NOW IN PROGRESS: Join us for a new Signtific Lab thought experiment at acs.signtific.org.

Are you a chemist? Do you have an interest in chemistry? Would you like to help us envision the role of chemistry in robotics and sustainability?

We need your ideas. We want your comments and questions. Robotics could play a world-changing role in the future of sustainability. And chemistry will  play a perhaps surprisingly big role in the future of robotics. Help us think this out to 2020.

Leave it to satirical local newspaper The Onion to make an astute observation relevant to the future of persuasion. From their recent article 'How Bad For The Environment Can Throwing Away One Plastic Bottle Be?' 30 Million People Wonder :

I'm sure I'm not the first researcher to spend a day reading about the high costs--in terms of land, fuel, and water--involved with producing meat only to wander into a restaurant for dinner and wind up ordering a bacon cheeseburger. The problem is that, well, meat tastes good.

Rarely does one hear about tasty—let alone healthy—hospital food.  That's about to change at Stanford Hospital and Clinics, located adjacent to Palo Alto, California.  Yesterday, the Hospital announced the launch of a new inpatient menu that will feature organic, locally grown, sustainable ingredients. The initiative was developed with local chef/restaurateur Jesse Cool, who has been a leader in healthy eating and sustainable food practices for decades. (With apologies to chef Cool for a comparison she probably has heard too many times and may not appreciate, when I first moved to Palo Alto from Berkeley, my impression was that Jesse Cool was the Alice Waters of the area, and that her landmark restaurant, the Flea Street Cafe, was the Chez Panisse of the Peninsula.)