Chemistry:
Since March is Women's History Month, I thought it might be appropriate to recognize some women who were a part of my history -- namely, the women who taught me chemistry and physics. (This shouldn't be interpreted as a slight...
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Posted on March 20, 2008 4:10 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Following up on the earlier discussion here and at Chad's about the "fundamental difference" between chemistry and physics, I wanted to have a look at a historical moment that might provide some insight into the mood along the border between...
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Posted on December 4, 2007 11:03 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Over at Uncertain Principles, Chad Orzel tries to explain the fundamental difference between physics and chemistry: My take on this particular question is that there's a whole hierarchy of (sub)fields, based on what level of abstraction you work at. The...
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Posted on December 3, 2007 5:33 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
... as a result of the incessant drive to make learning too darn safe. Not that this is a terribly new development (I wrote about this sort of thing here and here), but it appears that anxieties about terrorists and...
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Posted on November 17, 2007 8:18 PM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The November 5, 2007 issue of Chemical & Engineering News has an editorial by Rudy M. Baum [UPDATE: notbehind a paywall; apparently all the editorials are freely accessible online] looking at the "Google model" for disseminating information. Baum writes:...
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Posted on November 15, 2007 3:25 PM • 9 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
In response to my open letter to the ACS, Rudy Baum, the Editor in Chief of Chemical & Engineering News, emailed me some information which I am posting here with his kind permission:...
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Posted on October 31, 2007 5:45 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
As mentioned before, I'm currently at the Southeast Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society (or SERMACS if you're in a hurry) in Greenville, South Carolina. I got in last night, just in time to catch the last 25 minutes...
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Posted on October 25, 2007 11:00 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Like Revere and the folks at The Scientist, I received the series of emails from "ACS insider" questioning the way the American Chemical Society is running its many publications -- and in particular, how compensation of ACS executives (and close...
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Posted on October 25, 2007 8:32 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Since scientist-on-scientist communication is a longstanding topic of interest in these parts, I wanted to point out a recent (August 13, 2007) article in Chemical & Engineering News (behind a paywall, but definitely worth locating a library with a subscription)...
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Posted on September 4, 2007 4:00 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
On the basis of this article about emissions from laser printers, our department administrator came by this week to take my HP 1200 series LaserJet away. I said I wanted to keep it....
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Posted on August 16, 2007 7:05 PM • 14 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
As I mentioned in my last post, I was sucked out of the blogosphere for much of last week by the International Society for the Philosophy of Chemistry (ISPC) 2007 Summer Symposium . I did not live-blog the conference. I...
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Posted on August 15, 2007 7:19 PM • 14 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Chad and Rob have already noted this piece of news about soon-to-be-published research indicating that the order in which high school students are taught physics, chemistry, and biology makes very little difference to their performance in science classes at the...
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Posted on July 27, 2007 6:23 PM • 9 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Make cool art with ink, water, porous paper, and intermolecular forces.
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Posted on July 27, 2007 1:38 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
My last post for the basic concepts series involved phases of matter and transformations from one phase to another. This post will look at how a phase change can be put to practical use in a common household appliance --...
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Posted on July 23, 2007 1:31 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Since Sandra has posted links to sites with brainy games for kids*, and Karmen is working on her list of science education web sites for children, I thought I'd mention one of my favorite online destinations for kid-strength chemistry. Luddite...
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Posted on July 20, 2007 4:32 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The July 9 issue of Chemical & Engineering News (alas, behind a paywall -- but worth checking to see if your library has an institutional subscription) has an interesting piece [1] on the recently-settled trial in which the makers of...
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Posted on July 17, 2007 1:35 PM • 15 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Janet D. Stemwedel (whose nom de blog is Dr. Free-Ride) is an assistant professor of philosophy at San Jose State University. Before becoming a philosopher, she earned a Ph.D. in physical chemistry. Email her at dr.freeride@gmail.com.
