cooking

Big thanks and The Great #RealTimeChem Cook Off 2017 Winners

Posted on by doctorgalactic

Hello RealTimeChemists,

2017. It’s been a rough year for the world. Troubling political climate. Troubling social climate. Troubling climate in general. Throughout these rough times it’s important to find something to bring people together and for chemists, that’s chemistry. I’ve greatly enjoyed all your #ChemTogether-ness during this year’s #RealTimeChem Week.  I’m glad that the hashtag continues to be a small haven on social media where everyone in this community can join in and share their enthusiasm for the central science.

Some big thank yous have to go out to a variety of people who have made #RealTimeChem Week possible this year:

  • Firstly, Andy Brunning of @compoundchem. Continues to produce the best chemistry infographics the world wide web has ever seen and also this year’s Beatles inspired #ChemTogether banners. His best work yet. We’ve still never met in person you know (Andy we should work on that).
  • Thanks again to David Peralta, Managing editor of @ChemMedChem and everyone at WileyVCH who continue to enthusiastically support The Great #RealTimeChem Cook Off with prizes.
  • Dorea Reeser and colleagues at C&EN, who have provided a lot of support this year and added greatly to the awards with a very generous donation.
  • Matt Hartings for the kind donation of a signed copy of his book for the very best Cook Off tweet.
  • A final thanks to all my colleagues at the Royal Society of Chemistry, who’ve continued to support this slightly mad endeavour of mine.
  • My wife for her love, understanding and endless patience.

 

Now, final prizes time. Below I will announce the winners of The Great #RealTimeChem Cook Off 2017:

img_1649-1

As mentioned above this year’s contest was again sponsored by @WileyVCH‘s society chemistry journals.* The five winners below all receive a ChemPubSoc Europe package containing:

–A copy of What’s Cooking in Chemistry: How Leading Chemists Succeed in the Kitchen
-An exclusive #chemquackers scientist rubber duck (everybody wants one of these. Hell, I want one.)
-Other Wiley-VCH goodies!

cpse-realtimechem-whatscooking-2016-prizes

The prizes for this year’s Cook off in all their glory.

—
*@ChemEurJ, @ChemistrySelect, @ChemistryOpen, @ChemBioChem, @ChemCatChem, @ChemMedChem, @ChemElectroChem, @ChemPhysChem, @ChemPlusChem, @ChemSusChem,@ChemPhotoChem, @EurJIC, and Eur. J. Org. Chem (all journals of @ChemPubSoc_Euro); @ChemAsianJ, @AsianJOrgChem, and @ChemNanoMat (all journals of the Asian Chemical Editorial Society); and @angew_chem (a journal of @GDCh_aktuell).

WINNERS AHOY!

This was a harder choice than last year and that was ridiculously hard. 280 Characters was introduced part way through the week too and, funnily enough, that really suits cooking tweets!

Some sensational entries this year but someone has to win the goodies and the below were chosen based on a number of factors; invention, chemistry content, popularity (via retweets and favourites), general looks of the cook, humour, etc.

After much deliberation both on my part and after consultation with my partners at Wiley, here are the chosen winners. Note that all 5 winners receive the above pack. As a special prize for the very best cook off creation, the overall winner will also receive a signed copy of  Matt Hartings (@sciencegeist) book “Chemistry In Your Kitchen“.

So…*drum roll*

First we have Jess Wade, who bravely took on a recipe from  Heston Blumenthal FRSC. This one was long in the making and looks absolutely fantastic.  Check out the full thread.

 

A wonderful pie from the Borovik Lab at UCI (you’ll have to let me know who baked this!) with a clear chemistry theme. I also really like the sentiment of the tweet itself, which is inspiring and relevant to the #ChemTogether theme.

 

Sheer volume of food from Maria is impressive. It’s a full meal. Frankly, I feel absolutely starving by this point in the blog post *tries to eat screen*, especially as these are some of my favourite foods!

 

You need to see the whole thread to completely appreciate Sarah‘s white chicken chilli, but it’s a great step by step journey. Plus she uses the best Jamie Oliver-ism “wazz it up”.

Overall winner 

Like others above, you have to open the full tweet thread to appreciate the shear awesomeness of this. A multi-layer cake is tricky, but one with an actual trick inside is mind blowing. Plus it’s rainbow coloured and #ChemTogether themed. Respect Victoria. Respect.

 

Congratulations everybody! To claim your prize pack please send the below details via email to chemmedchem@wiley.com. Plus cc in realtimechem@gmail.com. 

1) Full name
2) Twitter handle
3) Current affiliation and position (if student, mention lab to which you belong)
4) Complete shipping address

 

Once again thank you a million times to everyone who took part in #RealTimeChem week 2017. If anyone has got ideas for 2018, it’s never to early to share them with me!

But for now…

mischief managed

-Doctor Galactic-

 

 

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Thank you and The Great #RealTimeChem Cook Off Winners

Posted on by doctorgalactic

Hello RealTimeChemists,

 

2016 has been “interesting” times, but throughout all the upheaval #RealTimeChem has kept on going. Big thank you to every single chemist out there who took part in this year’s #RealTimeChem week. As I’ve said previously, this community is only here because of you and its also pretty darn unique in both the science world of social media.

While the week event is over for yet another year, don’t forget that #RealTimeChem is a 24/7 project, so feel free to keep sharing chemistry whenever you want and engage with your fellow chemists around the world.

Some thank yous go out again to the following for their help this year:

  • Andy Brunning of @compoundchem. Once again, Andy designed all of the graphics for the event and ran another fantastic infographic competition. Plus he also took part too (more on that later).
  • Katey Birtcher, Stephen Fiedler, Neil MacLeod and all the folks at Elsevier’s SciTechConnect for running the Blog Carnival once again, this time on “New Elements in Chemistry”. Your enthusiasm for the project has really kept me going and I loved the round ups.
  • Great work from Nadine Borduas for inventing this years theme and also writing a blog post all about #RealTimeChem and the #NewElemChem event. Plus also enthusiastically taking part as always!
  • The fine folks at the Royal Society of Chemistry, especially Geri, James and Lizzie who got the blog post mentioned above together.
  • Finally, thanks to David Peralta, Managing editor of @ChemMedChem & the folks at WileyVCH who have again supported The Great #RealTimeChem Cook Off with more prizes .

Now, speaking of prizes, time to announce the winners of The Great #RealTimeChem Cook Off 2016:

rtcw-cook-off

As mentioned above this year’s contest was again sponsored by @WileyVCH‘s society chemistry journals.* The five winners below all receive a ChemPubSoc Europe package containing:

–A copy of What’s Cooking in Chemistry: How Leading Chemists Succeed in the Kitchen
-An exclusive #chemquackers scientist rubber duck (which you can use for all your #RealTimeChem posts!)
-Other Wiley-VCH goodies!

cpse-realtimechem-whatscooking-2016-prizes

The prizes for this year’s Cook off in all their glory.

—
*@ChemEurJ, @ChemistrySelect, @ChemistryOpen, @ChemBioChem, @ChemCatChem, @ChemMedChem, @ChemElectroChem, @ChemPhysChem, @ChemPlusChem, @ChemSusChem,@ChemPhotoChem, @EurJIC, and Eur. J. Org. Chem (all journals of @ChemPubSoc_Euro); @ChemAsianJ, @AsianJOrgChem, and @ChemNanoMat (all journals of the Asian Chemical Editorial Society); and @angew_chem (a journal of @GDCh_aktuell).

WINNERS BELOW!

This was not a straightforward decision. A lot of fantastic entries this year and so a decision had to be made based on a number of factors; invention, chemistry content, popularity (via retweets and favourites), general looks of the cook, humour, etc.

After much deliberation on my part and consultation with my partners at Wiley, here are the chosen winners:

This was rather rather popular. While a #tbt, it was not one I’d ever seen before (I’d remember this). It was certainly the most chemistry-focused cook off entry of the weekend. Plus people really seemed to love it. Philippa also shared some other excellent bakes too (See also: https://twitter.com/PhilippaOwens/status/795348760981360640)

Nadine made some rather tasty dumplings (see here for results: https://twitter.com/nadineborduas/status/794960071977529344), but the process of making them we felt was the most fun with excellent use of PPE.

Andy shared this pumpkin pie (very topical for a week starting on Halloween!) twice and it was highly popular on both occasions. The shot is great, also very neat sugar dusting on the top.

Partha’s great looking dishes won out here not just for their scrumptious looks, but also we love a good bit of spice. Can just imagine the heat right now!

Molecular Dreams is the final winner for some orbital like bread. Bread is tricky (well for me anyway!) and I think these look fantastic.

Congratulations everybody! To claim your prize please send me the below details, either via DM on Twitter or to realtimechem@gmail.com

-FULL NAME
-Affiliation (Uni/Company/Department) and position/role
-Email account
-Shipping Address (if at an institution, please indicate the Lab/Division/department and/or Room numbers)

 

Once again thank you a million times to everyone who took part in #RealTimeChem week 2016.

mischief managed

-Doctor Galactic-

 

 

#RealTimeChem Week 2016 – FAQ

Posted on by doctorgalactic

rtc-week-2016

Hello everybody,

It’s almost that time again, time for #RealTimeChem Week! For those not in the know, #RealTimeChem Week is a 7 day event to help raise awareness of the #RealTimeChem chemistry community on Twitter and encourage as many chemists to tweet about their chemistry as possible. During the week various events, competitions and prizes are on offer, just to make it all the more fun and exciting.

If you are completely new and want to know more about #RealTimeChem in general, then following this link to the regular FAQ, where you can learn all about the project and the community.

If you don’t use #RealTimeChem all that regularly, this is the week to give it a go. Why not take some time during #RealTimeChem to share some chemistry and connect to other chemists in the world and have some fun while you’re at it?

 

When is it?

31st October-6th November. It runs all day for all 7 days.

 

How do I take part again?

Just tweet about chemistry using the hashtag #RealTimeChem. Simple as that.

 

So what’s going on during this year’s event?

This year has seen the proposed addition of four brand new elements to the periodic table: nihonium, moscovium, tennessine and oganesson (due to be ratified in November). And with these additions the periodic table is now full. Row 7 is done folks! Such a big change doesn’t happen all that often and it’s been just one of a number of big changes that have occurred, and not just in chemistry, in chemistry during 2016.

From a personal perspective, I became a father for the first time this year and while asking about the community for ideas for #RealTimeChem Week this year, a theme that resonated with me was a suggestion from @nadineborduas:

As such, this year’s overall event theme is “New Elements in Chemistry” i.e. #NewElemChem – but this is not just about the periodic table’s new additions, it’s all about you. What new elements have been introduced in your life as a chemist or to your chemistry this year? Perhaps you’ve just started your life as a chemist? Maybe you’ve made some new, ground breaking discoveries? Had to learn new skills? Got new equipment or glass ware?  All the new things.

Of course the event isn’t limited to the theme, but this is just a few suggestions to think upon and will also be the subject of all #RealTimeChem Blog Carnival posts (more on that below).

 

#RealTimeChem Week Advert

Below you can find some banners to help you share the word about #RealTimeChem Week 2016. Designed again by the awesome Andy Brunning of @compoundinterest (www.compoundchem.com)

rtcw-about-poster

Plus in a few different colours:

rtcw-about-poster_bluertcw-about-poster_redrtcw-about-poster_purple

#RealTimeChem Awards 2016 (31st October – 4th November)

Just like previous years, I will be offering awards for the best tweets during #RealTimeChem Week. The format has, again, changed a little due to circumstances and budget. This year, after noting that tweets are often quite slim on the weekend portion of #RealTimeChem week, I’ve decided to focus the awards on the 5 days of the working week, with The Great #RealTimeChem Cook off taking up the weekend slot.

So, all you have to do to potentially win a prize in the awards is tweet using #RealTimeChem on the Monday-Friday. There are three different awards available: Ag, Au and Pt. 10 awards will be given each of the five days (6 Ag, 3 Au, 1 Pt). Those winning the coveted Platinum award (5 total) will each win a prize, which is, as usual, a #RealTimeChem mug with this year’s snazzy logo emblazoned on it:

mug-preview

This years mug prize.

Sadly, due to severe budget restrictions this year, Gold and Silver award winners don’t get a prize unfortunately, except recognition that you are, completely awesome.

 

The Great #RealTimeChem Cook Off (5th– 6th November) 

 

It’s back! Introduced last year, The Great #RealTimeChem Cook Off celebrates the perfect combination that is chemistry and cooking.

This year’s contest is sponsored by @WileyVCH‘s society chemistry journals.* Five winners will receive a ChemPubSoc Europe package containing

–A copy of What’s Cooking in Chemistry: How Leading Chemists Succeed in the Kitchen
-An exclusive #chemquackers scientist rubber duck (which you can use for all your #RealTimeChem posts!)
-Other Wiley-VCH goodies!

cpse-realtimechem-whatscooking-2016-prizes

This year’s cook off prizes

The competition only takes place on the weekend of #RealTimeChem Week. Feel free to cook something during the week, but the tweet must be shared on the weekend of November 5th-6th to count.

All you have to do to enter the competition is to tweet your culinary creation (anything cooking, baking or food related) and include #RealTimeChem #whatscooking & @ChemPubSoc_Euro at the end of your tweet. Your tweet should include a picture or video of your creation and ideally have a short description (the description can even talk about the chemistry in your cooking! It’s up to you). Alternatively, you can write/link a recipe for others to try.

Everyone who tweets a cooking-related post using these hashtags will be entered into the competition, and 5 favourites will win a prize.

Hopefully with a bit more notice this time, you’ll all have time to get some ingredients in and post a tweet. I look forward to seeing what you all come up with!

—
*@ChemEurJ, @ChemistrySelect, @ChemistryOpen, @ChemBioChem, @ChemCatChem, @ChemMedChem, @ChemElectroChem, @ChemPhysChem, @ChemPlusChem, @ChemSusChem,@ChemPhotoChem, @EurJIC, and Eur. J. Org. Chem (all journals of @ChemPubSoc_Euro); @ChemAsianJ, @AsianJOrgChem, and @ChemNanoMat (all journals of the Asian Chemical Editorial Society); and @angew_chem (a journal of @GDCh_aktuell).

 

 

The #RealTimeChem Week Blog Carnival – #NewElemChem (31st October-6th November)

rtcw-new-elements

While the primary action for #RealTimeChem Week takes place on Twitter, there is also a blog carnival that runs alongside it. Chemistry bloggers are part of a thriving community and there are some excellent writers out there just waiting for readers.

Last year, #RealTimeChem Week had a “Back to the Future” theme, resulting in some fantastic posts on #OldTimeChem and #FutureTimeChem (highlights from last year are available here at SciTechConnect).

This year the theme is “New elements in chemistry” (#NewElemChem) and here’s the brief:

Write a blog post about the new chemistry in your life or the new life in your chemistry. The key is the “new” part. Our lives in chemistry are made up of many elements, both chemically and non-chemically speaking, and this is your chance to tell the community all about it. What new reactions have you run this year? Have you had fun with new chemicals? Did you learn something mind-bogglingly for the first time? Are you adapting to a new life situation that’s affecting your chemistry? Have you just started your life as a chemist? You can answer any of these questions and more. Write as little or as much as you like and share it during #RealTimeChem Week with #NewElemChem to be part of the blog carnival.

So, if you are a blogger, write a post and share it during the Week on Twitter using the hastag #NewElemChem. The carnival this year is being kindly hosted again by Elsevier’s SciTechConnect (thanks Katey Birtcher!). They will be looking out for this hashtag and will collect your blog post into a round up each day so they are all in one place for easy access.

Please note, if you don’t use the hashtag, then your post won’t be included in the carnival, so please make sure you remember to add it. I’ll also be retweeting these via @RealTimeChem to draw attention to them during the week. Happy writing!

 

Compound Interest competition

rtcw-chemunicate-competition

Want a graphic made based on your research? For this year’s #RealTimeChem Week, we’re once again after chemistry researchers who want to explain their research in easy-to-understand terms. To enter, all you have to do is write a piece no longer than 500 words, detailing your work and its potential applications. Note that it should be written so it’s understandable for an audience of non-scientists!

From the submitted pieces, three will be chosen to have graphics made based on them, and these graphics will then be featured alongside your written piece on the Compound Interest site during #RealTimeChem Week, which this year runs from 31 October until 6th November.

You can find details on how to enter here.

 

Other events/competitions

There is always room for more chemistry-based fun. If you would like to run an event or competition during #RealTimeChem Week or to sponsor one of the above events, then please get in touch with me via realtimechem@gmail.com and I’ll be happy to chat about the possibilities.

 

-Doctor Galactic-

 

 

  

“The Great #RealTimeChem Cook Off” Competition

Posted on by doctorgalactic

GRTCCO

Chemistry is like cooking. Just don’t lick the spoon.

Hello RealTimeChemists,

Over the past few years I’ve noticed that many of you have shared some fantastic creations, not just from your laboratory at work, but also from your kitchen at home.

There is a very strong association between chemistry and cooking, and to celebrate this connection, I’m very happy to announce the first ever #RealTimeChem Cook off!

MasterChef

Don’t worry these guys aren’t going to be judging you. © BBC

Prizes for the Cook off have been kindly provided by the folks at WileyVCH* [special thanks to Guido Kemeling (E-in-C of @ChemSusChem), @ChemSusChem, @angew_chem & @AsianJOrgChem). We have 6 copies of “What’s Cooking in Chemistry?: How Leading Chemists Succeed in the Kitchen” to give away. This fascinating book acts as a Who’s Who in organic chemistry, showing what top scientists like to cook.

All you have to do to enter the competition is to tweet a culinary creation (anything cooking, baking or food related) using the hashtags #RealTimeChem & #whatscooking this week. Your tweet should ideally include a short description with a picture or video of your creation (the description can even talk about the chemistry in your cooking! It’s up to you). Alternatively, you can write a recipe for others to try. 

 

Everyone who Tweets a cooking related tweet using these hashtags will be entered into the competition and 6 favourites will win a book. This competition runs until the end of #RealTimeChem Week 2015 (25th October) so you’ve got some time to get some ingredients in and post a tweet (I mean cake baking is such a weekend thing!). I expect many of you will have some free time to get in the kitchen on the weekend in particular, so the perfect excuse to share a little more fun #RealTimeChem and possibly win a prize. Just remember Mary Berry expects…

mary berry

 

If you have any questions about the competition, please let me know via Twitter (@RealTimeChem) 

-Doctor Galactic-

*Book prizes sponsored by @WileyVCH’s society chemistry journals. These are: @ChemEurJ., @ChemistryOpen, @ChemBioChem, @ChemCatChem, @ChemMedChem, @ChemElectroChem, @ChemPhysChem, @ChemPlusChem, @ChemSusChem, @EurJIC, and Eur. J. Org. Chem (all journals of ChemPubSoc Europe); @ChemAsianJ, @AsianJOrgChem, and @ChemNanoMat (all journals of the Asian Chemical Editorial Society); and @angew_chem (a journal of @GDCh_aktuell)