September 2008
Vol 45, No 5. Selected articles, reviews and InfoChem available online to all. Full issue available online to subscribers.
Column
Science Diploma - talks begin
The Science Diploma Development Partnership (SDDP) invites the educational and scientific communities to say what they want from the Government's proposed Science Diploma
Bill Bryson prize communicators
Primary and secondary school students from across the UK exhibit their talent for communicating science in the RSC Bill Bryson Prize competition
Inspiring today's students
Meet Chris George and Leila Elliott, recipients of the 2008 RSC Schools Education Awards
Loughborough students up to the test
A team of Year 12 chemists from Loughborough Grammar School win the coveted National Schools' Analyst Competition shield.
Sixthformers camp out
New residential camp run at Bristol University offers students who are considering studying for a degree in chemistry in the UK the opportunity to experience being in a chemistry d...
UK Olympiad team returns with four medals
A team of four students from the UK succeeds in the finals of the 40th International Chemistry Olympiad held in Budapest, Hungary, in July
Practical help online
Chemistry for our future (CFOF) school teacher fellows produce the Interactive Lab Primer - an online multimedia resource to support post-16 students' lab work
UK needs 'employable' graduates
RSC responds to the Government's consultation on a strategy to increase the number of 'employable' graduates in the UK and raise the skills of workers
Welcome to the Pink room
RSC and the Athena Project launch report on good practice in university science departments
In brief
Items: Various short items
Netgains
News on websites of interest to chemistry teachers and their students. In this issue: maths for scientists and assessment for learning
Soundbite molecules - lactones as biofuel
Simon Cotton, teacher at Uppingham School, takes a look at those compounds that find themselves in the news or relate to our everyday lives. In this issue: lactones as biofuel
Chemistry trails
Peter Borrows takes us on another excursion into local chemistry. In this issue: calcium compounds - like chalk and cheese
Web watch
Tony Tooth, chemistry teacher at The King's School in Ely, looks at some websites that may be of interest to chemistry teachers
Letters
Letters
Education in Chemistry Letters, September 2008
Exhibition Chemistry
Displacement reaction of silver nitrate and copper metal
Demonstrations to capture the student's imagination, by Adrian Guy of Blundell's School. In this issue: displacement reaction of silver nitrate and copper metal
The Elements
Features
Better than antibiotics?
Chemicals that make bacteria lose their hair could be a new weapon in the fight against infections, and at the same time help to overcome the problem of antibiotic resistance
Deadly things come in small packages
Painstaking work by chemists to characterise deadly alkaloids exuded in the skin of some brightly coloured poison arrow frogs has offered leads for new and useful pharmaceuticals
Librium and Valium - anxious times
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Leo Sternbach, discoverer of the anti-anxiety drugs Librium and Valium
The power of NMR: in two and three dimensions
Over the past 30 years chemists have developed NMR experiments in two and three dimensions that enable them to solve the structure of complex organic compounds
Distillates
Cognitive conflict
Using a demonstration of strong and weak acids, Australian researchers studied the effectiveness of using cognitive conflict strategy with Year 11 chemistry students
Talking about science
US researchers investigated how much students learn through classroom discussions on scientific topics
Changing attitudes
Durham University researchers studied why students lose interest in science as they go through secondary school and why boys favour science more than girls
Reviews
World of the elements: elements of the world
H.-J. Quadbeck-Seeger
Spectacular chemical experiments
Herbert W. Roesky
Alcohol and human health
Lesley Smart (ed)
AS chemistry for AQA student book
Nigel Saunders and Angela Saunders with Sandra Clinton, Max Parsonage and Emma Poole
Endpoint
Chemistry in politics
Nick Harris has the last word
Infochem
