Chemistry Blog

Mark

Author's details

Date registered: April 11, 2012

Biography

Mark Lorch has PhD in biochemist and is a lecture at the University of Hull, UK. As well as research, teaching and blogging he can sometimes be found 'science busking' on the streets of Yorkshire. Sometimes his favourite tricks end up in his blogs. Oh, and he tweets @sci_ents.

Latest posts

  1. Is the Coop bank fishing for an anti-science cause? — June 27, 2014
  2. Food for the souls of the most hungry — June 19, 2014
  3. Making sense of chemical stories — May 23, 2014
  4. The Rules — May 18, 2014
  5. Who knows reviewers’ identities? — May 15, 2014

Most commented posts

  1. ‘Anonymous’ peer-review – a cautionary tale — 20 comments
  2. Helium for balloons but none for my NMR — 15 comments
  3. Space dinosaurs, the saga continues — 14 comments
  4. The Underground Map of the Elements — 14 comments
  5. Bloggers are time wasters — 13 comments

Author's posts listings

Jun 27

Is the Coop bank fishing for an anti-science cause?

by |opinion, science policy | (32647 Views)

Categories:
image

The Cooperative bank has had its troubles of late, mismanagement, scandal ridden executives and massive debts have seen an the organisation that prided itself on its ethical policy forced to reevaluate its self image. At the moment it takes a stance, both through its investments and the customers its accepts, that supports communities, tackles povety, …

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Jun 19

Food for the souls of the most hungry

by |Uncategorized | (40835 Views)

Categories:
Antibiotic resistance

I’ve just come back from the Cheltenham Science Festival. It was a truly inspiring week of educating and entertaining science, maths and technology. Insights direct from Richard Dawkins (he didn’t claim he wanted to kill Santa), to  mesmerising talks from Sean Carroll, and the hugely entertaining Famelab final (a world wide science communication competition were contestants get 3 …

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2 comments

May 23

Making sense of chemical stories

by |science news | (55283 Views)

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SAS - Natural vs. Man-Made Toxicity FINAL (1)

Discussions on chemophobia (or whatever you want to call it) is a perennial favourite on chemistry blogs. But the conversation rarely extends out of our echo chamber. But now Sense about Science have joined the discussion with the publication of a guide entitled  Making Sense of Chemical Stories. Sense about Science is a respected charitable …

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4 comments

May 18

The Rules

by |fun, Uncategorized | (66760 Views)

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Here at chemistry-blog we feel the need for a sacred text setting out the etiquette to be followed by chemicals scientists everywhere. Henceforth these shall be known as The Rules (an idea blatantly stolen for cyclists), and they shall set us apart from those that peddle particles or organisms. The Rules have been distilled from precedents and …

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5 comments

May 15

Who knows reviewers’ identities?

by |opinion, science policy | (43039 Views)

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A couple of posts ago I shared a pretty unpleasant experience I had after peer-reviewing a grant application. In short my anonymity appeared to have been breached and I received ,what I took to be, a thinly veiled threat from the grant’s author. Some of the comments that followed thanked me for bring the case …

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Apr 01

The advance of the chemical-free sciences

by |fun, general chemistry, opinion | (80307 Views)

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Chemist have long complained about the use of the term ‘chemical-free’ in marketing, particularly when used to promote organic produce. To bolster our standing, and to sure up the chemical industry, we go one about everything containing chemicals and hence  how ‘chemical-free’ is a meaningless term. The veracity of the anti-chemical-free movement is highlighted by …

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