FILE - In this on April 11, 2012 file photo, University of California, Los Angeles, UCLA organic chemistry professor, Patrick Harran, walks out of Los Angeles Superior Criminal Courts building in Los Angeles. The criminal prosecution of Harran stemming from a fatal lab fire has ended with a settlement on Friday, June 20, 2014. The deal calls for professor Patrick Harran to prepare inner-city high school students for college chemistry for five years, perform 800 hours of community service and pay a $10,000 fine. The district attorney's office says Harran acknowledged in court Friday that he was the direct supervisor of the victim and was ultimately responsible for the safety of personnel.(AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)The Associated Press LOS ANGELES A University of California, Los Angeles, chemistry professor agreed Friday to settle criminal charges from a fatal fire in his laboratory by preparing inner-city high school students for college chemistry, performing community service and paying a $10,000 fine. The so-called deferred prosecution means felony charges remain pending until professor Patrick Harran, 44, completes the terms of the deal, including five years of teaching high school summer classes and 800 hours of service at a UCLA hospital or health service. Harran had … Continue reading →

UCLA chemistry professor Patrick Harran struck a deal with prosecutors Friday that all but frees him from criminal liability in the 2008 laboratory fire that killed a staff research assistant. Charged with four felony counts of willfully violating state occupational health and safety standards in the death of Sheharbano "Sheri" Sangji, Harran had faced up to 4 1/2 years in prison if convicted. Instead, under a "deferred prosecution agreement" approved by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge George Lomeli, Harran admitted no wrongdoing, but will develop and teach an organic chemistry course for college-bound inner-city students for five summers, perform 800 hours of non-teaching community service in the UCLA Hospital system, and pay $10,000 to the Grossman Burn Center in lieu of restitution to Sangji's family. The resolution caps a long-running legal battle that pitted Harran and UCLA against Sangji's family and the Los Angeles County district attorney's office. It did not sit well with Sangji's relatives, who had pushed for a trial and were "extremely disappointed" that prosecutors chose to settle. "This settlement, like the previous one with UCLA, is barely a slap on the wrist for the responsible individual," the family said in a statement Friday. Three felony … Continue reading →

Born in a disc of gas and rubble, planets eventually come together as larger and larger pieces of dust and rock stick together. They may be hundreds of light-years away from us, but astronomers can nevertheless watch these planets as they form. One major point of interest is the chemistry of the rubble that forms around a star before a planetary system is formed, known as the protoplanetary disc. The gas molecules that float in the disc could eventually become part of the atmosphere of the planets. If these molecules contain oxygen or nitrogen, the odds increase of a life-friendly planet forming. [The Strangest Alien Planets] "It's very interesting to think about the molecular composition (of these discs)," said Catherine Walsh, an astronomer at Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands. The molecules that are in those discs will make up the molecules in planetary atmospheres, and planetesimals such as comets." Walsh led a new study, "Complex organic molecules in protoplanetary disks," which was published in February 2014 in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics. In the study, the astronomers modeled how complex molecules form in protoplanetary systems with the hopes of better understanding their observations. Molecules in protoplanetary discs emit their light … Continue reading →

June 19, 2014 Chemistry teacher tops NZ St Cuthberts College teacher Ian Torrie has been named one of the top teachers in New Zealand. The Chemistry teacher was honoured at the National Excellence in Teaching Awards last month, where he was the only Auckland recipient of an ASG Excellence in Teaching Award for secondary education. Ian is one of the finest teachers I have ever encountered, says St Cuthberts Associate Principal and Head of Senior School Helen Robertson. Student evaluations consistently rank Ian at the top level and every year former students attribute their success in tertiary science studies to him as the teacher that ignited their interest. As Head of Chemistry, Ian is responsible for an explosion in the number of students choosing to take the subject. Almost half of Year 12 and 13 girls study chemistry, making it in the top three subject choices at the College. Nationally the participation rate is around 20%. Under Ians guidance the Colleges average NCEA Chemistry results have climbed steadily and are typically at least 50% higher than the national average, showing the strength of his teaching and leadership in the Chemistry department. He is known to arrive at school at 7am … Continue reading →