When lab work gets frustrating, I ask myself: can’t there be an easier way? I’ll hazard a guess that if you’re a chemist like me, you’re inured to the frustration of traditional synthesis. Often, it is the most well-behaved chemical reactions that get you at the end. Yes, I’m talking about that scale-up: that step you promised your adviser would be “facile,” as well as those extra TLCs you could, should, and wish you had done before you started your column. I’m of the opinion that many of the synthetic struggles in the early stages of grad school are essentially self-inflicted. It always cracks me up when I hear someone vigorously complaining about running a notoriously nasty reaction. Honestly, did you really think deciding tackling a McMurry or Skraup wouldn’t cause you just a little bit of sweat? I guess many young grad students, like me, have a burning desire to prove their stripes en route to their secret aspiration: becoming the most interesting man woman in chemistry.

I’m currently in the midst of working to overcome a synthetic hurdle of my own. Without getting into its provenance or name, I’ll say that I am quite determined to successfully duke it out with this particular reaction. Last week, while I was wrapping up in lab and was in the midst of drawing up the battle plans for the next day’s synthetic attack, I had a rather painful realization. Washing and prepping glassware can be a mind-numbing task and as I stood there essentially doing my dishes, I recalled a recent high impact paper detailing the biosynthesis of quantum dots in earthworms.

While it’s not snowing here in Berkeley, the holiday season has officially begun. Granted there are still exams to take, end of term grading to do, and gels to run, but here at BSR we feel it is high time to ring in the start of the season, even if that just means secretly munching on some gelt at your desk. To get you in the mood, take a peek at today’s list of gifts for the scientist in your life. And don’t worry, we won’t tell if you feel like snagging one for yourself.

 Subatomic Particle Plushies: You may have heard of giant microbes or stuffed organs, but do you know about Particle Zoo? My lab mate and I discovered these the other day and got a serious case of particle envy. Let me break it down: We’re talking about hand-sewn plushies of quarks, neutrinos, photons, and more with little eyes and smiley mouths, stuffed in accordance to particle weight. They may be a little pricey but even Higgs is on board with hanging out with these toys! They’re at particlezoo.net.

Berkelium T-shirt: Celebrate being at Berkeley with an Element 97 t-shirt.  You can snag one of these in the blink of an eye at one of the gear shops on the south-side or on University for a quick gift that’s bound to make any scientist smile.

Molecular Mixology Kit: Whatever your opinion is on molecular gastronomy may be, I can guarantee you that this cocktail kit is well worth trying out and a fantastic gift for anyone scientifically inclined. I got this as a good-bye present from my old lab and it is definitely a big upgrade from making skittles vodka or drunk gummy bears. I will say that a little bit of a learning curve is involved and you need to take the instructions seriously but once you get the hang of things, it’s fantastic. For an alcohol-free alternative, I also would highly recommend the sister “Cuisine E-Revolution” kit. You can find the kit at molecule-r.com.

In the latest issue of the Berkeley Science Review, we profiled the exciting development of graphene liquid cell technology at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and UC Berkeley. This technique allows microscopists to visualize real-time nanocrystal growth in a transmission electron microscope. You may have caught us bragging a little bit in that article about the specific microscope Cal researchers used in that work. We usually try to be humble but when it comes to electron microscopes at Berkeley, that’s extremely hard to do.  In fact, our extraordinary microscopy was one of the reasons I was so excited to start graduate school here in the first place. In this multi-part post, I’ll be giving you a whirlwind tour of a few amazing microscope systems around campus. Hopefully, I’ll be able to convince you that these amazing instruments should be yet another reason to walk around campus with some serious Cal pride.

Whether or not you’re a scientist, chances are that if you’ve ever taken a biology class you’ve seen your fair share of transmission electron micrographs—the black and white photos with the arrows pointing at the different components, remember? Those images were showing you images of individual cells. Well, today that should seem huge because we’re taking a trip way down to the bottom, as Feynman would say. The electron microscope I’ll be talking about is capable of producing directly interpretable images of individual atomic columns with picometer spatial resolution.