bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Introduction
Authors: Brown Jeannette E.
Published: November 2020

When I wrote my first book African American Women Chemists I neglected to state that it was a historical book. I researched to find the first African American woman who had studied chemistry in college and worked in the field. The woman that I found was Josephine Silane Yates who studied chemistry at the Rhode Island Normal School in order to become a science teacher. She was hired by the Lincoln Institute in 1881 and later was, I believe, the first African American woman to become a professor and head a department of science. But then again there might be women who traveled out of the country to study because of racial prejudice in this country. The book ended with some women like myself who were hired as chemists in the industry before the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Therefore, I decided to write another book about the current African American women chemists who, as I say, are hiding in plain sight. To do this, I again researched women by using the web or by asking questions of people I met at American Chemical Society ACS or National Organization for the Professional Advances of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE) meetings. I asked women to tell me their life stories and allow me to take their oral history, which I recorded and which were transcribed thanks to the people at the Chemical Heritage Foundation in Philadelphia, PA. Most of the stories of these women will be archived at the CHF in their oral history collection. The women who were chosen to be in this book are an amazing group of women. Most of them are in academia because it is easy to get in touch with professors since they publish their research on the web. Some have worked for the government in the national laboratories and a few have worked in industry. Some of these women grew up in the Jim Crow south where they went to segregated schools but were lucky because they were smart and had teachers and parents who wanted them to succeed despite everything they had to go through.
Children’s Savings Accounts’ Influence on the Opportunity Pipeline
Authors: Elliott Willliam , Lewis Melinda
Published: November 2020

The rapid proliferation of Children’s Savings Accounts (CSAs) around the United States has somewhat outpaced research into how early children’s assets influence multiple aspects of children’s lives. As they contend with operational details and the challenges inherent in trying to make disconnected systems cooperate in the interests of children and their families, practitioners in the field often lack nuanced understanding of how a particular incentive might work or what to expect as a benchmark outcome at a specific stage of child development. Their efforts rest, however, on a burgeoning body of research that provides a sense of how CSAs may differ from other forms of financial aid and how these differences could make them powerful tools for facilitating children’s success. According to this research, CSAs are understood to begin working early in a child’s life, thereby affecting not only college affordability but also early preparation and achievement. Also distinct from other financial aid approaches are CSAs’ effects on students’ asset holdings and overall economic positions. When taken together, CSAs demonstrate unique potential to alter both educational and financial outcomes. More specifically, as articulated here, CSAs are understood to affect children at four stages of what we are calling the opportunity pipe­line: (a) early childhood, (b) school years, (c) college years, and (d) post-college years. Success in all four stages is crucial to the realization of strong returns on postsecondary educational attainment and the construction of a solid ladder of equitable upward mobility. By introducing the phrase “opportunity pipeline,” we intend to expand the notion of what financial aid really is or, at least, should be. CSAs are an investment in the ideal that every child in America should have an equal opportunity to achieve the American dream. Given education’s role in facilitating equitable chances at economic well-being, we see this as the standard to which financial aid policies should be held.
Virtual Therapy and the Digital Future of Traumatic Past
Authors: Pinchevski Amit
Published: November 2020

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) presents a puzzling pathology of memory. An event, usually experienced with great fear and distress, is remembered not through typical recollections of past occurrences, upsetting as they may be, but instead as repeated and intrusive re-experiencing of the event as if happening once again. This is more or less the description of a disorder officially recognized by the American Psychiatric Association in 1980, but whose history can be traced back to the middle of the nineteenth century. As critical accounts by Ian Hacking, Ruth Leys, and Allan Young have shown, the very notion of traumatic memory is a distinctively modern development, which introduced new dimensions to the understanding of human memory more generally. In the spirit of modern progress, pathology of memory calls for therapy of memory, and the question of how to treat post-trauma inevitably involves the question of how to penetrate traumatic memory. That this memory is such that resists normal memorization renders any therapy a form of intermediating between past and present. In fact, it might be possible to run through the history of trauma therapies as a story of the challenge of accessing and retrieving traumatic memory. This chapter ventures no such enterprise. But its subject matter might be considered as a most recent episode in that story, in which access and retrieval of traumatic memory are performed by means of digital media technology. Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET) is a clinical therapy project that employs digital virtual reality platform for treating war-related PTSD. Developed chiefly by psychologist Albert “Skip” Rizzo at the Institute for Creative Technology of the University of South California, the project draws on principles of exposure therapy, a cognitive-behavioral method whereby the patient is exposed to stimuli associated with the fearful event in order to achieve habituation. Its most recent configuration is Virtual Iraq- Afghanistan: an Xbox videogame- based platform currently in use at more than sixty locations, including hospitals, military bases, and university centers.
Mineral Weathering
Authors: Sposito Garrison
Published: November 2020

Mineral weathering begins with mineral dissolution, typically as induced by protons or by ligands that form strong complexes with metals (Section 1.4). Proton-induced dissolution begins with H+ adsorption, exemplified in Eq. 3.2 for a metal oxyhydroxide mineral. In the absence of ligands that could replace the positively charged water molecule resulting from this rapid reaction, proton adsorption is followed by slow detachment of the metal, which then equilibrates as a soluble species in the soil solution, as illustrated in Fig. 5.1 (pathway 1) for gibbsite [Al(OH)3; see Fig. 2.7] at a pH value low enough that the detached Al3+ does not hydrolyze. Ligand-induced dissolution is also illustrated in Fig. 5.1 (pathway 2). The ligand is a fluoride anion, which forms a strong complex with Al3+ (see problem 3 in Chapter 4). Adsorption in this case occurs by ligand exchange, which is illustrated for carboxylate in Eq. 3.3. A similar reaction occurs for F-:...Slow detachment of the AlF2+ complex then follows. Whenever a mineral dissolution reaction induced by either of these two-step mechanisms is far from equilibrium, it is not influenced by the very low concentration of the constituent released from the dissolving mineral and its rate can be described by zero-order kinetics (Table 4.2). Accordingly, if [A] is the concentration of a constituent released, then the rate law can be expressed as...where kd is a rate coefficient independent of [A] , but a function of temperature, pressure, pH, the chemical properties of the mineral, and, if appropriate, the concentration of the ligand inducing dissolution via the second mechanism in Fig. 5.1. The mineral dissolution rate on the left side of Eq. 5.2 can be mass-normalized to express it in moles per mole of mineral per second by dividing the molar concentration [A] with the solids concentration of the mineral expressed in units of moles per liter. This mass-normalized rate does not depend on the amount of mineral dissolving. For proton-induced dissolution, the rate is then a function of temperature, pressure, pH, and the chemical nature of the mineral.
Richard Feynman: The Consensual Sublime
Authors: Gross Alan G.
Published: November 2020

Richard Feynman was a fox, not a hedgehog: he did not know one big thing; instead, he knew many things. He was an inspired tinkerer, a Thomas Edison of theoretical science. Still, like Leo Tolstoy, he yearned to be a hedgehog. Feynman’s vision was like Tolstoy’s: “scrupulously empirical, rational, tough-minded and realistic. But its emotional cause is a passionate desire for a monistic vision of life on the part of the fox bitterly intent on seeing in the manner of the hedgehog.” This difference extends to method and attitude. While the great physicist Hans Bethe, Feynman’s frequent working companion at Los Alamos, proceeded deliberately in any argument between them, Feynman “was as likely to begin in the middle or at the end, and jump back and forth until he had convinced himself he was right (or wrong).” It was a contest between “the Battleship and the Mosquito Boat,” a small, lightly armed torpedo vessel. From 1948 to 1958, Feynman enjoyed triumph after triumph. To a former student, Koichi Mano, Feynman wrote: “You met me at the peak of my career when I seemed to you to be concerned with problems close to the gods.” Working on these problems, Feynman reflects a general conviction typical of successful scientists. Another scientist says what Richard Feynman might have: “There’s nothing I’d rather do. In fact my boy says I am paid for playing. He’s right. In other words if I had an income I’d do just what I’m doing now. I’m one of the people who has found what he wanted to do. At night when you can’t sleep you think about your problems. You work on holidays and Sundays. It’s fun. Research is fun. By and large it’s a very pleasant existence.” Problems close to the gods are their gift, but the gods are capricious. This is why for many geniuses, being a genius is a career as brief as an athlete’s. For most, as for Feynman, a dreaded day arrives: the great insights stop coming. The marvelous decade having passed, Feynman tells his student Mano that he turned to “innumerable problems you would call humble.”
Brian Greene: The Speculative Sublime
Authors: Gross Alan G.
Published: November 2020

Charles Dodgson warned a child correspondent of the dangers of living in the looking-glass world of mathematicians like himself, the high price of consistently believing “six impossible things before breakfast”: . . . Don’t be in such a hurry to believe next time—I’ll tell you why—If you set to work to believe everything you will tire out the muscles of the mind, and then you’ll be so weak you won’t be able to believe the simplest true things. Only last week a friend of mine set to work to believe Jack-the-giant-killer. He managed to do it, but he was so exhausted by it that when I told him it was raining (which was true) he couldn’t believe it, but rushed out into the street without his umbrella, the consequence of which was his hair got seriously damp, and one curl didn’t recover its right shape for nearly two days. . . . In all his books, Brian Greene is our tour guide on a journey into his particular looking-glass world—string theory, an exercise in the speculative sublime, a sublime only for aficionados, certainly not for you and me. Here is the abstract of an article cited a respectable 201 times: . . . We show that a string-inspired Planck scale modification of general relativity can have observable cosmological effects. Specifically, we present a complete analysis of the inflationary perturbation spectrum produced by a phenomenological Lagrangian that has a standard form on large scales but incorporates a string-inspired short distance cutoff, and find a deviation from the standard result. We use the de Sitter calculation as the basis of a qualitative analysis of other inflationary backgrounds, arguing that in these cases the cutoff could have a more pronounced effect, changing the shape of the spectrum. Moreover, the computational approach developed here can be used to provide unambiguous calculations of the perturbation spectrum in other heuristic models that modify trans-Planckian physics and thereby determine their impact on the inflationary perturbation spectrum. Finally, we argue that this model may provide an exception to constraints, recently proposed by Tanaka and Starobinsky, on the ability of Planck-scale physics to modify the cosmological spectrum. . . .
Stephen Hawking: The Scientific Sublime Embodied
Authors: Gross Alan G.
Published: November 2020

Lucy Hawking has had the good fortune of being the daughter of the most famous living physicist; she has had the better fortune of having been a teenager before Stephen Hawking became famous, a time when he was known and respected only by other theoretical physicists. In this less hectic time, he was just a father, a man with a disability, to be sure, but not a disabled man, a sufferer from Lou Gehrig’s disease who defied the odds. Who could view as disabled a man who zipped through the streets of Cambridge in a Formula 1 electric wheelchair driven at reckless speeds and, on one occasion at least, almost disastrous consequences? Hawking is now, perhaps, the most famous physicist since Einstein. While his work significantly expands the territory of the scientific sublime, his life embodies that sublime. This is not the ethical sublime that Rachel Carson, the subject of the next chapter, embodies; it is not a code of conduct. Rather, it is our firm sense that we are dealing with an extraordinary human being who has overcome daunting challenges to become an impressive virtual presence, a man who, alone among contemporary scientists, is a star, nay, a superstar. Confined to a wheelchair, he towers above us, an exemplar, a demonstration of just how deep a deep-seated commitment to science can be. But is he any good at physics? Is it all hype? His heroes—Galileo, Newton, and Einstein—are models he cannot hope to emulate. Those on whom he consistently relies—Werner Heisenberg, Paul Dirac, and Richard Feynman—are clearly his superiors. True, he is an elite physicist honored by his peers, but he is more a Dom than a Joe DiMaggio, excellent, though not the very best. As he says himself, “To my colleagues am just another physicist.” But his professional reputation hardly matters, because, as he asserts with characteristic good humor: . . . To the wider public I became possibly the best-known scientist in the world. This is partly because scientists, apart from Einstein, are not widely known rock stars, and partly because I fit the stereotype of a disabled genius. I can’t disguise myself with a wig and dark glasses—the wheelchair gives me away. . . .
Flow Chemistry
Authors: Taber Douglass F.
Published: November 2020

Arturo Macchi of the University of Ottawa and Dominique M. Roberge of Lonza sum­marized (Org. Process Res. Dev. 2014, 18, 1286) a “toolbox approach” for the evolution from batch to continuous chemical synthesis. Michael D. Organ of York University developed (Org. Process Res. Dev. 2014, 18, 1315) a flow reactor with inline analyt­ics, and Timothy D. White of Eli Lilly described (Org. Process Res. Dev. 2014, 18, 1482) the continuous production of solid products under flow conditions. Electrochemical reduction and oxidation are particularly easy under flow conditions. Steven V. Ley of the University of Cambridge oxidized (Org. Lett. 2014, 16, 4618) 1 under flow conditions, then condensed the product with tryptamine 2 to pre­pare the indole alkaloid Nazlinine 3. Thomas Wirth of Cardiff University electrolyzed (Org. Process Res. Dev. 2014, 18, 1377) the carbonate 4 in a non-divided cell to return the deprotected phenol 5. Timothy Noël of the Eindhoven University of Technology gathered (Chem. Eur. J. 2014, 20, 10562) an overview of photochemical transformations under flow condi­tions. Kevin I. Booker-Milburn of the University of Bristol observed (Chem. Eur. J. 2014, 20, 15226) superior yields for the coupling of 6 with 7 to form 8 under flow compared to batch conditions. Koichi Fukase of Osaka University and Ilhyong Ryu of Osaka Prefecture University converted (Chem. Eur. J. 2014, 20, 12750) 9 selectively to 10 under flow conditions. Alexei A. Lapkin, also of the University of Cambridge, optimized (Org. Process Res. Dev. 2014, 18, 1443) the singlet oxygen conversion of 11 to 12. Shawn K. Collins of the Université de Montréal cyclized (Org. Process Res. Dev. 2014, 18, 1571) 13 to 14. There have been several advances in the use of enzymes under flow conditions. Rodrigo O. M. A. de Souza of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro found (Org. Process Res. Dev. 2014, 18, 1372) that lipase in a microemulsion-based organogel efficiently converted coupled 15 with 16 to make 17. Timothy F. Jamison of MIT developed (Org. Lett. 2014, 16, 6092) a catch-and-release protocol for the reductive amination of 18 with 19 to give 20.
Enantioselective Synthesis of Alcohols and Amines: The Doi Synthesis of Apratoxin C
Authors: Taber Douglass F.
Published: November 2020

Hiromitsu Takayama of Chiba University used (Org. Lett. 2014, 16, 5000) the Itsuno-Corey protocol to reduce the enone 1 to the allylic alcohol 2. Peiming Gu of Ningxia University developed (Org. Lett. 2014, 16, 5339) a Cu catalyst that cyclized the pro­chiral 3 to 4 in high ee. Xiaoming Feng of Sichuan University effected (Org. Lett. 2014, 16, 3938) enantioselective Baeyer–Villiger oxidation of the racemic cyclopentanone 5, converting one enantiomer to the δ-lactone 6. The velocity of catalytic osmylation is often limited by slow turnover of the interme­diate osmate ester. Koichi Narasaka, then at the University of Tokyo, showed (Chem. Lett. 1988, 1721) that the efficiency of the transformation was improved by the addi­tion of stoichiometric phenyl boronic acid. Kilian Muñiz, now at ICIQ Tarragona, established (Chem. Eur. J. 2005, 11, 3951) that this acceleration also worked with Sharpless asymmetric dihydroxylation. D. Christopher Braddock of Imperial College London took advantage (Chem. Commun. 2014, 50, 13725) of these observations, converting myrcene 7 selectively to the cyclic boronate 8. Michael P. Doyle of the University of Maryland developed (J. Org. Chem. 2014, 79, 12185) a Rh catalyst for the ene reaction of 9 with 10 to give 11. Adriaan J. Minnaard of the University of Groningen devised (Chem. Eur. J. 2014, 20, 14250) a Cu cata­lyst that mediated the face selective addition of 13 to 12, establishing the oxygenated quaternary center of 14. Tomonori Misaki and Takashi Sugimura of the University of Hyogo used (Chem. Lett. 2014, 43, 1826) Michael addition of 15 to 16 to construct the oxygenated quaternary center of 17. Jon C. Antilla of the University of South Florida assembled (Chem. Commun. 2014, 50, 14187) the δ-lactone 20 by adding the diene 19 to the α-keto ester 18. Zhiyong Wang of the University of Science and Technology of China reported (Org. Lett. 2014, 16, 3564) related results. Jonathan A. Ellman of Yale University achieved (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2014, 53, 11329) substantial enantioselectivity in the addition of thioacetic acid 22 to the nitroalkene 21 to give 23. Subhash P. Chavan of the National Chemistry Laboratory prepared (Tetrahedron Lett. 2014, 55, 5905) the allylic amine 25 by reduction of the aziridine 24.
Enantioselective Construction of Alkylated Centers: The Rawal Synthesis of (+)-Fornicin C
Authors: Taber Douglass F.
Published: November 2020

Kazuaki Kudo of the University of Tokyo showed (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2013, 52, 11585) that the dienyl aldehyde 1 could be reduced to the saturated aldehyde 2 with high ee. Alexandre Alexakis of the University of Geneva effected (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2013, 52, 12701) conjugate addition to the unsaturated amide 3 to give 4 in high ee. Professor Alexakis also carried out (Chem. Eur. J. 2013, 19, 11352) enantioselective conjugate addition to the alkynyl nitro alkene 5, leading to 6. Gerrit J. Poelarends of the University of Groningen found (Chem. Eur. J. 2013, 19, 14407) that the enzyme 4-oxalocrotonate tautomerase mediated the conjugate addition of acetaldehyde to a nitroalkene 7 to deliver the aldehyde 8 in high ee. Tohru Yamada of Keio University developed (Chem. Commun. 2013, 49, 8371) an enantioselective Cu catalyst for the Claisen rearrangement of 9 to 10. Shi-Kai Tian of USTC Hefei made (Chem. Commun. 2013, 49, 8190) the primary amine of 11 a leaving group, coupling 11 with 12 to make 13. David W. C. MacMillan of Princeton University alkylated (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2013, 135, 11756) the aldehyde 14 with the boronic acid 15, to give 16 in high ee. Paolo Melchiorre of ICIQ Tarragona effected (Nature Chem. 2013, 5, 750) the enantioselective construction of the quaternary cen­ter of 19 by alkylation of the aldehyde 17 with 18. Other methods for the enantioselective construction of quaternary alkylated cen­ters have also been put forward. Varinder K. Aggarwal of the University of Bristol elaborated (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2013, 135, 16054) the inexpensive secondary ester 20 into the alkylated product 21. Jianwei Sun of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology cyclized (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2013, 52, 13593) the prochiral diol 22 to 23 in high ee. Amir H. Hoveyda of Boston College effected (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2013, 52, 8156) enantioselective conjugate addition to the enone 24 to give 25. Xiaoming Feng of Sichuan University devised (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2013, 52, 10883) a catalyst for the addition of the bulky α-diazo ester 26 into the α-keto ester 27, leading to 28.
C–O Ring Construction: Sauropus Hexoside (Xie/Wu), (+)-Ipomeamarone (Usuki), Decytospolide A (Fujioka), Cytospolide P (Goswami), (+)-Didemniserinolipid B (Tong), Gymnothelignan N (She)
Authors: Taber Douglass F.
Published: November 2020

A range of biological activity was observed for the group of 3,6-anhydro-2-deoxy hexosides, of which 3 is representative, isolated from Sauropus rostratus. Wei-Jia Xie and Xiao-Ming Wu of China Pharmaceutical University prepared (Org. Lett. 2014, 16, 5004) 3 by the dealkylative cyclization of 1 to 2. (+)-Ipomeamarone 6 is a phytoalexin isolated from mold-damaged sweet pota­toes. Yoshinosuke Usuki of Osaka City University assembled (Chem. Lett. 2014, 43, 1882) 6 by the diastereoselective cyclization of 4 to 5. Hiromichi Fujioka of Osaka University protected (Org. Lett. 2014, 16, 3680) the enone of 7 by the conjugate addition of triphenylphosphine. Diastereoselective reduc­tion of the other ketone followed by deprotection of the enone and cyclization led to 8, that was hydrogenated to decytospolide A 9. En route to cytospolide P 12, Rajib Kumar Goswami of the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science had planned (J. Org. Chem. 2014, 79, 7689) the ring-closing metathesis of 10. This failed, but cyclization of the corresponding silyl ether to 11 was successful with the second-generation Hoveyda catalyst. Rongbiao Tong of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology set (J. Org. Chem. 2014, 79, 6987) the absolute configuration of (+)-didemniserinolipid B 15 by Sharpless asymmetric osmylation of the alkene 13. Oxidative Achmatowicz rearrangement/bicycloketalization then delivered 14. Xuegong She of Lanzhou University observed (Org. Lett. 2014, 16, 4440) remark­able diastereoselectivity in the reductive cyclization of 16 to 17. Oxidation of 17 led to regioselective cyclization to gymnothelignan N 18.
Heteroaromatic Synthesis: The Tokuyama Synthesis of (−)-Rhazinilam
Authors: Taber Douglass F.
Published: November 2020

Mei-Huey Lin of the National Changhua University of Education rearranged (J. Org. Chem. 2014, 79, 2751) the initial allene derived from 1 to the γ-chloroenone. Displacement with acetate followed by hydrolysis led to the furan 2. A. Stephen K. Hashmi of Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg showed (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2014, 53, 3715) that the Au-catalyzed conversion of the bis alkyne 3, mediated by 4, proceeded selectively to give 5. Tehshik P. Yoon of the University of Wisconsin used (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2014, 53, 793) visible light with a Ru catalyst to rearrange the azide 6 to the pyrrole 7. Cheol-Min Park, now at UNIST, found (Chem. Sci. 2014, 5, 2347) that a Ni catalyst reorganized the methoxime 8 to the pyrrole 9. A Rh catalyst converted 8 to the corresponding pyridine (not illustrated). In the course of a synthesis of opioid ligands, Kenner C. Rice of the National Institute on Drug Abuse optimized (J. Org. Chem. 2014, 79, 5007) the preparation of the pyridine 11 from the alcohol 10. Vincent Tognetti and Cyrille Sabot of the University of Rouen heated (J. Org. Chem. 2014, 79, 1303) 12 and 13 under micro­wave irradiation to give the 3-hydroxy pyridine 14. Tomislav Rovis of Colorado State University prepared (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2014, 136, 2735) the pyridine 17 by the Rh-catalyzed combination of 15 with 16. Fabien Gagosz of the Ecole Polytechnique rearranged (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2014, 53, 4959) the azirine 18, readily available from the oxime of the β-keto ester, to the pyridine 19. Matthias Beller of the Universität Rostock used (Chem. Eur. J. 2014, 20, 1818) a Zn catalyst to mediate the opening of the epoxide 21 with the aniline 20. A Rh cata­lyst effected the oxidation and cyclization of the product amino alcohol to the indole 22. Sreenivas Katukojvala of the Indian Institute of Science Education & Research showed (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2014, 53, 4076) that the diazo ketone 23 could be used to anneal a benzene ring onto the pyrrole 24, leading to the 2,7-disubstituted indole 25.
Sources of Organic Compounds Required for Primitive Life
Authors: Deamer David W.
Published: November 2020

Carbon compounds on the early Earth were not the simple mixture previously referred to as a “prebiotic soup.” Instead, there was a continuing input of organic material synthesized by geochemical and photochemical reactions in the volcanic crust and atmosphere; organic compounds were also being delivered during late accretion by the infall of interplanetary dust particles (IDPs), impacting comets, and asteroid-sized bodies. Compounds from both sources (terrestrial and not) then underwent chemical processing by volcanism, photochemistry, and mineral-driven oxidation–reduction reactions. Some of these processes were synthetic reactions that led to increasing complexity, but this was balanced by other processes such as hydrolysis and pyrolysis that degraded organic material into simpler compounds or tar-like polymers. Because the atmosphere contained no molecular oxygen, the organic compounds that formed were relatively stable as a dilute solution in the global ocean, but were also dissolved in freshwater hydrothermal pools in contact with mineral surfaces of volcanic land masses. In either case, a process was required by which the organic compounds could become sufficiently concentrated to undergo chemical reactions. Questions to be addressed: What are plausible sources of organic compounds? What is their composition and abundance? How would organic material be chemically processed on the early Earth? How can dilute organic solutes become sufficiently concentrated to undergo chemical reactions? Chapter 1 described how virtually all of the carbon now circulating in the biosphere as organic and inorganic compounds was delivered during accretion of planetesimals as the Earth formed, and it is reasonable to assume that Mars had a similar addition of carbon compounds and water after it cooled from primary accretion. On the Earth, organic substances delivered during primary accretion would have been destroyed by the heat of impacts and the moon-forming event, so the carbon compounds necessary for the origin of life were necessarily added after the Earth had cooled sufficiently for a global ocean to appear.
Last in Line
Authors: Rosenstein Donald L. , Yopp Justin M.
Published: November 2020

Leaders of a support group often debrief after each meeting. So, when we started the group for widowed fathers, we made a point of scheduling time for this practice, even though it would make long days even longer. We used these conversations to reflect on any new themes that emerged during the session, the interpersonal dynamics between the men, and any changes we needed to make to the group. What neither of us anticipated was how moved we would be by these men and what they were building together. Month after month, as the two of us talked following each meeting, we marveled at the fathers’ willingness to share their fears and vulnerabilities. Their authentic exchanges with each other belied the stereotype that men are reluctant to talk openly about their feelings. Each time a father articulated a concern or newly discovered insight, the others responded with honesty and compassion. They were becoming part of something larger than themselves. We found this project as interesting and meaningful as any professional work either of us had ever done. It was also uncharted territory. Because no one had ever led a support group for widowed fathers whose wives died from cancer, there were no books, articles, or lectures to guide us as group leaders or to shed light on the unique challenges these men were facing. Like the fathers, we were participants in this experiment and were committed to giving it our best shot. The group sessions generated plenty of painful, awkward moments during which we had little or no comfort to share. They also sparked moments of profound insight, inspiration, and humor. Our post-meeting discussions gave us a chance to compare notes and appreciate the progress of each man and the group as a whole. Returning home after each session, we would tell our wives how great the group was that evening. Once a month we each felt especially grateful that we could share these successes with our spouses. During our debriefing session on the night “Ring Watch” ended, we sensed that the group was at an inflection point.
Future Trajectories
Authors: Rosenstein Donald L. , Yopp Justin M.
Published: November 2020

Steve’s departure from the group shook things up. To the rest of the men, it seemed as though he had sorted things out sooner and more fully than they had. They were genuinely happy for their friend but also wondered what his ability to commit to a new relationship meant about them. More than ever, the men questioned whether they were simply adjusting at their own slower pace or were, instead, spinning their wheels and unable to move forward. For a brief period after Steve left, the men talked about remarriage as though it was the most obvious measure of resolved bereavement. This view was reinforced by their interactions outside of group meetings. When friends and relatives asked them if they were dating again, the men heard that question as a proxy for “Are you doing better yet?” If they could answer “yes,” that felt like progress. By extension, it was tempting to think of remarriage as the main goal of their grief work. The more the men processed Steve’s departure and the complexities of committing themselves to someone new, the more they realized that marrying again was not the most important or even a necessary objective. Healing included far more than replacing their wedding bands. Increasingly, the men wrestled with larger questions. What was most important to them now? What kind of fathers did they want to be? Were their jobs meaningful and, if not, could they risk changing careers? Each man had already confronted a radical disruption in his imagined life trajectory, a loss of the future he had thought would be his. The challenge now was as much about reimagining a future as it was about coming to terms with the past. One evening after the group had been meeting for about two years, the conversation stalled as the men tried to articulate their hopes about the future. During that rare moment of silence around the table, I (Don) decided to share a personal story about how I moved forward after a very different kind of loss. I had not previously talked about my own family with the men.
The Meaning of Life
Authors: Rosenstein Donald L. , Yopp Justin M.
Published: November 2020

Not long after Susan died, Karl traveled to Connecticut to attend a wedding. He anticipated some uncomfortable moments but made it through the ceremony without feeling too sad. The reception was much more difficult. Karl was sitting alone and nursing a drink when the deejay announced: . . . Listen up everybody. I need all the married couples to come out on the dance floor. . . . A dozen or so couples came forward as the deejay explained the rules. . . .I want everyone to keep dancing until I call out the number of years that you’ve been married. Let’s start with an easy one: take a seat if you’ve been married for less than four hours. . . . The smiling bride and groom walked off the dance floor as their guests laughed and applauded. . . . Now, keep dancing if you’ve been married for five years or longer. . . . Several young couples took their seats. . . . Ten years … fifteen years. . . . Karl’s heart sank. He and Susan would never reach that milestone. Their number, 14, was frozen in time. The contest ended when an elderly couple who had been married for more than fifty years were the only dancers remaining. As the guests stood and clapped, Karl sat in silence and scanned the room. The contest winners were on a victory lap of hugs and high-fives. The newlyweds stood to the side of the dance floor staring deeply into each other’s eyes. Karl was alone and Susan was dead. Nothing about this celebration felt relevant to him. The focus of group meetings continued to evolve. In the beginning, the group was mostly a safe place for the fathers to share their grief and feel less alone. It quickly became a practical problem-solving get-together and over time matured into a forum to experiment with personal reinvention. The men and their children had experienced staggering pain that often struck them as completely meaningless. They related to Karl’s experience at the wedding in that they also often felt alone, disconnected, and fundamentally confused about their new place in the world and whether it even mattered.
The Old Northwest
Authors: Colby Jason M.
Published: November 2020

On the morning of Monday, October 12, 1931, early risers in northern Portland noticed a strange creature with smooth black skin in Columbia Slough, right next to the Jantzen Beach Amusement Park. Locals debated its identity. Some argued it was a sturgeon, others a sei whale all the way from Japan. Finally, an old salt tagged it as a small “blackfish.” News of the novelty spread like wildfire, drawing thousands of spectators and causing gridlock on the interstate bridge between Portland and Vancouver, Washington. A local newspaper warned that killer whales were one of the ocean’s “most vicious” creatures, but this one promptly stole Portland’s heart. “From the looks of things,” declared Deputy Sheriff Martin T. Pratt, “nearly everyone in the city is determined to see the visitor,” and when some locals began shooting at the animal, Pratt and his men arrested them. The number of sightseers grew each day, and that weekend, tens of thousands crowded into Jantzen Beach to catch a glimpse of the whale, while enterprising fishermen charged twenty-five cents for whale-watching rides. By that time, someone had dubbed the orca Ethelbert, and the name stuck. Why the little whale had arrived there, a hundred miles up the Columbia, remains a mystery. It had probably become separated from its mother and lost its bearings, wandering up the great river that divides western Oregon from Washington State. But Columbia Slough was no place for an orca. In addition to lacking salt water, it was the main outlet for Portland’s sewage. In summer, the waterway grew so foul that workers refused to handle timber passing through it. As the days passed, observers grew worried. The whale seemed sluggish, and its skin began to show unsightly blotches. The owner of Jantzen Beach proposed capturing the animal with a net and placing it in a saltwater tank. It would have been an extraordinary attraction for his amusement park—already known as the Coney Island of the West. But members of the Oregon Humane Society denounced the scheme as rank cruelty. Instead, they proposed blowing the young orca up with dynamite.
Eye expressions
Authors: Bennett Peggy D.
Published: November 2020

At times we do not want to show the tension or turmoil we are experiencing. We choose to “save face” with an expres­sion that is best for the situation, but it may differ from what we feel. Our intent is not to be disingenuous or manipulative; it is to give our best to the encounter. We rarely get to see our own eye expressions, so we may not know our usual range of expressiveness. The opposites of hard eyes and soft eyes can provide some images. Hard eyes are squinted, tense, and strongly focused on the target. Often the forehead is creased. Hard eyes portray inten­sity, anger, frustration, threat, or disagreement, and they do not normally invite interaction. Pain, bright lights, intense thinking, and eye fatigue can cause us to display hard eyes. Soft eyes are relaxed, rounded, and gently open; the look is thoughtful and inquisitive. Softness can be seen in the skin surrounding the eyes, conveying gentleness, calm, and comfort. Soft eyes are described in martial arts and horse riding as breath­ing in through your eyes to calm your entire body. Neutral eyes are mildly focused and reveal no emotion other than attentiveness. More soft than hard, neutral eyes convey an expression that is alert and observant, but perhaps unreadable. Are you able to identify your habitual eye expressions? Feeling the different eye expressions we display can be key to projecting the messages we want to project. Whether intentional or not, eye expressions can intimidate and demand. They can soothe and support. And they can project unreadable neutrality. Most of us need to look in a mirror to become familiar with our eye expressions. We need to see and feel the differences as we experiment with hard eyes, soft eyes, and neutral eyes. We need to practice so that we can display eye expressions that do not necessarily match our mood or temper, but do reflect the nonverbal messages we want to send. The goal of intentional eye expressions is to project the mes­sages we want to project. There are times when we want to show what is best for the situation rather than what we are feeling in the moment.
Valuing the volley
Authors: Bennett Peggy D.
Published: November 2020

Playing fetch with your dog can be fun . . . but only if your pet returns the ball. As with sports and games, the challenge and unpredictability of the volley (the turn- taking) inspires alertness and lively participation (Bennett, 2012). The value of “returning tosses” is important for teaching. Lecture mode, the stereotypic “sage on the stage,” places nearly all the responsibility on the learner to listen and absorb. In this format, the teacher delivers information rather than involves the students in an exchange of ideas, questions, and interpretations. When responsibility is placed on students to silently take notes, memorize, and record, many can struggle to learn. When we find ways to engage listening, students can kindle interest and create a volley of ideas. Teachers breathe life into their les­sons and their students when they use volley in their teaching. The same can be said for volley in conversation. Do you know someone whose mode of conversation is talking but not listen­ing? Whose conversational style is more soliloquy than volley? Those folks tend to hold forth rather than exchange ideas. They apparently need a listener rather than a conversation. All of us do at times. They may be desperate to tell rather than ask or compare. With one- sided talkers, a forced interruption may be necessary if we want to make a point. Being willing to suspend our “talking turn,” at least momen­tarily, in order to include others in the discourse is a sign of matu­rity, social acumen, and interest in others’ points of view. To initiate a volley, try these options for inserting your voice, for prompting the give- and- take of conversation. • “I would rather have that expectation modified. Do you want to know why?” • “Let me describe this to you. Then I’ll be eager to know what you think.” • “I know I’m interrupting, but I want our communication to be mutual.” Schools thrive on spirited communications, respectful conversa­tions, and interactive teaching. Valuing the volley of turn- taking in communication is an important skill for all of us. Notice your own sense of volley and the ways it can enliven teaching, learn­ing, and conversation. Practice volleying with others. See what happens.
Someone loves them
Authors: Bennett Peggy D.
Published: November 2020

• A friendship goes sour, and you can hardly tolerate someone who was once a close friend. • A colleague who once rankled you becomes your most ardent supporter. • A beloved relative did the unthinkable, and you furiously sever all ties. Whether it is love or hate, we tend to be “all in” with our strong emotions. We operate under the 100 percent rule, believing someone is totally terrible or totally wonderful. Yet the rule is not really a rule at all; it’s a fallacy. It misleads us. Citizens from countries once at war become friends. Beloved associates fall from grace and become nemeses. Swings in friend­ship can cause us to adore or detest wholeheartedly. Reality, however, provides the wisdom to question whether someone is ever totally unlovable or unhateable. When we see the 100 per­cent rule for what it is, a narrow view through a narrow lens, we can step back and consider a more balanced perspective. We can take another view of others and ourselves. Many different thinkers have told us that “what we resist, persists.” The more we resist something or someone, the more we strengthen that thing’s or person’s effect on us. We detest a co- worker; that emotion ties us to her. We believe the secretary snubs us; we begin spotting her other faults. We look for behav­iors to confirm our opinions. And we are so certain of our opin­ions that we often find that evidence, whether or not it exists. Letting go of our animosity frees us from negative thoughts and behaviors that can deplete our emotional health. We see our foe as unlikable, unlovable. Yet someone likes him. Someone loves her. Someone genuinely loves that person. Severely negative portraits we hold of others can fester like an abscess on our psyche. Are we willing to release someone from the 100 percent rule? Are we willing to reframe our perceptions? Imagine how it would feel to rid yourself of that infection. When we use our power to soften assumptions and broaden images, we contribute to our own good health. We release others’ hold on us. And we know someone loves them. We all know difficult people.
Catastrophizing
Authors: Bennett Peggy D.
Published: November 2020

Does your imagination ever leap from a simple thought to a dramatic conclusion? Do you habitually think, “Something bad is going to result from this”? If these are typical habits of thought for you, you may be a catastrophizer. Those of us who are expert catastrophizers may cause our friends and family to become minimizers in order to counter­balance our overstatements. They see us as always thinking the worst, seeing only the dark side, and being overly suspicious. Do we want to live our lives imagining the next catastrophe? A humorous example of catastrophic thinking occurred when a graduate student walked into class, his feet shuffling and his shoulders slumping. “What’s wrong?” asked the professor. “My paper is late. I didn’t get it finished,” replied the student. The student seemed to be taking one tardy paper as a sign of failure. So the professor decided to play along. “So, you are submitting a late paper . . . which means you’ll get a bad grade . . . which means you’ll flunk the course . . . which means you won’t get your degree . . . which means you won’t get a job . . . which means you have to give up your apart­ment . . . which means you’ll be living under a bridge.” All laughed as the student looked up with a wry grin and said, “You’ve been reading my diary.” When we envision a spiral of catastrophe, the dramatic con­sequences can be excessive, especially within us. Our bodies can react with jolts of adrenaline, and we feel the tension as if the worst has already happened. Our bodies and minds may suffer as if the catastrophe is real. • A parent who made an unkind remark to us five years ago is elected to the school board. We begin imagining her influ­ence on our future at the school. • Testing is three days away, and several students have been absent for test preparation sessions. We cannot stop worrying about how poorly these students may score on the tests, and how the test results may affect our already rocky relationship with the principal.
Look for the charm
Authors: Bennett Peggy D.
Published: November 2020

Sometimes we become so focused on the turmoil, we forget to see the charm that surrounds us. Consumed by our to- do lists and home obligations, we forget to look, listen, and feel. Plenty of obstacles can devitalize teachers. And sometimes we can get in the habit of stewing in our malaise. So we must be intentional about looking for and absorbing the charming sights, sounds, and feelings that surround us. Like vitamins for the soul, moments of charm can boost and revive. The simplest things can bring us back to the roots and bounty of our lives: The giggle of a child. The good- natured sparring of teenagers. The fearlessly perched raven watching traffic from a stop sign. The pattern of a spiderweb and the brilliance of the spider that wove it. The easy laughter of friends. The look of wonder when a student “gets it.” The beauty of young musicians as they personify music. The brisk gait of an elderly neighbor. The pure joy of singing with abandon. The first sip of your morn­ing coffee. The scent of a book. The frenzied cheers of parents at a sporting event. The embracing hug of a loved one. The luxury of living without pain. The buzz of energy when school begins and ends. The allure of these charming moments can be smothered by our intense focus on work and troubles. Yes, these simple moments of charm are always there for us . . . when we notice them. We can inhale their whimsy and encourage ourselves to smile, laugh, and be glad for the moment. Seeing, hearing, and appreciating simple things returns the aesthetic to our anesthetic worlds. When we look for and feel those moments of charm, we can be grateful. Those moments remind us we are alive in the world.
Don’t make assumptions
Authors: Bennett Peggy D.
Published: November 2020

Ruiz advises, “Don’t make assumptions.” Assuming we know another’s meaning and motive is as unreliable as them knowing ours. • We are not selected for a leadership position we wanted. We translate this as “I’m not as strong a leader as he is.” • We learn of a parent complaint about us. We refute, “She’s a habitual complainer and has no idea what she’s talking about.” • We are greeted warmly and happily by a colleague who is usually less dramatic. We assume, “She must want something from me.” If we would take one day to monitor our assumptions, it may be eye- opening, even life- opening. Making an assumption is not the same as drawing a conclusion. Conclusions are reasoned suppositions. Assumptions are often automatic and habitual. We may not know we have them, so we don’t challenge them. We may also be aghast at the assumptions others make about us. A “No Assumptions Day” can change the style and content of our communications. It can challenge us to be clear with others about our own intentions and reasons. Shedding assumptions can liberate. It can illuminate. It can revitalize. Don’t make assumptions. Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness, and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life. (Ruiz, 1997)