July 2009
Vol 46, No 4. Selected articles and reviews available online to all. Full issue available online to subscribers.
Column
GCSE criteria under scrutiny
Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) launches consultation into the GCSE science criteria which could lead to a radical overhaul of specifications
RSC education changes on the horizon
Update on changes made to the Royal Society of Chemistry's (RSC) education department
Leading the way forward in chemical education
This year's winner of the Nyholm Prize for Education is Professor Tina Overton of the University of Hull
Funding to support chemistry in schools
The Royal Society of Chemistry's Biological and Medicinal Chemistry Sector Education Support Group offers schools support to buy enhanced science equipment and run chemistry clubs
The chemistry PhD experience
This autumn sees the launch of 45 Doctoral Training Centres (DTCs) in science and engineering in 20 universities across the UK
Support for education reform in Scotland
Royal Society of Chemistry and the Royal Society of Edinburgh launch project to support science teachers in implementing Scotland's new Curriculum for Excellence
RSC takes chemistry teachers to Barcelona
A group of teachers from the UK visit three different organisations based in Barcelona to get first-hand experience of industrial processes
Chemistry Week 2009
The Royal Society of Chemistry's (RSC) Chemistry Week 2009 will run from 7-15 November with food as its theme
In brief
Items: Various short items
Netgains
New websites: 'Cutting vehicle pollution' - school science resource and 'Beschoice' virtual learning environment extends to GCSE Science
Chemistry trails
Peter Borrows takes us on another excursion into local chemistry. In this issue: colloid chemistry at the coffee shop
Soundbite molecules
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: dirty money
Web watch
Tony Tooth, teacher at The King's School in Ely, looks at some websites that may be of interest to chemistry teachers. In this issue: BMW and Wikipedia
Letters
Exhibition Chemistry
Soap from bacon - the dangers of alkaline solutions
Demonstrations to capture the student's imagination, by Adrian Guy of Blundell's School. In this issue: Soap from bacon - the dangers of alkaline solutions
The Elements
The Elements
John Emsley, University of Cambridge, takes you on a tour of the Periodic Table. In this issue: Can this most vicious of elements, Fluorine, be tamed?
Features
Catalysts for a green industry
Chemists are working to develop new, longer-lasting catalysts to ensure industrial processes are cleaner, greener and more efficient
Fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy
Scientists are using this non-invasive technique to cast light on the workings of living cells to learn more about the molecular mechanisms involved in cancer, allergies and immune...
Survival of the fittest
Examples of natural products produced by organisms and plants to overcome competing species and predators provide chemical evidence for Charles Darwin's legacy of natural selection...
What is entropy?
What's the best way to introduce to your students this most misunderstood of thermodynamic properties?
Distillates
Gold standard diagnosis
Chemists use gold nanoparticles to help medics detect a marker molecule for prostate cancer
Making green cement
Portuguese researchers use waste products from the paper industry to produce greener cement
Faraday's hot science in the ultracold
Promising new research into the properties of molecules close to absolute zero could offer up new insights into the nature of matter
Solid silica sponge
Chemists in Singapore and Sweden synthesise unique silica material with sponge like properties which could have applications in separation science, catalysis and drug delivery
Reviews
Origins of life in the universe
Robert Jastrow and Michael Rampino
Salters' advanced chemistry chemical storylines A2 (3rd edn)
Derek Denby, Chris Otter and Kay Stephenson
The chemistry of fireworks (2nd edn)
Michael S. Russell
Mathematics for physical chemistry: opening doors
Donald A. McQuarrie
Endpoint
Infochem
