10 positions; this is curated by the ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry. Want to help out? Fill out this form. 

The Organic Chemistry Jobs Company List

Over at Organic Chemistry Jobs, a pretty neat new list: the Organic Chemistry Jobs company list.

29 new positions at Organic Chemistry Jobs

Over at Common Organic Chemistry, there's 14 new positions posted for November 14 and 15 positions posted on November 12. 

The Process Chemistry Jobs List: 245 positions

The Process Chemistry Jobs List has 245 positions.

Want to help? Here's a form to fill out.

Want to chat process jobs? Try the open thread. 

Coke dissolves road dust?

Via the New York Times, this odd little article about using food as cleaning agents, including the classic 101 uses for Coca-Cola: 

...Speaking of sticky things, our reader Peggy offers this suggestion: “I use a product called Goo Gone but its main ingredient is orange oil. If you have no Goo Gone, rub a piece of orange on the gunk from stick-on labels and Bob’s your uncle.” 

Ketchup — yes, it’s a vegetable, just go with us — can be used to polish brass and copper. But if you’re out, and you happen to have a pineapple handy, you’re in luck. 

“Whenever I trim a pineapple, I grab a saltshaker and whichever of my copper bottom pots needs tarnish removed: Sprinkle salt, rub with pineapple peel — Voilà!” wrote another reader.... 

...We noted that Coca-Cola can be used to clear a slow-moving drain, clean a toilet bowl and remove motor oil and grease from clothing and pavement. You all had many uses to add. Bill writes: “If road oil and dust have made your windshield smeary, pour Coke on it. The windshield comes clean,” and Thomas added, “Coke rejuvenates old windshield wiper blades.”

Orange oil as a handy solvent makes sense to me, but ketchup to remove metal oxides? Also carbonated sugar water for motor oil?  

This week's C&EN

A few of the articles from this week's issue of Chemical and Engineering News:

• Cover: "Making biologics on demand" (by Celia Henry Arnaud)
• This Mark Peplow piece on a rather unfortunate situation at the University of Manchester is worth a read 
• Rick Mullin with two articles on Hovione 
• I really enjoyed this profile of Diane Villax
• Anne McNeil's new website: DiversifyChemistry (article by Linda Wang)
• Finally time for antisense oligonucleotides? (article by Ryan Cross)

The 2019 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List: 458 positions

The 2019 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 458 positions.

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

On November 14, 2017, the 2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 429 positions. The latest weather report for the Faculty Jobs List is here.

Interested in how this is tracking overall? Check out these sweet graphics done by Andrew Spaeth.

Want to chat? Here's the current open thread. Here's the pre-September thread, here's the September/October thread.

Otherwise, all discussions are on the Chemistry Faculty Jobs List webforum.

The Chemical Engineering Faculty Jobs List: 49 positions

The Chemical Engineering Faculty Jobs List has 49 positions. It is curated by Lilian Josephson (@lljosephson). 

The Academic Staff Jobs List: 21 positions

The Academic Staff Jobs list has 21 positions.

This list is curated by Sarah Cady. It targets:

• Full-time STAFF positions in a Chem/Biochem/ChemE lab/facility at an academic institution/natl lab
• Lab Coordinator positions for research groups or undergraduate labs 
• and for an institution in Canada or the United States

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

Want to chat about staff scientist positions? Try the open thread.

"I Want Miracles"

Via the New York Times, a truly heart-wrenching story of health care among the poor in China: 

Do-It-Yourself Drugs 

China in recent years has become the world’s largest home of internet users. Many Chinese now shop almost exclusively in internet bazaars that offer everything from groceries and hot meals to jewelry and cars. They can also buy pharmaceuticals — even the raw ingredients to illegally make drugs themselves. 

Many start on forums devoted to patients and their loved ones when they can’t get answers anymore. The two most popular are “I Want Miracles,” which is dedicated to helping people with lung cancer, and “Dances With Cancer.” The forums combined have just over 440,000 members. 

“This is the current state of health care in China,” said Chen Yun, who runs “I Want Miracles.” “Every doctor is just too busy, and there’s no way that they can explain many things to you clearly. But if you want to figure it out, you just have to learn by yourself.”... 

Desperate to help his mother, Mr. Zhang did a basic search: “What to do after patient develops drug resistance on Iressa?” He happened upon “Dances With Cancer” and an active participant and a longtime cancer patient called “Bean Spirit,” who wrote a manual on how to make drugs at home. 

Mr. Zhang, who previously worked at a pharmaceutical factory but was not involved in making drugs, started on his own version. He bought the ingredients for AstraZeneca’s Tagrisso, a lung cancer drug. He spent just over $150 for a month’s worth of ingredients, plastic capsules and an electronic scale. 

“The raw ingredients are worth more than the price of gold,” he said. 

When the drugs stopped working for his mother, Mr. Zhang began making others. He started having sleepless nights, worried that he would not be able to find the ingredients each time a drug stopped working.

This is a really awful story (regrettably, the ending is not much better.) I haven't been able to find "I Want Miracles", but I have questions, e.g. are they obtaining actual API, or are they actually manufacturing raw materials? (I hope it's API, for their sake.)

Funny

Credit: Mark Anthony Olson

LOL. 

Job posting: PNNL postdocs, Richland, WA

From the inbox:

Contribute to PNNL’s goals in computational biophysics/chemistry as part of the Lab’s Physical Sciences Division (PSD). As a postdoctoral researcher in the Physical Biosciences group, you will join a talented, multi-investigator team to explore the functional principles at the core of the precise energy, mass and charge flow, and reactivity in enzymes. You will be mentored by Simone Raugei, as you develop a line of computational research, working to understand the mechanism 

Best wishes to those interested. Deadline is TODAY.

The Medicinal Chemist Jobs List: 237 positions

The Medicinal Chemist Jobs list (curated by Joel Walker and myself) has 237 positions.

Want to help out? Here's a Google Form to enter positions, but if you want to do the traditional "leave a link in the comments", that works, too.

Want to chat about medchem positions? Try the open thread.

Positions I'm not including: positions outside the United States, computational positions (this will likely change), academic positions (likely never.)

The Analytical Chemistry Jobs List: 10 positions

The Analytical Chemistry Jobs List has 10 positions; this is curated by the ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry. Want to help out? Fill out this form. 

46 new positions at Organic Chemistry Jobs

Over at Common Organic Chemistry, there's 26 new positions posted for November 5 and 20 positions posted on October 29. 

The Process Chemistry Jobs List: 240 positions

The Process Chemistry Jobs List has 240 positions.

Want to help? Here's a form to fill out.

Want to chat process jobs? Try the open thread. 

The mass spectrometry wars continue

Also in this week's C&EN, the latest salvo in the Letters to the Editor: 

O. David Sparkman (C&EN, Aug. 27, page 3) is correct that there is “no such thing” as the term “mass spectroscopy.” Paul J. Karol (C&EN, Oct. 1, page 2) is correct to refer to the International Union of Pure & Applied Chemistry but unfortunately referenced the 1991 recommendations in Pure & Applied Chemistry (DOI: 10.1351/pac199163101541). This older document has been superseded by 2013 recommendations (Pure Appl. Chem., DOI: 10.1351/pac-rec-06-04-06), which state on page 1565, “Mass spectroscopy is an obsolete synonym for mass spectrometry that should not be used to avoid confusion with spectroscopies in which the measured quantity is absorption or emission of electromagnetic radiation.” 

Unfortunately, the usually reliable IUPAC Gold Book (goldbook.iupac.org) has not been updated with the most recent recommendations and still refers to the obsolete 1991 entry for mass “spectroscopy.” Hopefully this valuable resource will be updated soon. 

Charles Lucy
Edmonton, Alberta

Never argue semantics with an analytical chemist, it seems.  

This week's C&EN

A few articles from this week's issue of Chemical and Engineering News: 

• Cover: 10 Startups to Watch
• Don't miss Ryan Cross' summary of Kronos Bio - really fascinating
• Sounds like Hurricane Florence hit UNC Wilmington really hard (by Andrea Widener)
• Check out a profile of formulation chemist Hannah Follis (by Melissa Gilden)
• "4 charged with stealing Genentech trade secrets" (article by Marc Reisch)
• I feel like this articles are becoming ever more common - seems like the Feds are cranking up the pressure
• I really enjoyed this episode of "Stereo Chemistry" about lab superstitions by Kerri Jansen

The 2019 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List: 450 positions

The 2019 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 450 positions.

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

On November 7, 2017, the 2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 417 positions. The latest weather report for the Faculty Jobs List is here.

Interested in how this is tracking overall? Check out these sweet graphics done by Andrew Spaeth.

Want to see pre-September discussion? Check out the pre-September open thread. September discussion and October discussion is on the September open thread. This thread will serve as the open thread for November through December, or 250 comments, whichever comes first.

UPDATE: This thread is closed for further discussion - the new thread is here.

Otherwise, all discussions are on the Chemistry Faculty Jobs List webforum.

The Chemical Engineering Faculty Jobs List: 46 positions

The Chemical Engineering Faculty Jobs List has 46 positions. It is curated by Lilian Josephson (@lljosephson). 

The Academic Staff Jobs List: 20 positions

The Academic Staff Jobs list has 20 positions.

This list is curated by Sarah Cady. It targets:

• Full-time STAFF positions in a Chem/Biochem/ChemE lab/facility at an academic institution/natl lab
• Lab Coordinator positions for research groups or undergraduate labs 
• and for an institution in Canada or the United States

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

Want to chat about staff scientist positions? Try the open thread.

Georgia teacher sets self on fire during classroom demonstration

A Duluth High School teacher had a science demonstration go awry - check out the video below:

SCIENCE CLASS SCARE: A science teacher at Duluth High School in Georgia is recovering from minor injuries after she was conducting an experiment on Halloween with a pumpkin and a fireball ignited – catching her hair on fire. @DavidMuir reports. #TheIndex https://t.co/OygOWB4W0Y pic.twitter.com/7nzdC1ebP6

— World News Tonight (@ABCWorldNews) November 3, 2018

Gotta love this quote from the Atlanta Journal Constitution below:

Principal Eric Davidson sent a letter to parents that said in part, “This is a rare situation and we are committed to determining exactly how this occurred so it does not happen again.”

Now can we stop having teachers do hazardous demonstrations with no training and little forethought?

Queen's University poisoning court proceedings continue

From the inbox, another piece on the Queen's University poisoning case: 

He survived an attempted poisoning by his colleague in the chemistry lab at Queen’s University, now he waits, unsure if or when he’ll develop cancer as a result of his exposure to a dangerous chemical compound. 

The victim, a married father of two who, at the time of the attack, was a postdoctoral fellow at Queen’s, knows all about N-nitrosodimethylamine, or NDMA, the poison slipped into his food and drink in January. It’s a compound used to manifest cancer in lab rats that, in sufficient doses, can be deadly to humans. He lived through the agonizing nights of pain and vomiting, but his long-term fate remains clouded in doubt. 

“The tests have not detected cancer, but that doesn’t mean I’m out of harm’s way,” the victim, who asked not to be identified publicly, told a Kingston court on Friday. “The long-term psychological fear is singularly cruel.” 

The victim stood just a few feet from the man who admitted poisoning him and described the devastating fear and uncertainty he has suffered over the past 10 months. He said he recently developed lumps in his chest and is still awaiting new test results. Meanwhile, he can’t bear to tell his parents in China what has happened and he feels estranged from his old friends and his work in the lab.

If my labmate tried to poison me during grad school, I'd have a pretty hard time getting back to my research as well... 

Charging cables

A list of small, useful things (links):

• The latest from Stellen für Chemiker
• The latest from All Things Metathesis
• Interesting stuff at the Montana Catalyst blog
• Th'Gaussling on annoying packaging
• Kat Day on mushrooms
• Ash on the the passing of Tom Steitz
• Sustainable Nano interviews Prof. Jillian Buriak
• xykademiqz on finding kindred spirits

An open invitation to all interested in writing a blog, a hobby that will bring you millions thousands hundreds tens of dollars joy and happiness. Send me a link to your post, and I'd be happy to put it up.

Have a good weekend!

iPhones don't like helium

I heard a little about this story from Reddit, but I am impressed with iFixit's article about the whole situation. Long story short, someone noticed that specific kinds of iPhones did not work in the presence of a newly installed MRI, and the overall story is really quite remarkable: 

This is the kind of tale that you don’t hear every day.  Erik Wooldridge is a Systems Specialist at Morris Hospital near Chicago. During the installation of a new GE Healthcare MRI machine, he started getting calls that cell phones weren’t working. Then, some Apple Watches started glitching. 

“My immediate thought was that the MRI must have emitted some sort of EMP, in which case we could be in a lot of trouble.” But an electromagnetic pulse would have taken out medical equipment in the facility as well, and they were working fine! He started investigating, and learned that every single impacted device was made by Apple—the technician’s Android phones were fine. And it was a wide-sweeping issue, impacting 40 different devices. What the heck? 

I’ve seen a lot of strange glitches in my time, and I’ve never heard of something like this. Neither had Erik. “The behavior of the devices was pretty odd. Most of them were completely dead. I plugged them in to the wall and had no indication that the device was charging. The other devices that were powering on seemed to have issues with the cellular radio. The wifi connection was consistent and fast, but cellular was very hit or miss.” 

That’s when he posted the issue to Reddit, where other sysadmins speculated that it might be caused by the liquid helium used to cool the MRI machine. So he investigated, and found there was a helium leak at the same time that vented into the building.

It's quite a detective piece, and they were able to come up with a nice hypothesis and test it. Cool story, read the whole thing.