Comments on: Without Chemistry Hacks, Life Itself Would Be ….

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Tue, 28 Jan 2014 22:29:41 +0000

I get their information all the time and it looks to me like they are a regular industry-supportive advocacy society that runs, like you said, a conference. My comment was about the chemical industry generally. I’m sure the chemistry industry is great and we need them etc. etc.

But back in the day of Bhobal (1984) and Love Canal (story broke in the late 1970s) the industry spewed out a lot of meaningless rhetoric about how the chemical industry was our friend, etc. etc. when what was really happening is that the industry itself had been dragged kicking and screaming through the previous decade of regulation following a lot of bad things.

I think it is just the usual thing all industries do.

By: TheBrummell

TheBrummell — Tue, 28 Jan 2014 21:43:13 +0000

I’m curious about your attitude towards the American Chemical Society – I think of them as the organization behind the huge annual meeting at which thousands of scientists (academic, government, and various forms of private industry) gather.
Are they actually more like a speaking platform for major chemical corporations? I can see somebody like Dow paying a big chunk of the bills for the annual meeting, but does it go further than that?

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Tue, 28 Jan 2014 06:02:06 +0000

And thus the expression, “I’ll take that with a grain of salt”!

By: Smarter Than Your Average Bear

Smarter Than Your Average Bear — Tue, 28 Jan 2014 01:56:11 +0000

Thanks Greg – I just subscribed to their youtube channel. Another one every cook knows is that a bit of salt will make something with sugar sweeter tasting than simply adding more sugar

Here’s the science behind it from http://io9.com/5779217/theres-a-scientific-reason-why-a-pinch-of-salt-makes-things-sweeter

“An intestinal glucose sensor also found to be located in the sweet-sensitive taste cells may provide an explanation for another mystery of sweet taste: why just a pinch of table salt tastes sweet or salt added to baked goods enhances sweet taste. Known as SGLT1, this sensor is a transporter that moves glucose into the sweet taste cell when sodium is present, thus triggering the cell to register sweetness.”