It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Now that I’ve got some free time, I may as well get this blog posting again. Let’s start back off with something light.
I ran across an amusing article in Nature Chemistry recently entitled “A comprehensive overview of chemical-free consumer products”. Here’s what it says:
No, really – that’s it. Here’s the paper, if you don’t believe me.
From their submission application:
“We have completed an exhaustive study of common products that are marketed as ‘chemical-free’ and have prepared a detailed analysis of those products that are appropriately labeled as such. In brief, there aren’t many. In briefer, see the body text of our manuscript. We believe that the popular use of the term ‘chemical-free’ is of great interest (and of even greater malaise) among chemists of all backgrounds, that our findings are generally applicable and our analysis robust enough. In addition, though this topic is frequently discussed in many circles in the chemistry community, no peer-reviewed study to our knowledge has been reported on this topic at this length. For these reasons, we consider Nature Chemistry to be the appropriate journal for publication of our manuscript. We hope that this article serves as a practical resource for chemical education and science advocacy and that the examples described therein provide useful guidance for appropriate marketing and labeling practices.”
Relevant video:
Speaking of, more new music up on the Recordings page.