Do you consider yourself a chemistry geek? What about a technology geek? It's OK – you're among friends here. After all, the site you're on is devoted to chemical processing practices, trends and applications – it's pretty safe to say you have a bit of geek in you. To help quench your thirst for all things chemistry-geek-based, I'd like to share with you an article that was sent to me for the sole purpose of highlighting in this blog: "15 Amazing TED Talks for Chemistry Geeks."
I'm a sucker for numbers in headlines, but I'm also a skeptic when the headline uses "amazing" to describe what I am about to read. I'd like to be the judge of that. However, the thought of viewing 15 videos won out and I took a look at the article. Turns out there are some worthwhile videos to share with you. The authors of the article, Online College Courses, packaged 15 TEDTalks videos they thought made sense for a chemical-industry audience.
One thing I must admit, I had to do a little research to find out who TED is and why I should care what he has to say. My research set me straight – TED isn't a person, it's a nonprofit devoted to ideas worth spreading about things concerned with Technology, Entertainment, Design. The
TEDTalks share what happens at TED conferences.
According to the article, these talks provide an in-depth look at some cutting-edge research and very interesting phenomena in the chemical world.
One video that caught my immediate attention was
George Whitesides' presentation on "A lab the size of a postage stamp." Whitesides is a pioneer in microfabrication and nanoscale self-assembly. He begins his talk by asking the question: How do you supply healthcare in a world where cost is everything? His answer is to provide diagnostics in a very cost-effective, compact package. In this case, a piece of paper the size of a thumbnail. Another benefit, it eliminates "sharps" from the equation, thus reducing the potential for spreading diseases and the need to dispose of the needle (you simply burn the diagnostic tool after you gather information.)
Another video combines food and theology to offer great insight into the chemistry of bread. Master breadmaker Peter Reinhart, a teacher, author and theologian, talks about the epoxy method for baking whole wheat bread. I'm certainly going to look at my artisan breads much differently after this talk.
Those are only two of the 15 videos. View the rest suggested by Online College Courses. And if you find yourself poking around the TEDTalks site, let me know if you find any other interesting videos I should know about.
Traci Purdum
Senior Digital Editor