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Letters to the editor

Alien life detector

As a 50-plus year member of the American Chemical Society, I still enjoy reading C&EN every week. Occasionally, I see an article that captures my attention, and I get an urge to convert it into poetic form. Here is one based on the report on an alien life detector by Katharine Sanderson (C&EN, May 31, 2021, page 9).

Molecules can form by chance or evolution.
In their complexity, each method should differ
And that was the basis for a solution
That has all the earmarks of a sniffer.
So ’twas Lee Cronin’s group at Glasgow U.
Who established a new recognition technique
And, let us say, that between me and you
It is one that is truly unique.
A complexity score algorithm they first devised
For any given molecular species
And a Molecular Assembly number that is based on size
Became the centerpiece of their new thesis.
For big biological molecules have many bonds
Compared with those that are inorganic
And a large MA number, therefore, corresponds
To those that are bio-organic.
Now, Tandem Mass Spec. is the method they use
And the experimental variable is its second stage.
If there is a large number of peaks they will choose
To say it must come from a biological cage.
They have tested the theory on samples galore
Both bio-organic and inorganic, too
And above an MA threshold was an evolutionary score
Which gave good correlation, it is true.
Much more work, though, has yet to be done
To increase sensitivity at low concentration
For there are few molecules between here and the sun
Or in outer space since the act of creation.
So, if the MA algorithm can be retooled
And applied to infrared spectroscopy data
Then extrasolar planetary molecules
Could be identified as Alien Life matter!

Andrew Roxburgh McGhie
Wilmington, Delaware

Lisa Jones

Thank you for your recent story on professor Lisa Jones’s decision to withdraw her name from consideration for a faculty position at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill after the disturbing action by the board in denying tenure to Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones (C&EN, June 14, 2021, page 7). It is inspiring to see professor Jones put her commitment to the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion into action, calling out this apparent example of racial bias. C&EN writer Melba Newsome did a great job in reporting the story, adding comments from chemistry faculty members at UNC who shared their concerns about the impact of the Hannah-Jones tenure case on their efforts to recruit faculty of color.

Randy Heald
Fort Scott, Kansas

OSHA and chemical safety

Thank you for the interestingarticle regarding the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and comments by David Michaels about the organization that he once headed (C&EN, June 28, 2021, page 26). The formation of OSHA in 1970 was an important turning point in worker health and safety. I enrolled in my chemistry major in 1952 at what is now the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Laboratory ventilation back then was a joke. We were exposed to asbestos, mercury, benzene, and a great assortment of chemicals that today are off limits in undergraduate labs. I am happy to still be alive!

My first real exposure to lab safety was as an employee of DuPont in Wilmington, Delaware. Safety was stressed from day 1, including group safety meetings. When I eventually left to join the faculty at the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire, I was given the job as chair of the chemistry department’s Safety Committee. That was quite a challenge for academic chemists with no industrial backgrounds. Luckily I survived to enjoy retirement!

Allen A. Denio
Newark, Delaware