Notebook

Going For The Gold A team of four United States high school students placed fourth at the 24th International Chemistry Olympiad, held July 11-17 in Pittsburgh. Out of 33 countries, they were bested only by China, Hungary, and Poland. The annual competition was hosted by the U.S. for the first time since its inauguration in 1968 and was organized this year by the American Chemical Society. Medals were awarded at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C., on July 21 . Swaine Chen, from O'Fallon Township High School in Illinois, was the top U.S. competitor, taking a gold medal for his 15th-place finish out of 131 entrants. According to Chen, European, North American, and Asian countries fielded the majority of teams. “I don't think there were any African delegations,” says Chen, “and I don't remember any South American delegations. Hopefully, in years to come, those countries will be able to join in.” Funding Finders Millipore Corp., a Bedford, Mass.-based manufacturer of separations equipment, is jumping on the grant-assistance bandwagon. Following in the footsteps of Cambridge, Mass.-based Bio-Rad Laboratories Microscience Division (The Scientist, May 25, 1992, page 20), Millipore will help university and other nonprofit researchers find funding for DNA sequencers and synthesizers, 2-D electrophoresis systems, high-pertormance liquid chromatography systems, and other products made by Millipore and its Waters division. The company says its database contains more than 4,000 private and public funding sources. The service is free. For more information, call (301) 441-4532. Filling A Void In late July, the Scientists' Institute for Public Information (SIPI) published the first issue of HEALTHWIRE, a health, science, and technology newsletter specifically addressing the interests of minority communities. “lt's for minority press organizations that are small and can't afford to have science or health specialists on their staffs,” says Sheree Crute, director of the Minority Information Center at SIPI. Each month, says Crute, HEALTHWIRE will look at one topic, such as cultural issues and AIDS prevention, or medical and science education for minority students, and each article will include a one-page section of resources to enable readers to get involved. “Science is too important to be left in the hands of scientists and government officials,” says Fred Jerome, executive vice president of SIPI, “and the bestwayto disseminate science and health information is through the media.” Do You Know Me? His Nobel Prize notwithstanding, Cornell University chemist Roald Hoffmann had better carry an American Express card when he's among people in the art world. Speaking at Philadelphia's Beckman Center for the History of Chemistry last month, artist Vivian Torrence recalled her introduction to Hoffmann. The pair, who have teamed up to create “Chemistry Imagined”—collages by Torrence with writings by Hoffmann—met at the Djerassi Foundation, a California artists' colony founded by Stanford University chemist Carl Djerassi. “When I first met Roald, I didn't realize he was a chemist,” said Torrence, adding that he was introduced to her only as a poet. She recalled that Hoffmann, noticing her work's scientific orientation, asked her if she had ever created art with a chemistry focus. “He said, 'I think maybe there's something [of interest] in chemistry,” Torrence said. “I said, 'Well, you must be interested in science, too, to notice that.'“ Prime-Time Science CBS affiliate WHDH-TV in Boston, along with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Museum of Science in Boston, and the Massachusetts Department of Education, have launched a television program to promote science literacy. “Imagine That!” features popular scientists explaining the importance of knowing how science works and how it aftects people's lives. The show airs on Sunday, right after “60 Minutes,” and will run for a year and a half. Getting Warm Were the dinosaurs warm-blooded or cold-blooded? Proof either way has been scanty. Now, a team of biologists and geologists has produced the first solid evidence that Tyrannosaurus rex and some other dinosaurs were warm-blooded. Under geochemist William J. Showers, an associate professor at North Carolina State University, the team developed a stable isotope mass spectroscopy technique to analyze the oxygen isotopic composition of the bones of animals. Analysis of living animals revealed that bones from the extremities and cores of cold-blooded animals show significant isotopic differences in bone composition, while those bones in a warm-blooded animal vary little in composition. Comparison studies of fossil bones led the researchers to their conclusion that the “terrible lizard” was, in fact, warm-blooded. “in T rex, the warmest bones were the bones that were wrapped in muscle, his thigh bones and his leg bones,” notes Showers. “His toes were fairly cold. Maybe that's why he was so disagreeable all the time.”

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Going For The Gold

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