Opposition political parties in New Zealand recently voiced their opposition to the use of boric acid, a boron-containing compound, for the treatment of wood, given that the EU recently labelled it a carcinogen. And France recently flew 95 tonnes of boron to Japan for use in avoiding a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant. The nuclear fission chain reaction that provides the energy relies on neutrons to be sustained and as boron can absorb neutrons extremely well, it can be used to stop the chain reaction getting out of control.
But I'm not going to write about boron. Because this month's column is all about ... this column.
On April 2, 2001, "Chemistry Matters" made its first appearance in the ODT. Yes, "Chemistry Matters" is 10 years old this month. And it all began thanks to both the late Professor Alan MacDiarmid, who provided the inspiration by winning the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2000, and Robin Charteris and Philip Somerville, of the ODT, who were progressive enough to think my suggestion for a monthly column communicating and explaining chemistry was actually a good idea. To this day, the ODT is, to my knowledge, the only newspaper in New Zealand (and certainly one of the few in the world) which has a dedicated chemistry column, and it should be applauded by scientists of all hues (not just chemists) for this.
The first "Chemistry Matters" column attempted to explain the chemistry of conducting polymers, the discovery for which Prof MacDiarmid was awarded the Nobel Prize. Since this time, subjects as diverse as party drugs, solar power, air bags in cars, the size of an atom, vitamins, Japanese whaling and Phar Lap have been given the "Chemistry Matters" treatment.
Of the subsequent 116 columns (yes, I've missed three deadlines over those 10 years), some have been written in France, Australia and China, some have been reprinted in the New Zealand Secondary School Chemistry Teachers journal, some have led to TV and radio appearances by yours truly, and all are available online at http://neon.otago.ac.nz/chemistry/magazine.
I don't want to come across as sycophantic, but I really can't commend the ODT enough for running this column. Regular readers will know that I occasionally rant about the dumbing down of the media, with TV being the most obvious transgressor in this respect - having seen TVNZ 6, a channel largely populated with programmes for pre-schoolers, morph into U, which appears to be aimed at those of an even lower mental age, my fervent hope is that we have reached rock bottom, but my greatest fear is that we haven't. TV is often guilty of giving the "oxygen of publicity" (to use a chemical term) to all types of self-promoting charlatans, with nary a scientist in sight. And don't even start me on the so-called "women's magazines".
So it really is refreshing to see a media outlet willing to provide space for a scientific viewpoint every month. And it is gratifying to know that, judging by comments that I receive, "Chemistry Matters" is read by a significant number of people. So I thank you for reading over the years, and I hope I can provide you with more chemical insights over many years to come.
Normal service will be resumed next month.
• Dr Blackman is an associate professor in the chemistry department at the University of Otago