A synthesizing life
INNOVATION
Watching Victor Snieckus dash around a classroom is enough to make you wish that you too...
Read More >>IUPAC announces four new elements 113, 115, 117 and 118
FUNDAMENTALS
On Nov. 28 2016, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) reported that it had approved the names and symbols for four elements: nihonium (Nh), moscovium (Mc), tennessine (Ts) and oganesson (Og)..
Read More >>Three chemists named to the Order of Canada
COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS
On Nov. 17, 2016, Governor General of Canada David Johnston presented one Companion, 12 Officers and 29 Members with the insignia of the Order of Canada. Among these were three chemists: University of Toronto geochemist..
Read More >>Flight risks
ENVIRONMENTAL CHEMISTRY
A herring gull colony is no place for the faint of heart, says Robert Letcher, research scientist with Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) and Head of the Environmental and...
Read More >>Out of Thin Air
SEQUESTRATION
Vox, the popular United States media site, had an insightful column this past September about what the world needs to do if it has any hope of keeping planetary warming...
Read More >>Ottawa chemical engineering students host career night
COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS
On Nov. 15, 2016, the University of Ottawa Chemical Engineering Students’ Society (ChESS) hosted a Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO) career night. “ChESS believes it is important for engineering students to be..
Read More >>Chemistry witches show at the Grenfell campus of Memorial University
COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS
As part of the Science at Halloween afternoon at the Grenfell Campus of Memorial University, Robin Taylor and Yu-Ru Lee devised, prepared and performed in the Chemistry Witches Show. Two performances were..
Read More >>On the road again
COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS
From 2002 until 2014, Geoff Rayner-Canham, FCIC, together with environmental chemistry students from the Grenfell Campus of the Memorial University of Newfoundland in Corner Brook, visited schools in Labrador, Newfoundland, Quebec and Nunavut with their Chemistry Outreach program..
Read More >>Mohawk College hosts eastern CSCT student symposium
COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS
On Nov. 9, 2017 Mohawk College in Hamilton, Ont. hosted the Canadian Society for Chemical Technology (CSCT) Eastern Student Symposium. About 25 technology students attended the event, which featured a talk by CSCT president..
Read More >>CIC Maritime section hosts evening with industry
COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS
On Oct. 20, 2016, the Maritime CIC Local Section hosted its inaugural Evening with Industry at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax. This career and networking banquet provided students with the opportunity..
Read More >>Queen’s U and RMC host research poster day
COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS
For the second year running, chemical engineering students from Queen’s University and the Royal Military College of Canada came together to present their work at the Queen’s Chemical Engineering Research Poster Day this past September.
Read More >>Conference celebrates sustainability and prosperity
COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS
More than 1,100 chemical engineers from around the world gathered in Québec City Oct. 16-19 for the 66th Canadian Chemical Engineering Conference (CSChE 2016), themed “Sustainability and Prosperity.” Hosted by..
Read More >>Grapevine
COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS
Jastina Aujla, Crofton House School in Vancouver, is the recipient of the first Lionel High School Chemistry Scholarship. The scholarship was established to assist a high school student who shows...
Read More >>U of T commits to teaching green chemistry in classes
COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS
This past fall, the University of Toronto became the first Canadian university to sign on to the Green Chemistry Commitment. Founded by Beyond Benign, a charitable foundation committed to enhancing green chemistry education for people ...
Read More >>NRC celebrates its centennial
COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS
The National Research Council of Canada (NRC) is celebrating a century of innovation. Founded in 1916, the NRC was a modest committee of university and industry leaders looking to mobilize science and technology in the national interest.
Read More >>Maritime CIC wows spectators at its Travelling Chemistry Café
COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS
For the second year in a row, the Maritime CIC Local Section has reached out to the general public through its Travelling Chemistry Café. The series began in 2015 with Matthew Lukeman of Acadia University and continued this year with science advocate...
Read More >>CSChE and CGCEN 2016 award winners
COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS
The Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering (CSChE) has announced its 2016 award winners. Official presentations took place at the 66th CanadianChemical Engineering Conference in Québec City this past October.
Read More >>Tiny fruit fly hairs inspire simplified spectrometers
ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
Legend has it that Isaac Newton’s insight into the natural world was inspired by an apple; Arindam Phani has taken his own inspiration from the insects that might have sought out that fruit.
Read More >>Channeling Star Trek with a medicinal shot to the arm
PHARMACEUTICALS
Among the many innovations that the original Star Trek series offered to illustrate how much more comfortable life in the future could be, perhaps none was more intimate than the delivery of medicine into a patient’s body. In place of today’s...
Read More >>Novel switch architecture takes tiny temperatures
BIOCHEMISTRY
As researchers tease apart the intricate biochemical operations within a cell, they need an entirely new class of tools to take some fundamental measurements. But at scales of only a few nanometres, measuring even elementary...
Read More >>Semiconducting nanotubes from electron-poor polymers
FUNDAMENTALS
Since the features of carbon nanotubes were first identified more than 25 years ago, high expectations have accompanied these single-walled structures. They offer exceptional tensile strength, useful optical properties...
Read More >>Curtailing inefficient semiconductor precursors
MATERIALS SCIENCE
Atomic layer deposition (ALD), one of the semiconductor industry’s workhorse technologies, is responsible for creating ultra-thin films of exotic materials that allow so many of our appliances to work their electronic magic.
Read More >>Chitin proves there’s more to love about shellfish
POLYMERS
Seafood lovers around the world savour the tender meat of crustaceans but want nothing to do with their exoskeleton packaging, which is whisked from the table in short order. All those shells amount to a lot of waste; diners might consume three quarters of the caught...
Read More >>Greenspon’s brain chain
POLICY
In a world where work and research are increasingly unfettered by national borders, Canadian policy needs to shift to accommodate this new reality, says Public Policy Forum president Edward Greenspon....
Read More >>Celebrating a chemistry conference centenary
EDITORIAL
A “Celebration of Chemistry” is a most appropriate theme for the 100th Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition (CSC 2017) taking place in Toronto May 28-June 1, 2017. This landmark event...
Read More >>Renaissance man
CLASS DISTINCTION
Université Laval’s Antoine Marceau says that chemical engineering is key to Canada’s economic prosperity. Photo credit: Amélie Marceau When Université Laval chemical engineering student Antoine Marceau was growing up, his friends...
Read More >>Never underestimate the importance of patenting
INTELLECTUAL MATTERS
As the old adage goes, all good things must come to an end. And so, with some sadness, I report that this will be the final Intellectual Matters. In my...
Read More >>Then and Now
CHEMISTRY IN CANADA 1972
The Allied Chemical & Dye Corporation, the precursor to Allied Chemical Canada, Ltd., was formed in 1920, an amalgam of five United States chemical companies established in the 1800s by...
Read More >>Chemistry career sparked by the sting of capsaicin
CHEMFUSION
My early years were spent in Hungary so it should come as no surprise that my first venture into the world of chemistry involved paprika. Bread smeared with goose fat...
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