For those of you who know about my notoriously poor memory for names and such, the following short tale will seem like a fabrication, but I assure you it’s not. Actually, the tale itself isn’t so remarkable, but that I remember full details from one day when I was about 10 years old –– now that’s the amazing part!
You can’t get very far these days without catalysts. The tires on busses like the one I rode to work this morning are made with them. So are the molded plastic seats. Even the diesel busses run on is refined with a catalyst. Catalysts jumpstart chemical reactions that would otherwise never work or would work too slowly to be useful and they play a role in making in 90% of all commercially produced products. That includes fuels, plastics, and even medicines.
Catalysts are also helping to make our world more green. I got a reminder about the important but largely unappreciated role of these chemical wonders from watching a new video featuring Jeffrey Bricker, Ph.D. Chemists like Bricker are using catalysts to produce biodegradable products and to reduce the need for ingredients that are potentially toxic. Bricker was awarded the 2011 American Chemical Society Award for Creative Invention for his work with catalysts, which he has used to make detergents that break down in the environment, to refine fuel without creating undesirable chemical byproducts and much more.
...This may surprise you: They grow tobacco in Connecticut. It doesn’t surprise me. I grew up in the Nutmeg State and though I’ve been away for quite some time, I still can remember those fields of green, leafy plants carefully covered with the white, gauze-like netting. I’ve never been a smoker –– I don’t count the year between my 10th and 11th birthdays when my friends and I would borrow an occasional smoke from our parents and sneak off somewhere to practice our coughing.
I’ve never liked the odor of cigarettes, though they are preferable to cigars, of course. And then there are those health hazards connected to this habit. So you could say I’ve really had no use for tobacco until I read a very intriguing news release one of my colleagues contributed to this week’s ACS Weekly Press Pac. Check this tidbit out:...
The American Chemical Society's Office of Public Affairs' new pressroom blog highlights prominent research from ACS' 41 journals. It includes daily commentary on the latest news from ACS' weekly PressPac, including video and audio segments from researchers on topics covering chemistry and related sciences. The blog also covers updates on ACS' awards, the national meetings and other general news from the world's largest scientific society.
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