Pictured (L to R): Eme Abu (Chair), Tracey Simmons-Willis (Alt. Councilor), Safia Mohamed (Younger Chemist Leadership Development Award recipient), and Lisa Houston (Director, District IV).

"It’s because of my local [ACS] section network that I’m still in chemistry today." - Dr. Angela K. Wilson, May 3, 2022.

May Invention and Innovation Fun Facts

May is National Inventor Month! Here are some fun chemistry inventions:

• Ruth Fuller Brown, along with her research associate Elizabeth Lee Hazen, discovered nystatin, the first antibiotic effective against fungal diseases in humans.
• Polyethylene was an accidental invention in 1898 while researching diazomethane.
  
• Ruth Benerito discovered wash-and-wear cotton fabric that has fewer wrinkles after washing.
  

May Invention and Innovation Resource

The US Patent and Trademark Office recently launched the Patent Trial and Appeals Board (PTAB) Pro Bono Program to assist independent inventors with free legal assistance in preparing ex parte appeals to the PTAB.

The ACS booth had plenty of volunteers from the University of St. Thomas and they did a great job interacting with families during Chemists Celebrate Earth Week.

Since the theme this year was Bug Chemistry, we brought awareness to how crickets and superworms help our Earth's environment. For example, superworms can digest plastic and are believed to help possibly reduce pollution in the future! Volunteers also led a mini activity of creating a personal magnifying glass and gave out ACS Earth Day goodie bags which included an ACS 2022 Earth Day booklet, science mood pencil, and stickers. In all, it was a success!

The ACS-GHS Senior Chemists Committee was pleased to host a coffee tasting and social get-together on April 20th at Java Pura Coffee Roasters. Attendees had an enjoyable morning tasting regional coffees from Costa Rica, Ethiopia, and Sumatra, followed by conversation and lunch at Auntie Pesto's. The event was a great success!  Everyone at the event made new friends and shared the fun and interesting activities that keep them busy as retirees. The ACS-GHS Senior Chemists Committee looks forward to hosting future events and we already have a new volunteer host for the next event!  See you then and if you have any ideas for a senior activity, please let us know...we are open to old and new fun.

A well-caffeinated bunch!

Time to taste!

The coffee process from bean to cup

After a long wait, Houston area Chemistry teachers gathered to celebrate the Buzz about Bugs on April 2nd!

They ate cookies made with cricket flour and shared ideas for a fun Chemists Celebrate Earth Week and a great finish to the school year.

March Invention and Innovation Fun Facts

Here are some valuable inventions from the Irish to celebrate on St. Patrick's Day, March 17:

• Bacon curing was reinvented by Henry Denny in 1820 to produce bacon rashers.
  
• The hypodermic needle was invented by Francis Rynd in 1844.
  
• The first practical method of color photography was invented by John Joly in 1894.
• The binaural stethoscope was invented by Arthur Leared and introduced at the 1851 Great Exhibition in London.
  

If you want to keep up with innovation in Houston, consider following the Innovation Map, which is a service of Gow Media and the CultureMap team.

The Division of the History of Chemistry of the American Chemical Society (HIST) is 100 years old in 2022, and we have a present for you!

HIST is the home within ACS for chemists interested in the history of their discipline. Among our activities are publication of a peer-reviewed journal in history of chemistry, the Bulletin for the History of Chemistry. In this anniversary year, we have prepared a special commemorative issue of the Bulletin, available electronically to anyone (open access). Prominent chemist historians and historians of chemistry were invited to contribute essays on the theme “Novel Insights in the History of Chemistry: Looking Back Yet Mostly Looking Forward.”

We invite you to peruse this commemorative issue at: http://acshist.scs.illinois.edu/bulletin_open_access/bull22-vol47-1.php

While you are there, check out 30 years of open-access issues of the Bulletin, which are free to all after a three-year window of access exclusively by HIST members and subscribers:

http://acshist.scs.illinois.edu/bulletin_open_access/bull-index.php

Find out more about HIST

Cotton Starr has been editing the Greater Houston Section e-newsletter since 2018 and as such has been instrumental in sharing information about section activities and volunteer opportunities with over 2000 recipients monthly, including outreach activities available to members and the general public. Under her guidance the newsletter has been moved to a regular monthly release schedule so that recipients are routinely updated about upcoming events and news.  In 2021, Cotton expanded her Guess the Molecule feature and created a “Guess the Molecule Challenge” for the monthly newsletter to promote reader engagement. This year she is handing over the newsletter to a new editor and we want to thank Cotton for her hard work and congratulate her for being the GHS Outreach Volunteer of the Year for 2021!