-
Recent Posts
Latest Twitterings
Error: Twitter did not respond. Please wait a few minutes and refresh this page.
Meta
Blogroll
Climate Change
Science Communicator
Archives
- April 2013
- February 2013
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- January 2012
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
Categories
Author Archives: Andrea Sella
Anschütz’s manometer
Several years ago Alfred Bader, the founder of the Aldrich Chemical Company, who is also known for his interest in Dutch painting introduced me to the name of Richard Anschütz, a late 19th century organic chemist who was August Kékulé’s … Continue reading
Posted in Classic Kit, mercury
2 Comments
Cheltenham Science Festival 2013 – Programme now out
The programme for Cheltenham SciFest is out at last and it looks absolutely fantastic with, as usual, a mix of provocative, wacky, thought-provoking, and downright silly events to tickle the minds of old and young. Check out the “What’s On … Continue reading
Posted in public science
Leave a comment
Strange Ice
My long-delayed new talk “Strange Ice” is coming up next week. Though you will find it in every refrigerator in the world, ice is a materials so strange that it breaks almost every rule in our textbooks. Yet its very … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Leave a comment
Fleur de Geek
People are starting to notice the rather ludicrous shirts some of us are wearing. I blame Mark Mio and Jim Al-Khalili for this. What really amused me last summer was to go to a big family lunch in Italy and … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Leave a comment
Are the gloves coming off?
It’s now about almost three weeks since I started asking questions about gloves (if you haven’t seen the other posts they are here and here). Departmental policy, with approval from the UCL Safety Office, is that gloves should only be … Continue reading
More on gloves in the lab
A few days I wrote about my worries about students wearing disposable gloves in the lab. I started discussing it with colleagues in the department, including several who sit on our safety committee. One of the comments that came out … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged green champion, green champions, laboratory, money, risk compensation, safety, waste
20 Comments
Why do we wear disposable gloves in Chemistry labs?
Do you wear disposable gloves in the lab? Our undergraduates wear them even when building spectroscopes out of cardboard boxes and sticky tape, let alone handling solutions. Our graduate students, working in the research labs use them all the time … Continue reading
Posted in green champions, safety, saving money, Uncategorized
Tagged cost, disposal, garbage, green, money, waste
7 Comments
More about Perkin’s Triangle
A long time ago I wrote a column about the Perkin Triangle. The device, named after William Perkin Jr., the son of the man who invented mauveine, is used by chemists to collect multiple fractions from a distillation. When I … Continue reading
Short videos about Silver and Gold
In the run up to Wellcome Elements tonight we have a couple more videos about silver and gold. A little electrochemistry that helps you at home: And another one about how to dissolve gold using mercury and aqua regia. Only … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Leave a comment
A Short Video about Tin for Wellcome Elements 2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rh8yWyuoL2A
In preparation for the hi-jinks on June 22nd at the Wellcome Collection, here’s a short brain dump of why I think tin, element number 50, is one of the most remarkable elements around.
