Canadian Chemical News articles from July 2002

Canadian Chemical News archives from July 2002

The fountain of youth: if the CIC is to remain a strong association of individuals in the chemical profession, we must review our youth strategies. (Chair's Column).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... The only way professional societies can grow and sustain their mission is to continuously recruit new members. For the CIC and its Constituent Societies, this means attracting students as they prepare to enter the workforce. At one time...

Letters.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Regulating the Regulators How up-to-date are our regulatory agencies? PVC foils, plasticized with DEHA (diethylhexyl adipate), are widely used in Canadian supermarkets (my own observation), as well in the U.S. (wallde@consumer.org) to...

Chemical detectives fingerprint meth labs. (Issues Revisited).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... At the April meeting of the American Chemical Society, Jerry Massette of the California State Department of Justice described a recent effort now in progress to evaluate chemical components found in methamphetamine produced at large-scale...

Industry. (Personals/Personnalites).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... SemBioSys Genetics Inc., a Calgary-based biotechnology company, announced in June that its scientific founder and chief scientific officer, Maurice Moloney, has been appointed to a three-year term on the Natural Sciences and Engineering...

University. (Personals/Personnalites).(personnel appointments and awards)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Gerald W. Buchanan, MCIC, professor and chair, department of chemistry, Carleton University has been awarded a Teaching Achievement Award by the University for 2002-2003. The prize, valued at $15,000, recognizes outstanding contributions to the...

Government. (Personals/Personnalites).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Alan Bernstein has been appointed to the board of directors of the Canada Foundation for Innovation. Bernstein, who is president of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, was appointed for a two-year term. The CFI is an independent,...

Distinction. (Personals/Personnalites).(memberships and awards)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Three CIC/CSChE members were elected by their peers into the Canadian Academy of Engineering. The ceremony took place in Ottawa, ON, on May 29, 2002, in conjunction with the academy's annual general meeting 2002. * David Lynch, FCIC has...

Other. (Personals/Personnalites).(Michael Webb co-authored chemistry textbook)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Michael Webb, MCIC, a self-employed writer--editor in Toronto, ON, has co-authored a Grade 12 chemistry textbook, recently published by McGraw-Hill Ryerson and approved for use in Ontario schools. In the past three years, he has also...

Obituaries.(multiple names)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Leon F. Loucks, FCIC, passed away at his home in Charlottetown, PEI, on April 9, 2002, after a lengthy and determined battle with cancer. Born in Minden, ON in 1939, he graduated in honours chemistry from the University of Toronto in 1961. He...

New publication honours cereal chemist Walter Bushuk. (News Briefs/Nouvelles en Bref).(Wheat Quality Elucidation: The Bushuk Legacy)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... A new book has been published honouring the legacy of Walter Bushuk, world renowned cereal chemist and professor emeritus at the University of Manitoba. The book, entitled Wheat Quality Elucidation: The Bushuk Legacy, is a record of a one-day...

A ship-shape performance. (News Briefs/Nouvelles en Bref).(Canadian Pacific Railway, Chemical Shipper Safety Award)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Canadian Pacific Railway announced in June that 18 chemical shippers in Canada and the U.S. have been awarded the railway's Chemical Shipper Safety Award for a flawless safety performance in 2001. CPR's Chemical Shipper Safety Award is...

Ethanol Act sees Royal Assent in Saskatchewan. (News Briefs/Nouvelles en Bref).(Saskatchewan, Canada, Ethanol Fuel Act)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Saskatchewan has become the first province in Canada to establish a legal framework encouraging the use of ethanol fuel. The province's Ethanol Fuel Act received Royal Assent in the legislature. Industry and Resources minister Eldon...

Back to class for World Cup soccer stars? (News Briefs/Nouvelles en Bref).(researchers study physics of the free kick)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Would the World Cup have played out differently last month if soccer players had been schooled in the physics of the free kick beforehand? Three collaborating groups of researchers have unravelled some of the underlying mysteries of...

Chemical bloopers and practical textbooks. (News Briefs/Nouvelles en Bref).(Hyman Gesser, Applied Chemistry: A Textbook for Engineers and Technologists)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Like all good textbooks, chemistry professor Hyman Gesser's Applied Chemistry: A Textbook for Engineers and Technologists can trace its roots back to the classroom. "I taught a second year mechanical engineering course," Gesser said....

Royal Dutch/Shell plants a flag in the alt fuel industry. (News Briefs/Nouvelles en Bref).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... The Royal Dutch/Shell Group (Shell) has purchased an equity stake in logen Energy Corporation, an Ottawa-based, world-leading bioethanol technology company. The USD$29 million investment will enable the Canadian company to develop more rapidly...

Canadian Environmental Laboratories meet world standard. (News Briefs/Nouvelles en Bref).(Canadian Association for Environmental Analytical Laboratories )(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... In May 2002, the Standards Council of Canada (SCC) granted accreditation to the Canadian Association for Environmental Analytical Laboratories (CAEAL) as a proficiency testing provider. This followed an evaluation of the association against the...

Chemical terrorism alert system to be set Up. (News Briefs/Nouvelles en Bref).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Significant chemical incidents of some kind occur every month, and the events of September 11 in the United States have triggered scrutiny of the European Region's ability to respond, particularly to transboundary threats. So it was that a...

Stable cation remains too good to be true. (News Briefs/Nouvelles en Bref).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... A retraction has been published on the results reported in April by Northwestern University researchers in Angewandte Chemie that they had discovered the molecule deemed to unstable to exist--the pentamethylcyclopentadienyl cation (see ACCN,...

FBI keeping fuel from the fire. (News Briefs/Nouvelles en Bref).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... The airline industry took a huge financial hit after the September ii attacks last fall. Now, the oil and gas industry must take precautions to avoid the same fate. Tanker trucks carrying fuel may be the next target for terrorist...

Joint WHO/FAO global consultation on acrylamide in foods. (News Briefs/Nouvelles en Bref).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Potato chip and french fries fry fans were frozen in mid-bite awaiting the results of a recent joint meeting of WHO and the FAO The meeting, held on June 25-27, 2002 in Geneva, Switzerland, discussed the health implications of recent research...

BIO 2002 conference concludes. (News Briefs/Nouvelles en Bref).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... BIO 2002, the world's largest biotech convention, was held this past June with record-breaking numbers. 4,400 delegates from Canada alone helped bring the total number of participants up to more than 15,000. Participants from 52 countries took...

C+ for organic oranges. (News Briefs/Nouvelles en Bref).(organically oranges, though smaller, are higher in vitamin C)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Or was that an A+? Organically-grown oranges contain up to 30% more vitamin C than those grown conventionally, Theo Clark reported at a Great Lakes Regional meeting of the American Chemical Society Clark, a visiting chemistry professor at...

High-protein corn for developing nations. (News Briefs/Nouvelles en Bref).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Rutgers geneticists have devised a new approach to create a more nutritious corn without employing the controversial biotechnology used in genetically modified foods. Instead of adding foreign DNA to the corn, the researchers increased the...

You have a web page, but who reads it? What's the point of the information age if you don't know who's getting your information? (Chemputing).
July 1, 2002... Once you put the effort into creating a web page, it would be nice to know who visits it. All visitors leave a trail and one of the simplest ways find it is with a very simple and free program, called FormMail. FormMail uses CGI (computer...

Frankenstein's chemical roots. (Chemfusion).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... "I collected the instruments of life around me, that might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet." With these words Victor Frankenstein began his account of the adventure that would terrify generations of...

Celebrating a half century: applied chemistry at the National Research Council. (Articles).(Industry Overview)
July 1, 2002... The first decade after World War II saw Canada rapidly expand into nationhood, with an emphasis on research and development that would lay the foundation for Canadian scientific achievements and technology throughout the next five decades and...

Shards of history. (Article).(Yemen gold mine dates from about 3,000; archeology)
July 1, 2002... History surrounds us in this world--sometimes its artifacts are visible to the naked eye, sometimes not. Whatever the size, from enormous ancient pyramids to tiny pottery fragments, chemistry can delve below the surface to decipher the...

Canada's Charter of might. (Articles).(Dorset Conservation Inc. hired to conservation the Hudson's Bay Company Charter of 1670; detailed description included)
July 1, 2002... On May 2, 1670, King Charles II granted a charter to the Company of Adventurers of England, giving them exclusive trading rights over what became known as Rupert's Land, the regions constituting the watershed of Hudson Bay. After 151 years of...

ICE etchings: geochemistry can uncover the rich secrets hidden by the ice age, but before it does, good old prospecting and some leg-work are called for. (Article).(history of gold mining in Nova Scotia)
July 1, 2002... For the past several hundred years prospectors have been combing the fertile rocks of Nova Scotia for the riches of mineral wealth. During that time, most surface rock outcrops, even in the most remote areas, have been visited at least once by...

Mystery solved: isotopes are the answer to questions about gas pockets in the Canadian Shield. (Articles).
July 1, 2002... Throughout the Canadian Shield and the Precambrian Shield rocks of Fennoscandia and southern Africa, the occurrence of flammable subsurface gases including methane ([CH.sub.4]), ethane ([C.sub.2][H.sub.6]), propane ([C.sub.3][H.sub.8]), butane...

Sexually transmitted history: DNA detective tracks the origins of syphilis. (Article).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... SFU's first expert in ancient DNA analysis, Dongya Yang, is developing methods for identifying syphilis-causing bacteria on human remains. His work will ultimately help determine the origins of syphilis, ending a 500-year-old debate on a...

CSC president's report. (CSC Bulletin SCC).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... I would like to extend my appreciation to The Canadian Society for Chemistry for giving me the opportunity to serve as its president for the term 2001-2002. In addition to aligning my activities to the objectives of the strategic plan developed...

What a journey (to certification)! The newest certified Chemical Technologist describes what brought him to this point in his career. (CSCT Bulletin).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... My name is Ronald Zeeman and I have just received my certification as a Chemical Technologist. To be accepted and recognized by my peers gives me great pride and a strong feeling of fellowship. I was asked to share with you my story or, in...

Cardy wins first Norman & Marion Bright Memorial Award: presented to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution in Canada to the furtherance of chemical technology, this year's award is given to Catherine A. Cardy, MCIC.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Catherine Cardy, cCT, MCIC Imperial Oil Catherine Cardy, BSc., cCT, MCIC, graduated from Mohawk College in 1974 with a technician diploma in chemical engineering. Her first position was as a biochemistry technologist in McMaster...

Environmental Chemistry Symposium. (Local Section News).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... A very successful Symposium on Environmental Chemistry was held at the Sir Wilfred Grenfell College, Memorial University, Corner Brook, NF, on May 17, 2002, held in conjunction with the Atlantic Student Chemistry Conference (ChemCon2002) and...

Chemist of the Year. (Local Section News).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Harry Duckworth, MCIC, department of chemistry at the University of Manitoba, was chosen as the 2002 Manitoba Chemist of the Year by the Manitoba CIC Local Section. He will give a presentation at the October 3 Student Awards Night, prior to the...

Qu'est ce qui c'est passe a Saguenay cette annee? (Local Section News).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Une journee thematique, [much less than]Les filles et les sciences : un duo electrisant[much greater than], a eu lieu le 16 fevrier 2002 ete a financee en partie par la section locale de Saguenay de I'ICC. Participation de 270 jeunes filles de...

Piers and Kung win Lectureship Awards. (Ready for the Road).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... The Catalysis Division of The Chemical Institute of Canada announces that professor Warren Piers, MCIC, department of chemistry, University of Calgary, has been awarded the 2002 Canadian Catalysis Lectureship Award. In addition, professor...

Canadian Catalysis Lectureship. (Ready for the Road).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... This award is made to a researcher who is recognized as a leader in a particular field of catalysis or someone who has just completed a new and interesting/controversial piece of work but is not widely recognized. It is restricted to Canadians...

Warren Piers, MCIC, University of Calgary. (Ready for the Road).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Warren Piers is a synthetic organometallic chemist, whose research interests include the development of new olefin polymerization catalysts and co-catalysts, and the development of new catalytic processes using early transition metal...

Cross-Canada lecture tour. (Ready for the Road).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... This award is made to a person who is currently active in the field of catalysis and who is recognized as a leader in her/his field, without regard to nationality or where the research is carried out. This tour is sponsored by the Canadian...

Harold H. Kung, northwestern university. (Ready for the Road).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Harold Kunq has made seminal contributions in heterogeneous catalysis, especially towards enhancing fundamental understanding in the field. He has published over 1 60 papers, authoring and editing many books in this field. He is a...

Calling all chemists! National Chemistry Week * Semaine nationale de la chimie October 18-26 octobre 2002. (NCW/SNc).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... National Chemistry Week/Semaine nationale de Ia chimie (NCW/SNC) is an outreach program of The Chemical institute of Canada (CIC), educating the public on the importance of chemistry in everyday life and showing the positive side of science. It...

Chemistry students network at the 16th Annual WCUCC. (Student News).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... The Western Canadian Undergraduate Chemistry Conference (WCUCC) is an annual event that brings together undergraduate chemistry students from all over Western Canada to discuss current research and chemistry-related issues. Students get an...

30th SOUSCC sees success. (Student News).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... The 30th Southwestern Ontario Undergraduate Student Chemistry Conference was held on March 23, 2002 at Ryerson University in Toronto, ON. The Ryerson conference attracted 110 registrants of whom 50 were student presenters. In a variation from...

Impressions of the 2002 CSCT Western Student Symposium. (Student News).(Canadian Society for Chemical Technology Student Symposium)
July 1, 2002... The second annual Canadian Society for Chemical Technology Student Symposium, held on March 15 to 16, 2002, was a great success thanks to all the hard work and efforts put forth by the NAIT chemical technology students and staff. It was an...