Serving the chemical, life sciences, and laboratory worlds
VOLUME 91, NUMBER 20 MAY 20, 2013
GOVERNMENT & POLICY
COVER STORY
TOP-DOWN PROTEOMICS Advances in mass spectrometry provide a better view than ever of proteins and how they work. PAGE 11
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SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
ACS PRESIDENTIAL COMMISSION ON GRADUATE EDUCATION IN THE CHEMICAL SCIENCES, “ADVANCING GRADUATE EDUCATION IN THE CHEMICAL SCIENCES” PAGE 41
ACADEMIC LAB SAFETY
EDUCATION 34
TURNING WASTE INTO GOLD
Inexpensive compound plucks the metal from discarded material. 7
IN JAPAN, EARNINGS DROP
CHRISTOPHER HILLENBRAND
C&EN talks with the International Chemistry Olympiad gold medalist and high school student about learning science.
National Academy of Sciences probes reasons for accidents, aims to promote safe practices. 6
CONCENTRATES DISEASE DETECTIVES
Chemical and biochemical tools help archaeologists diagnose millennia-old infections.
MONSANTO WINS PATENT FIGHT
Supreme Court backs company’s rights to genetically modified seeds. 6
THE RICIN THREAT
Toxin is easy to produce, but weaponization is usually out of reach for nonexperts.
NEWS OF THE WEEK 5
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Completing the human sequence furthered medicine but created new worries.
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QUOTE OF THE WEEK “Postdoctoral associates find themselves sometimes treated as employees, sometimes as students; often, they have the worst of both worlds.”
CONCENTRATES GENOME PROJECT, 10 YEARS LATER
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Chemical makers struggled in the past fiscal year. 7
HERITAGE HEAD
German academic Carsten Reinhardt is new president of the Chemical Heritage Foundation. 8
BIOBASED CHEMICAL DEALS
Two agreements with major chemical firms mark new interest in microbe-based manufacturing. 8
GILDED AGE
Hidden pigments and gold are found on ancient Phoenician ivory. 9
BOOKS 35
Biographer tries to explain why the 19th-century naturalist can be both hated and respected.
AVOIDING REJECTION
Hydrogel may help the human body accept medical implants. 9
EMPLOYMENT
MINERALS TO MICROFLOWERS
Tweaking pH and temperature produces amazing shapes on glass.
“LOUIS AGASSIZ”
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LOW WAGES, NECESSARY EXPERIENCE
Postdoctoral research positions span years, don’t pay well, yet provide a valuable skill set.
BUSINESS 18 20
CONCENTRATES SLIM CHANCE FOR THIN-FILM SOLAR
Cheap Chinese-made solar modules have been tough competition for thinner photovoltaics. 22
BASF LOOKS TO FOREIGN TALENT
European firm wants the best and brightest from Asia and the Americas. 23
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HIGH COST OF BUSINESS
Lanxess picks Hong Kong, one of the world’s most expensive cities, for its plastics testing unit.
THE DEPARTMENTS 2 3 37 38
LETTERS EDITOR’S PAGE ACS COMMENT OBITUARIES
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MEETINGS CLASSIFIEDS NEWSCRIPTS
COVER: Artist’s rendering of proteins being expelled from an electrospray tip. Top-down proteomics uses mass spectrometry to distinguish different forms of intact proteins. Verena Knoll/C&EN
CENEA R 91 (20) 1–4 8 • ISSN 0009-2347
