Modern surface chemistry – fuel cells, artificial fertilizers and clean exhaust

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2007 to Gerhard Ertl of the Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Berlin, Germany "for his studies of chemical processes on solid surfaces".

Like blowing bubbles, making persistent micelles could soon be child's play thanks to researchers in Germany. Their new technique for producing these hollow nanoscopic spheres could revolutionise model studies of cell membranes and other systems. Their work might also lead to novel nano-scale reaction vessels, new catalysts, sensor components, and biocompatible drug-delivery capsules. Read the full article by David Bradley Science Writer in Issue 36 of Spectral Lines, the spectroscopy webzine.

IUPAC have made a provisional recommendation about the name for element 111. To quote: "A joint IUPAC-IUPAP Working Party (JWP) has confirmed the discovery of element number 111 and this by the collaboration of Hofmann et al. from the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung mbH (GSI) in Darmstadt, Germany. In accord with IUPAC procedures, the discoverers have proposed a name and symbol for the element. The Inorganic Chemistry Division Committee now recommends this proposal for acceptance. The proposed name is roentgenium with symbol Rg.

This proposal lies within the long established tradition of naming elements to honour famous scientists. Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discovered X-rays in 1895."