Chemistry

University of Idaho researchers will soon have a new tool for understanding the world at the molecular level, thanks to a grant from the MJ Murdock Charitable Trust and a major gift from a private donor.

Karyn M. Usher is an analytical chemist in the Department of Natural Sciences at Metropolitan State University in Saint Paul, MN. At Metro State, her research has focused on sample preparation for the determination of analytes in complex matrices by high performance liquid chromatography.

Using the same baking soda found in most grocery stores, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists, along with colleagues from Harvard University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, have created a significant advance in carbon dioxide capture.

The Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers (FPAQ) and the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Nature et technologies (FRQNT) announce the launch of the Research Partnership Program on the Food Science Behind Maple – The Physical Chemistry of Cooking with Maple. Conceived by the FPAQ, the program, with an overall budget of $1.4 million over five years, aims to promote development of knowledge on the physicochemical and sensory attributes of maple products, and to highlight the flavour chemistry of maple and how its taste harmonizes with ingredients from the world's cuisines.

As thesis writing approached, University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate student Veronica Berns faced a conundrum. She knew how hard it was to describe her work to friends and family — indeed, anybody outside the tight clan of structural chemists. And that was particularly true since she concentrated on a category of should-be-impossible structures called “quasicrystals.”














