Nov

13

Elements of Life

November 13, 2004 | Leave a Comment

Integrated in an effort going under way to show the positive side of Chemistry, Cefic presents this campaign: Chemistry – Elements of Life. In this site, common applications of some chemical elements (hydrogen, fluorine, silicon, aluminium, titanium and nitrogen) are provided as announcements. As a complement, visitors have the opportunity to see some milestones of Chemistry and to play a game based on the periodic table, in which they can win some interesting prizes.

Another site from Cefic with the same goal: Chemistry and You. The idea is to show the presence of chemistry in our daily life.

Nov

12

All About Rechargeable Batteries

November 12, 2004 | Leave a Comment

Batteries in a Portable World – handbook on rechargeable batteries for non-engineers.

Nov

12

The Alternative Nobel Prizes

November 12, 2004 | Leave a Comment

A very particular vision of Science: award achievements that first make people laugh, then make them think. That’s the goal of the Ig Nobel Prizes. Here is the list of the 2004 winners. The list with all the winners can be found here.

Nov

11

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2004

November 11, 2004 | Leave a Comment

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2004 was attributed to the investigators Aaron Ciechanover, Avram Hershko and Irwin Rose, for their work on protein degradation.
Wendy Warr, on CHMINF-L, refers these Thomson ISI predictions about the 2004 laureates. It is interesting to compare predictions with reality…

Nov

11

Which is…

November 11, 2004 | Leave a Comment

…the sweetest compound? And which is the most bitter? The answers to these questions, as well as to many others, are in the splendid Chemistry in Everyday Life.

Nov

11

Visions of Science

November 11, 2004 | Leave a Comment

There are not enough words to describe the beauty of this collection of photographs. So, the best to do is to take a look at them. My advice is to start with the 2004 winners and then go to the winners of the previous years.

Nov

10

Nomenclature

November 10, 2004 | Leave a Comment

To dissipate all the doubts on nomenclature, symbols and terminology used in Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry, the ideal place is this extraordinary page, designed and maintained by Gerard P. Moss, Senior Lecturer (retired) at Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London.

Nov

10

Chromatography books collection (free access)

November 10, 2004 | 2 Comments

The Open Access movement continues to grow up and more and more valuable resources can be accessed free of charge. This site belongs to Library4Science, a publishing company whose goal is to bring technical reference and educational resources for the sciences to the internet. It started with the Chrom-Ed Series on chromatography by R. P. W. Scott. This series is an excellent collection of 11 books of entirely gratuitous access, presenting many aspects of chromatography, in several levels of difficulty.

Nov

10

SOLV-DB: All about solvents

November 10, 2004 | Leave a Comment

SOLV-DB is a solvent database from the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences. This database contains all the necessary information to know better the solvents that we work with in the laboratory, namely physical and chemical properties, data on health and security (toxicity, exposure limits, hazard categories, flammability, transportation classifications), regulatory information and environmental fate data (characteristics to evaluate impact on the environment). The site is very user-friendly and the solvent search can be made by name, chemical formula, CAS registry number or category. SOLV-DB is, with any doubt, an indispensable tool for all who intend to work in the Laboratory with safety.

Nov

9

Flavornet

November 9, 2004 | Leave a Comment

Continuing the tour around the world of smells and aromas, I recommend the outstanding Flavornet, in two versions, this or this. The suggested links are worth a look, as well as this lesson (and the references herein).

Nov

9

The History of Chemical Engineering

November 9, 2004 | Leave a Comment

The History of Chemical Engineering, according to Wayne Pafko. This site has a simple layout and it is very well organized. The author accepts contributions, in order to complement the information that is already online. It is possible to download a version of the site in pdf format. This History of Chemical Engineering is a good starting point for those who are interested in this subject.

Nov

8

Smells Database

November 8, 2004 | Leave a Comment

To identify the molecules responsible for pleasant aromas like apple, lemon, cherry, almond, vanilla, roses and for other aromas not so pleasant… the place to start is the Smells Database.

Nov

8

And the most cited is…

November 8, 2004 | Leave a Comment

…University of California, Berkeley, as can be seen on this list of the most-cited Institutions in Chemistry, between 1994 and 2004 (source: ResourceShelf).

Nov

7

Triple Point

November 7, 2004 | Leave a Comment

Now, a word about the structure and organization of this site. On the right column, I will have the most interesting sites divided into several sections (already presented on Ponto Triplo or on the Journal section Links Recomendados). On the left column, I will have some blogs which I follow and recommend, together with some tools for bloggers.
From time to time, I will translate and adapt some posts from Ponto Triplo. Probably I will start from the most recent to the older ones. Let us see how this goes. Of course, this blog is open to suggestions and comments. If you know a good chemistry site do not hesitate to send its URL to me. My email is up there.

For those who want to know what a triple point is (besides a chemistry blog…) some definitions are here. A schematic representation can be found here.

Nov

7

Ponto Triplo

November 7, 2004 | Leave a Comment

The idea of creating a chemistry blog arose when I had a column about Internet and Chemistry on the Portuguese Chemical Society Journal. The idea behind this column, called Links Recomendados (Recommended Links), was to present, in each number, a selection of interesting chemistry sites. Then I decided to create a weblog as a complement to this Journal section.
When my collaboration with the Journal finished, I have decided to close the blog Links Recomendados and to start Ponto Triplo, a blog mainly devoted to chemistry-related sites but also with a look to Education and General Science sites.

Nov

7

Starting Point

November 7, 2004 | 2 Comments

This blog, which is starting now, is the English version of Ponto Triplo, a Portuguese blog about chemistry-related sites, news and events.