In an effort to find and train promising science communicators – perhaps even find the "Carl Sagan of chemistry"–the American Chemical Society (ACS) is launching the Chemistry Champions contest. Semifinalists in the contest will be flown to the ACS National Meeting in San Francisco for communications training and finalists will compete in front of a live audience. Contest details are available at http://www.acs.org/chemchamps.

The University of Maryland unveiled Deepthought2, one of the nation's fastest university-owned supercomputers, on May 14 to support advanced research activities ranging from studying the formation of the first galaxies to simulating fire and combustion for fire protection advancements. Developed with high-performance computing solutions from Dell, Deepthought2 has a processing speed of about 300 teraflops.

Pittsburgh, PA. The Spectroscopy Society of Pittsburgh (SSP), one of two Pittcon conference and exposition sponsors, is pleased to announce the 2015 Pittsburgh Spectroscopy Award recipient. Alfred G. Redfield, Professor of Biochemistry and Physics, Emeritus, Brandeis University (Massachusetts).

According to an article in the St. Paul StarTribune, a one-time researcher and University of Minnesota student was charged May 13 with apparently operating a meth lab in a storage locker in St. Paul.

Current computing is based on binary logic – zeroes and ones – also called Boolean computing. A new type of computing architecture that stores information in the frequencies and phases of periodic signals could work more like the human brain to do computing using a fraction of the energy of today's computers.

A significantly greater number of students fail science, engineering and math courses that are taught lecture-style than fail in classes incorporating so-called active learning that expects them to participate in discussions and problem-solving beyond what they’ve memorized.

Insect Diagnostic Lab helps Kansans identify tiny creatures found in homes, businesses, and farms.

Enzyme map created by using a high-powered X-ray device.

These days, more and more people seem to have food allergies, which can sometimes have life-threatening consequences.

The federal government has asked University of South Florida (USF) officials to return $6.5 million in federal grant money the university improperly used for salaries and equipment purchases, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).