Letters from our readers – Page 10
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Opinion
Letters: September 2009
Derek Bailey raises his concerns over the amount of carbon sequestration that can occur before oxygen depletion becomes a significant issue (Chemistry World, August 2009, p36) and asks if the relevant calculations have been done. Although the Earth System is complex and exhibits tightly coupled feedback loops, indicative upper limits ...
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Opinion
Letters: August 2009
My colleagues and I on the committee of the South Africa North local section of the RSC enjoyed the excellent article highlighting some of the challenges facing us in South Africa, particularly when it comes to developing the chemical sciences (Chemistry World, June 2009, p46). We were, however, extremely ...
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Opinion
Letters: June 2009
I read with great interest the article by Hayley Birch entitled The artificial leaf (Chemistry World, May 2009, p42). It was pleasing to see that the x-ray structure of Photosystem II (PSII) was shown as a key figure in the article. This structure was determined by myself and colleagues ...
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Opinion
Letters: May 2009
Reading The changing shape of chemistry, 1998 to 2008, I am reminded of what never changes (Chemistry World, April 2009, p39). Nowhere is there any apparent attempt to define the purpose, or purposes, of a chemistry BSc. This is not a demonstration of ’academic freedom’, but, rather, of academic licence. ...
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Opinion
Letters: April 2009
As Matt Brown is a ’freelance science writer based in London,’ it is perhaps not surprising that he missed out on reporting the first new pharmacy degree in the UK for around 30 years - that of the School of Chemical Sciences and Pharmacy at the University of East Anglia ...
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Opinion
Letters: March 2009
I recently delivered an address at a presentation evening at a local school where I was introduced to the audience as an organic chemist. At the reception which followed, I was approached by a parent who congratulated me heartily on my lifestyle choice of being ’organic’ and I was asked ...
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Opinion
Letters: February 2009
From Carl Djerassi In your December editorial (Chemistry World, December 2008, p2), you claim that it is rare for chemistry and its ideas to star in fiction, and rarer still to find a story with a character who is a real-life scientist. Perhaps you are too busy editing a journal ...
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Opinion
Letters: January 2009
By the time I read your feature on whisky (Chemistry World, December 2008, p40) the magazine’s packaging had been binned. So I could not sample the whisky miniature that must have accompanied this excellent article. CW is, after all, the official organ of a professional body still associated with ...
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Opinion
Letters: December 2008
There is a great deal of interest in the dissolution of cellulose in ionic liquids at the moment (Chemistry World, November 2008, p24). It is a commonly held view that this is new science, and the use of imidazolium based ionic liquids for this purpose is certainly new. ...
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Opinion
Letters: November 2008
From Alan Dronsfield Norman Nicholson asks about the introduction of uranium as the catalyst for the Haber process (Chemistry World, September 2008, p42). In 1908, Haber and Le Rossignol realised that it would be possible to synthesise ammonia in an 8 per cent yield at about 600°C and 200 atmospheres ...
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Opinion
Letters: October 2008
With reference to your interview with the new head of the ACC, Cal Dooley (Chemistry World , September 2008, p9), bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalates are just two of several hundred chemicals that exhibit oestrogenic activity (EA) in plastics. These chemicals leach from almost all plastics sold today, including polyethylene, ...
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Opinion
Letters: September 2008
I would suggest that many of the issues cited as influencing women’s decisions to stay in academic science ( Chemistry World , August 2008, p8) are equally relevant to men’s decisions: the extreme competition for lectureships; fighting for funding; and long antisocial hours. These affect all new academics equally. ...
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Opinion
Letters: July 2008
From Randal Richard I was interested to read the article by Sean McWhinnie ’Science funding in crisis’ (Chemistry World, June 2008, p40). The article had a broad sweep encompassing changes in the research assessment exercise (RAE) to research exercise framework (REF); the recent enquiry of the Innovation, universities and skills ...
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Opinion
Letters: June 2008
From Peter Bentley Your article, ’The Trouble with Antibiotics’ (Chemistry World, March 2008, p16) was unremarkable in containing nothing new, but it did omit a few aspects. The timeline failed to show dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) or isoleucyl tRNA synthetase inhibitors, exemplified by trimethoprim and pseudomonic acid respectively. That takes ...
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Opinion
Letters: April 2008
From Jeremy Tomkinson, Adrian Higson and Geraint Evans We found the article ’Flawed policies encourage damaging biofuels’ (Chemistry World, February 2008, p6) to be disappointingly unbalanced. The provocative titles used for the piece do little to stimulate a reasoned and scientific debate in this immensely complex subject. The RSC has ...
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Opinion
Letters: March 2008
From Martin Humphrey A group of scientists in New Zealand recently announced that they had genetically modified onions in such a way as to eliminate the lachrymator. Having spent many years studying the chemistry of this phenomenon, I would like to assure them that they will also have removed the ...
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Opinion
Letters: February 2008
From Chris Ewels The British Carbon Group (a special interest group of the RSC, the Institute of Physics and the Society of Chemical Industry) is organising an image competition, including a category for under-18s. There is a ?150 prize in each category and there will be a prize-giving ...
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Opinion
Letters: January 2008
From Bernard Langley May I congratulate you and your colleagues on your splendid November issue of Chemistry World. The balance of topics, the quality of the writing, the enthusiastic spirit of the whole thing - from your editorial right through to that magnificent killer review of the green chemistry book ...
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Opinion
Letters: December 2007
From David Feakins Congratulations on the splendid October issue of Chemistry World. I found all the articles on the topic of energy absolutely riveting. For example, I have always been a supporter of nuclear fission as a medium-term answer to the supply of energy, but had not realised until I ...