I have restructured WebElements. The restructuring is all style at the front-end and reorganisation at the back-end, meaning all the errors in data are still there but they are displayed more beautifully and efficiently. Fixing some of those errors is now a priority.

Quite by chance I noticed that at Simon Fraser University in Canada members of staff in the Department got together to make a periodic table quilt. Looks to be about 6 feet across. I wonder if it will be updated for the latest elements?

If you go to the SFU site, click on any element to see that panel in more detail. Anyone else made a quilt like this?

...as I see the WebElements A6 size periodic table card (laminated, naturally) is the logo for the FaceBook Group "The united nerd front" - A place for nerds to unite. (if you have a mini-periodic table you get gold card membership).

The printable periodic tables held on this site at

http://www.webelements.com/nexus/Printable_Periodic_Table

have been updated 21 September 2007 to reflect the latest (2007) IUPAC values that will appear shortly in Pure & Appl. Chem. They are pdf files so pretty well anyone should be able to print them.

I'm interested in the periodic table - but not enough to get a periodic table tattoo! And here is one courtesy of o2b and writer Carl Zimmer:

He has a collection of science tattoos for you to browse.

This stamp commemorates the death of Mendeleev (February 1907), one of the lead figures responsible for the periodic table. Absolutely excellent choice of colours if I might say so! The stamp was sent to me by Prof Gabriel Pinto (Departamento de Ingeniería Química Industrial, ETSI Industriales, UPM, Madrid, Spain) and I quote from his web page:

This is off topic really but it is slightly chemical. I'd never heard of ambigrams until Punya Mishra at the Michigan State University in the USA was kind enough to send me one that he constructed using my name (as thanks for constructing WebElements). He has constructed many other beautiful ambigrams. You need to stand on your head to see exactly how clever it is. All chemists need to appreciate symmetry and this is a good example of C₂ symmetry. For more information on ambigrams try http://www.ambigram.com/.

Here in the UK, Channel 4 just screened an interesting documentary: The Great Global Warming Swindle. Good viewing and challenges what seems to have become the accepted view that global warming is caused by man-made CO₂ emissions.

This website (the WebElements Chemistry Nexus) is now incorporated within the main WebElements site at http://www.webelements.com/nexus/ - please adjust your bookmarks accordingly.

If you use a newreader please change your link to http://www.webelements.com/nexus/rss.xml.

the new communication paradigm will change our Culture

The new Apple iPhone could change everything.  Well, that may be a little too strong.  But there is a good possibility that historians will look back on the introduction of this device as a landmark change for those of us who do chemistry, learn chemistry, or just use chemistry.

Culture is changing and that change is accelerating.  A half century ago when I was a student in school, history teachers noted how slowly culture changed in the past.  Nearly everything I learned in school came from my teachers, the assignments they had us do, or what they had us read in books.  But that has gradually changed so that the situation is considerably different for many of today's students.  With the introduction of the iPhone, we are about to see another dramatic change....