FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ACS News Service Weekly PressPac: December 16, 2009

ACS News Service Weekly PressPac: December 16, 2009

Contact

News Items in This Edition

A real possibility does exist for developing a new generation of foods that make people feel full by releasing anti-hunger aromas during chewing, scientists in the Netherlands are reporting. Such foods would fight the global epidemic of obesity with aromas that quench hunger and prevent people from overeating. Their article appears in ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, a bi-weekly publication.

Scientists in Sweden are reporting for the first time that a group of drugs used to treat heart failure shows promise for fighting colon cancer. The study is in ACS’ Journal of Natural Products, a monthly publication. Colon cancer is the third most common cancer in the United States, with more than 150,000 cases diagnosed in the U.S. each year.

New scientific discoveries are moving society toward the era of “personalized solar energy,” in which the focus of electricity production shifts from huge central generating stations to individuals in their own homes and communities. That's the topic of a report by an international expert on solar energy published in the ACS’ Inorganic Chemistry, a bi-weekly journal.

In an advance that could help ease health and environmental concerns about the emerging nanotechnology industry, scientists are reporting development of technology for changing the behavior of nanoparticles in municipal sewage treatment plants — their main gateway into the environment. Their study was published in ACS’ journal Environmental Science & Technology.

What secrets about your risk for diseases are written in your own personal “Book of Life” — the 30,000 or so genes that make you you? Advances in DNA-sequencing technology are bringing closer the day when it will be more economical for consumers to get an answer to that question, and others, by ordering up the deciphering of their entire genetic endowment — their “personal genome.” That’s the possibility that Chemical & Engineering News, ACS’ weekly newsmagazine, raises in a compelling new cover story.

Journalists’ Resources

  • Save the Date: ACS 239th National Meeting, March 21-25, 2010, San Francisco
    Join more than 10,000 scientists expected to gather in San Francisco March 21-25 for one of the year’s largest and most important scientific conferences. The 239th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society will feature 8,000 reports on new discoveries about chemistry, medicine, health, food, fuels, the environment and other topics.
  • Press releases, briefings, and more from ACS’ 238th National Meeting
    www.eurekalert.org/acsmeet.php

    http://www.ustream.tv/channel/acslive
  • Must-reads from C&EN: Does drinking wine help you live longer?
    Scientists are taking a closer look at resveratrol, a compound in red wine and other plant-based foods, to determine if its effects in promoting longevity in fruit flies, worms and obese mice also could translate into a longer life for humans. Some scientists say the compound boosts these animals’ life spans by acting on a specific family of enzymes called sirtuins. But the problem is that resveratrol affects many biochemical pathways and even after years of research it’s not clear if these enzymes really do fit into the anti-aging picture. For a copy of the story, contact m_bernstein@acs.org.
  • Writing on Green Chemistry?
    Here is a treasure trove of important scientific research articles published in 2008.
    http://pubs.acs.org/stoken/presspac/presspac/full/10.1021/op900082k
  • ACS Pressroom Blog The ACS Office of Public Affairs (OPA) pressroom blog highlights research from ACS’ 34 peer-reviewed journals and National Meetings.
  • Bytesize Science blog Educators and kids, put on your thinking caps: The American Chemical Society has a blog for Bytesize Science, a science podcast for kids of all ages.
  • ACS satellite pressroom: Daily news blasts on Twitter
    The satellite press room has become one of the most popular science news sites on Twitter. To get our news blasts and updates, create a free account at https://twitter.com/signup. Then visit http://twitter.com/ACSpressroom and click the ‘join’ button beneath the press room logo.
  • ACS Press Releases
    Press releases
    on a variety of chemistry-related topics.
  • General Chemistry Glossary
  • Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS)
    Whether you want to learn more about caffeine, benzoyl peroxide (acne treatment), sodium chloride (table salt), or some other familiar chemical, CAS Common Chemistry can help. The new Web site provides non-chemists and others with useful information about everyday chemicals by searching either a chemical name or a corresponding CAS Registry Number. The site includes about 7,800 chemicals of general interest as well as all 118 elements from the Periodic Table, providing alternative names, molecular structures, a Wikipedia link, and other information.
  • Science Connections from CAS
    CAS - Science Connections
    is a series of articles that showcases the value of CAS databases in light of important general-interest science and technology news. Topics range from fruit flies to Nobel Prize winners, with the CAS - Science Connections series pointing to CAS databases for a more complete understanding of the latest news.

For Wired Readers



Note to Journalists and Other Viewers

This is the latest American Chemical Society (ACS) Office of Public Affairs Weekly PressPac with news from ACS’ 36 peer-reviewed journals and Chemical & Engineering News.

This information is intended for your personal use in news gathering and reporting and should not be distributed to others. Anyone using advance ACS Office of Public Affairs Weekly PressPac information for stocks or securities dealing may be guilty of insider trading under the federal Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

Please cite the individual journal, or the American Chemical Society, as the source of this information.

The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 154,000 members, ACS is the world’s largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.