ChemEd X contributors and staff members are continually coming across items of interest that they feel others may wish to know about. Picks include, but need not be limited to, books, magazines, journals, articles, apps—most anything that has a link to it can qualify.
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It has been twenty years since Luis Alvarez suggested that the dinosaurs were extinguished by a meteor impact that killed much of the life on earth. His evidence was in a thin layer of iridium-rich soil that corresponded with the extinction, and the fact that iridium is much more abundant in some meteors than it is on earth.
Even readers who already know something about forensic science are likely to learn from "Hidden Evidence" about historic cases that have been solved by science. Unfortunately, there are so few details provided in the book that the most interesting questions often remain unanswered.
Master microscopist Walter McCrone describes his work in detecting forged paintings and authenticating lost works of master artists.
I find it surprising that this is the first book by Stephen Jay Gould to have been selected as a "Hal's Pick", since I own and have enjoyed reading many of them. I have had the pleasure of meeting and hearing Professor Gould speak several times and I wish I could write as well as he speaks extemporaneously.
Most students of chemistry are unaware of opportunities and challenges in the flavors and fragrances industry. In fact, few of us realize how much the processed food we eat is "enhanced" by additives.
How is automobile traffic like a gas? No, it's not because the collisions are inelastic. Researchers in chaos theory, especially Dirk Helbing and Boris Kerner, both theoretical physicists, have been working on traffic flow, using models similar to those of particle dynamics.
"A Friend of the Earth" is a novel that alternates in time between the near-present and about twenty-five years in the future, when the worst nightmares of the environmental movement have come to pass. Global warming has turned Southern California into a terrible place to live; violent storms alternate with 130 degree days.
Are fingerprints really unique? Or, more importantly, can fraction of a print from the scene of a crime reliably be used to identify a single suspect? I have wondered about this question, and was pleased to find that I'm not alone.
This report is potentially very important. On the other hand, it could have no impact whatsoever. If Washington reads the Commission findings and recommendations, and funds the five billion dollar programs it recommends, science and mathematics education in the United States could get the "shot in the arm" that it so desperately requires. "A Nation at Risk" was published in 1983.
Computers play an increasing role in the life of children (along with everyone else). How much is too much? More and more educators, physicians, and child development professionals are beginning to recognize that time in front of CRT (whether on a computer or a TV) is time that is not spent in interaction with the real world.