the new communication paradigm will change our Culture

The new Apple iPhone could change everything.  Well, that may be a little too strong.  But there is a good possibility that historians will look back on the introduction of this device as a landmark change for those of us who do chemistry, learn chemistry, or just use chemistry.

Culture is changing and that change is accelerating.  A half century ago when I was a student in school, history teachers noted how slowly culture changed in the past.  Nearly everything I learned in school came from my teachers, the assignments they had us do, or what they had us read in books.  But that has gradually changed so that the situation is considerably different for many of today's students.  With the introduction of the iPhone, we are about to see another dramatic change....

The road system in Zambia is extremely simple. There are only a few major roads, and Lusaka on the road map is defined simply as a crossroads from which spring the 'Great North Road', the 'Great East Road', the 'Kafue Road' heading southerly, and the 'Mumbwa Road' heading West. I've followed the Great North Road almost as far as it reaches, straight up into the Northern Province, and turned off to the NorthWest reaching the town of Kasama. From here the road deteriorates markedly and is badly potholed. The last 250 km takes one to a T-junction. 5 km to the right is the town of Mbala. 25 km to the left however is my destination. Following this, the road drops quite swiftly through a thousand metres as you drop into the Rift Valley. Surrounded by the heights of the Zambian plateau is Lake Tanganyika. My road lies parallel to the valley and the lake and meets the shores at a small dusty down called Mpulungu, generally pronounced 'poolungoo', and we're 1140 km North of Lusaka at Zambia's only port.

Thomas Kuhn conceived over a half century ago that science should be distinguished into revolutionary periods separated by normal science. Normal science fills in the details while the rare revolutions replace one theoretical framework with a better paradigm. As a science develops, broad revolutions are followed by revolutions which make less sweeping changes. Our knowledge of elements and periodic charts seems to be in a period of normal science. And if revolutions occur in that part of chemistry, they are likely to be rather narrow in scope.

But a revolution may be about to change the way we learn chemistry. Major revolutions in education have been widely separated in time. Much from the Lyceum of Aristotle remains in today's schools. But the Internet has introduced a new medium much as Johannes Gutenberg advanced the printed medium in the 15th Century. The textbook and printed documents had a dramatic change on education and the way knowledge and understanding was transmitted from one generation to the next. Most of the pieces for another revolution are in place. Google has provided a ...

Polonium has no biological role and any sample used to kill the former KGB spy must have come from either a research laboratory or nuclear facility. It is found in uranium ores but at miniscule levels 0.00000001%. So small that the Curie's were awarded the Nobel prize for their superhuman effort to extract it. Could a terrorist smuggle Polonium into this country or is there a human leak at a UK Defence Establishment? Gramme quantities of polonium-210 are synthesized from bismuth in nuclear reactors. Carrying quantities of polonium is difficult because of the high temperature from radioactive decay [500oC] and the emission of deadly alpha particles. These radioactive particles are most dangerous when ingested. They pick up electrons from cells in the body and escape as helium gas. Polonium-210 has a relatively short half life [138 days] so the 'evidence' diminishes constantly with time. Also Polonium is fairly volatile and will evaporate if not kept in a sealed container. Polonium is one of the deadliest known substances and is believed to be a trillion more times toxic than HCN weight for weight.

Arguments continue over science education in the UK.

Twenty First Century Science is a suite of new GCSE science courses for 14- to 16-year-olds and all schools in the UK can start the courses from September 2006. Schools can continue to offer separate Chemistry, Physics, and Biology courses.

Critics such as Sir Richard Sykes (rector of Imperial College London) is among many attack the new qualification. He warned a "dumbed down syllabus" may stop those who did not study chemistry, physics and biology individually from getting into good universities. Sir Richard Sykes stated on BBC News: "If you wish to have a dumbed-down syllabus for the general population that's fine. But for those who really want to go on and study a subject in depth, and particularly go to a good university like Imperial, then they'll never get there unless they study the individual subjects and take A-levels in these individual subjects." He wrote in a report from the Institute of Ideas think tank that: "A science curriculum based on encouraging pupils to debate science in the news is taking a back-to-front approach... Science should inform the news agenda, not the other way round."

The positions of the elements La, Ac, Lu, and Lr in the WebElements periodic table is justified in the article by William B. Jensen, J. Chem. Ed., 1982, 59, 634.

Elements 117, and 118 are not known at the time of writing, but are shown "greyed-out" in the tables at their expected positions for information.