just another chemistry weblog » news http://www.justachemblog.net notes, thoughts, and a little (science) culture while teaching chemistry Fri, 30 Sep 2011 17:17:00 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Should the government get involved? http://www.justachemblog.net/should-the-government-get-involved/ http://www.justachemblog.net/should-the-government-get-involved/#comments Fri, 06 Nov 2009 03:49:42 +0000 nharmuth http://www.justachemblog.net/?p=1089 cerealCheck out this video from ABC news concerning the present state of affairs of cereal boxes.

Cereal companies are claiming that their products are healthy options, despite the fact that they contain tons of sugar and dyes. How far can companies go with misleading information before the government should get involved?
I find this fascinating 1) because people don’t stop and think, “Wow that’s a lot of sugar maybe it’s not so healthy” and 2) that it’s actually taken this long for the FDA to purpose a new method for labeling food… these labels have been around as far back as I can remember reading cereal boxes as a child.
It’s outrageous that companies can make scientific claims with really no scientific data to back it up, or rather with contradictory data and yet consumers continue to buy into it.

It all sounds a bit too familiar to the tobacco product ads that originally claimed cigarettes were a “healthy option.”

[via abcnews]

]]> http://www.justachemblog.net/should-the-government-get-involved/feed/ 3 Welcome back ’09 edition http://www.justachemblog.net/824/ http://www.justachemblog.net/824/#comments Wed, 26 Aug 2009 12:10:50 +0000 skassel http://www.justachemblog.net/?p=824 welcome backI spent part of last summer thinking about how to integrate some of the better aspects of social networking and collaborative web tools into this course (CHM3311). I settled on this website and associated wiki, which will serve as the collective home for CHM3311 and other course related items. Most assignments will be available on the wiki, while announcements, general articles, and such will be posted here. I plan to spend more time on the wiki this year and may play with Twitter as well. I’m very happy that Nicole has agreed to continue as the student editor of the weblog!

As we discussed in class, a big part of being a chemist, or a scientist for that matter, involves writing for different audiences. To that end, we (well, you mostly) will be writing short science pieces ranging from the technical (i.e., intended for a practicing chemist) to the general (i.e., for your aunt Ginny), which will be posted here. These assignments will require you to use many different sources including the primary literature (journals), mass media (newspaper/magazines/radio/TV), and new media (blogs/wikis); some will be collaborative, while others will be individual writing projects. There will be opportunities to try other things as well; I am open to suggestions, and hope to learn a lot in the process. I’m genuinely excited to see what you create!

A few posts to get you started…

  1. A few of my favorite books on writing
  2. Quick tips to improve your writing NOW!
  3. Commenting
  4. Writing assignments for the semester
  5. Examples of 250, 350, and 500 word posts

Again, welcome back! Have a great semester!

]]> http://www.justachemblog.net/824/feed/ 0 Update in progress…. http://www.justachemblog.net/update-in-progress/ http://www.justachemblog.net/update-in-progress/#comments Sun, 31 May 2009 16:04:12 +0000 skassel http://www.justachemblog.net/?p=784 homer-under-construction

We are in the process of moving to a new theme that will take a little work, but will be well worth the effort. Please check back around the end of June 2009!

Update (08/25/09): Almost there and new stuff is on the way! It’s still June, right?

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