Category Archives: Chemistry

By Michael Huckaby / movie reviews

Vivacious Rachel McAdams and “boy next door” Channing Tatum are perfectly cast for a serious romantic drama. But the dimpled McAdams and clean-cut Tatum chemistry can’t overcome a ridiculously contrived and cliché-ridden plot – a shallow groaner. They star as Leo and Paige, a couple whose marriage is torn asunder when a head injury gives her amnesia. However, her peculiar brain trauma is selective, conveniently wiping out only the most recent and happy years of her memory. Leo’s ill-advised but noble way of handling this five-year gap is the sputtering engine that drives the story.

The supporting cast is an underutilized asset, most notably Jessica Lange and Sam Neill as Paige’s self-centered parents Rita and Bill. Set in Chicago, the locales are interesting and the production values good. While the flashbacks provide the movie’s most engaging scenes, Leo’s narrative intros – philosophical attempts to be profound — are distracting.

The opening scene introduces Paige and Leo as they leave the old landmark Music Box movie house snuggling on a snowy evening. After scraping their car windows, they take off and – while being lovey-dovey at a stoplight — are rammed from behind by a snowplow. Paige goes flying (in slow motion) through the windshield. Knocked unconscious, Leo’s injuries are superficial.

What Paige remembers when she wakes up in the hospital is being the socialite daughter of a wealthy Lake Forest attorney. A law student at Northwestern, she is happily engaged to Jeremy (Scott Speedman). She mistakes her husband of four years for her surgeon. Nor does she remember being estranged from her parents, dropping out of law school, enrolling at the Chicago Art Institute and becoming a renowned sculptor with a commission backlog.

When Rita and Bill arrive at the hospital, Leo meets them for the first time. Aware of the extent of Paige’s amnesia, they take advantage of her memory loss and attempt to persuade her to come home. Convinced her memory will come back, Paige agrees to live chastely with Leo, the owner of a small recording studio.

Though Paige is put off by a welcome home party of friends she doesn’t remember, Leo convinces her they were happy, visiting their favorite romantic haunts and showing her photos of their unconventional wedding.

Cluttered with antiques, the charming Café Mnemonic provides the setting for one of the best romantic scenes. For dessert, they liked to split and sample a box of chocolates – another magic moment she doesn’t recall. As for their quirky art museum wedding, the museum was forbidden and the entire wedding party had to hightail it when a guard appeared.

Drawn to Lake Forest by the coming wedding of sister Gwen (Jessica McNamee), Paige identifies more with her childhood environment than the Bohemian lifestyle she has forgotten.

Meanwhile, Leo and his stalwart assistant (Tatiana Maslany) have a business to run. Always ready to make Paige his priority, Leo just looks on as her parents gain the upper hand – knowing but unwilling to tell her why she avoided her entire family for the last five years. Can the marriage be saved when Gwen slips and reveals the truth?

Inspired by a true story, only the outcome is comparable.

View original post here:
Chemistry not enough to overcome ‘Vow’ clichés

Updated Feb 16, 2012 10:31 PM ET

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP)

In the wake of some very ugly finger-pointing after the season, several New York Jets veterans are trying to find ways to improve team chemistry.

Starting left guard Matt Slauson recently learned about the possible team bonding activities while talking to members of the Jets' developmental department.

Slauson has not spoken to fellow players about the activities, but he welcomed anything that would help bring the team closer after the drama following an 8-8 season.

''Absolutely we are all focusing on next year now,'' Slauson said Thursday after attending a news conference to announce that WrestleMania would be held at MetLife Stadium in 2013. ''We're not worried about all of that drama that happened last year. We are focusing on next year and getting better and doing what we can to get in the Super Bowl.''

After reaching the AFC title game in 2009 and '10, the Jets were one of the preseason favorites to make the Super Bowl this season. However, the team was inconsistent and missed the playoffs for the first time in Rex Ryan's three seasons as coach.

It got ugly after that.

Fans and the media criticized quarterback Mark Sanchez, and then some teammates and members of the organization anonymously questioned Sanchez's work ethic and leadership abilities in a Daily News story in early January.

Veteran running back LaDainian Tomlinson later said the Jets' locker room was as troubled as any he'd ever seen, adding that the problems got ''out-of-hand toward the end of the season,'' and were created by the brash approach of Ryan and general manager Mike Tannenbaum.

It's a problem that needs mending if the Jets are to get back on track next season.

''I have been talking to some guys about if we are going to do some team-building stuff and there are guys brainstorming right now,'' Slauson said of his conversations with the guys in the developmental department. ''But there is nothing official now.''

Slauson also disclosed Thursday at a news conference at the home of the Giants and Jets that he played this past season with a torn labrum, rotator cuff and biceps in his left shoulder. He has had surgery to repair them and expects to be ready for the season despite a projected six-month rehabilitation period.

A sixth-round draft pick out of Nebraska in 2009, Slauson has been the starting guard the past two seasons. He believes he hurt his shoulder in December 2010 in a game against the Patriots.

''I thought it was no big deal, the fact that I could play and still lift, kind of, I didn't think it was a big deal or anything was wrong,'' he said.

Slauson attended the news conference with teammates Donald Strickland, Kyle Wilson and Muhammad Wilkerson, and owner Woody Johnson. The Super Bowl champion Giants were represented by co-owner John Mara, long snapper Zak DeOssie and tackle David Diehl.

Slauson said watching the cross-town rival Giants win the NFL title against the Jets' other major rival, the Patriots, was weird.

''That's the cost of things,'' he said. ''You don't play well throughout the entire year you are not going to make it there. The Giants did a phenomenal job. Every team's goal is, whether they say it or not, their goal is to be in the Super Bowl. That's our goal and we fell short, but we are all excited about next year.''

While it's been nice enjoying the Super Bowl victory, DeOssie said the Giants realize that their offseason program starts in two months. He also noted that keeping the team together might not be possible.

''The reality is this is the NFL and guys move on and some guys stay,'' DeOssie said. ''I certainly do wish it's the exact same team, but I know that is not going to happen.''

Diehl came to the new conference with a bandage on his left hand. He had six screws inserted to fix a broken finger following the Super Bowl.

''I'll be all good,'' said Diehl, who started the first 10 games at left guard and the last 10 at left tackle after Will Beatty had surgery to repair a detached retina. ''I'm happy. This is the time to heal up and rest, anyway. I'm looking forward to getting started again and getting rolling here pretty soon.''

Go here to read the rest:
Jets aim to improve team chemistry

15-02-2012 03:55

Original post:
Chemistry between Virat and Manvi - Video

Feb. 16, 2012

Howard Zimmerman, a professor of chemistry from 1960 until his retirement in 2010, died on Saturday, Feb. 11 as a result of a fall.

Zimmerman

Zimmerman helped establish the field of organic photochemistry -- the study of how light affects and initiates chemical reactions.  By applying the theory of quantum mechanics to these reactions, he was able to develop predictive and explanatory theories. 

“Howard was a major figure in photochemistry,” says Bassam Shakhashiri, professor of chemistry. “His research was renowned worldwide; the American Chemical Society gave him awards, and asked him to give short courses. He was very dedicated, sharply focused on his research.”

Hans Reich, a professor of chemistry at University of Wisconsin-Madison who had a neighboring lab in the chemistry department, remembers “a larger-than-life figure in chemistry. He was a member of the National Academy of Science for many years; he was a real pioneer in the study of photochemistry and published hundreds of papers. He was a pioneer in developing theories of how these reactions work and how you can predict reactions logically instead of having to do experiments.”

Which is not to say that Zimmerman disdained experiments, notes Patrick Mariano, who was a member of the “Z group” in the 1960s. “He said a good experiment trumps everything else, and it would last forever, but the interpretation may only last for a decade,” he says.

Richard Givens, professor emeritus of chemistry at the University of Kansas, recalls that Zimmerman “had a way of reducing complex problems to very understandable ones. For those of us who were 21 years old, he was able to take very complex ideas and concepts, and reduce them to an easily understood form that could be used to solve problems. He was interested in the fundamental aspects of organic reactions, he developed breakthroughs in understanding photochemistry, in how molecules are raised to the excited state and why.”

One of Zimmerman's papers on reactions used by numerous synthetic organic chemists, “must among the most cited papers in the history of organic chemistry,” says Mariano, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of New Mexico.

Mariano also remembers Zimmerman as an excellent mentor. “He was unique in the intensity of his concern that his people get the best positions possible. And it did not stop there. Throughout my professional career, he remained intensely interested in my progress.”

Other former students stressed that mentorship as well.

“He was tenacious in his problem-solving and supportive of his students,” says Givens, who studied with Zimmerman in the 1960s. “He was very attentive to what we were doing in the lab, would visit frequently and ask how it was going. He was definitely a hands-on professor, he worked hard with you try to get to the solution of the research problem, to understand a reaction or synthesize a new compound.”

Laren Tolbert, who received his Ph.D. in 1975, recalls exacting standards in the lab. "He was a stickler for detail, for accuracy in well-run experiments, for making sure the data was there to support your claim."

“He was not a warm-and-fuzzy guy, and some viewed him as a very difficult taskmaster,” says Tolbert, a professor of chemistry at Georgia Tech. “He believed in the students working extremely hard, had low tolerance for slacking off, and was proudest of the ‘silver spatula award,’ given to the students who worked on holidays. But he was also very loyal. Once you got a Ph.D. from him, he would support you to the ends of the earth.”

“There would not be a single person who would disagree that he an extremely good mentor,” agrees Mariano.

At a symposium in his honor in September, Zimmerman “was in such good spirits and good health, he was sharp minded and gave fantastic talk,” says Mariano. “His death was a such shock.”

Zimmerman is survived by his wife, Peggy, and by three sons from his first marriage.

The chemistry department has established a fund at the UW Foundation for donations in Howard's memory.  Memorials can be made payable to the UW Foundation–Howard E. Zimmerman Memorial Fund, US Bank Lockbox 78807, Milwaukee, WI  53278.

Continued here:
Howard Zimmerman, pioneer in organic chemistry, dies at 85

Scientists want to find a use for PageRank in the world beyond the web.

Chemistry is a science of links. Atomic units, made into more than they are by attractions and connections and bonds, all in a constant flurry of motion and change.

Sounds a little bit like the Web, doesn't it? 

Aurora Clark, an associate professor of Chemistry at Washington State University, thinks so. She noticed that there's a probabilistic nature to molecular links: Some are stronger, and more likely to materialize, than others. Which is, broadly, the logic that guides the guiding algorithm of Google search: PageRank. While the mathematical ingredients of Google's most-secret secret sauce are a closely guarded secret, the algorithm's broad approach -- the quantification and prioritization of links to determine a structure based on mutuality and relevance -- is ripe for the borrowing. 

moleculaRnetworks contains novel analysis algorithms and techniques unavailable elsewhere. These include graph theory-based analyses of network structure, including clustering of solvent molecules, and connectivity information such as PageRank (PR). PR, most famously used by Google to evaluate the importance of websites on the Internet, is used here as a descriptor of H-bonding structure and is unique to this toolkit. The scripts further use PR to instantaneously identify the geometric organization of the solvent about the solute, so that the dynamics of solvent shells can be monitored ....

Though the algorithm uses water as its test case, the molecule's ubiquity in living things means that moleculaRnetworks has potential uses beyond chemistry. The model could, Clark says, help scientists to understand how diseases spread in the human body -- and, therefore, to understand how medicines might be optimized to fight them. More broadly, the algorithm offers a nice lesson in the power of cross-pollination between technology and academia -- a link that Google, of course, has embodied from the start. 

Image: The Journal of Computational Chemistry.

More From The Atlantic

More here:
A Chemist Uses Google's Algorithm to Determine the Structure of Molecules

February 14, 2012

The innermost secrets of champagne bubbles are about to be unveiled in the Springer journal EPJ ST. This fascinating work is the brainchild of Gérard Liger-Belair, a scientist tackling champagne bubbles from both a physics and a chemistry perspective. Based at the University of Reims, in the heart of the region that gave champagne its name, the author is appropriately affiliated with the ‘effervescence team of the molecular and atmospheric spectrometry group’ and the ‘oenology and applied chemistry’ laboratory.

To understand what appears to be a harmless phenomenon such as the fizz in champagne, the author studied the role of the carbon dioxide (CO2) throughout its journey from the bottle to the glass. Precisely, Liger-Belair focused on the second fermentation stage, resulting in the CO2 dissolution into the wine – aided by the addition of yeast and sugar before sealing each champagne bottle – to the stage where the gas escapes through tiny bubbles popping on the surface of the wine in the glass.

Armed with a high-speed camera, the author produced a series of visually appealing close-up snapshots of the hidden life of these bubbles at every stage of their short existence to analyze the forces at play. He first explained the process underlying their birth through a process called nucleation, triggered by the tiny impurities inside the champagne glass. He then followed their rise and attributed their extinction when they burst on the surface of the liquid in the glass to the cohesive forces between molecules of the liquid called surface tension.

Understanding the source of fizz provides clues on how to fine tune champagne production. For example, the bubble size can be reduced by a factor that can be calculated by taking into account fermentation sugar levels. However, the method remains fundamentally the same as the one developed by the 17th century Benedictine monk Dom Pierre Pérignon.

Reference: Liger-Belair G.,The Physics behind the Fizz in Champagne and Sparkling Wines, European Physical Journal ST (EPJ ST) 201: 1, DOI 10.1140/epjst/e2012-01528-0

—

On the Net:

Source: Springer

Read more:
The Physics And Chemistry Of Champagne Bubbles