Springtime for Chemicals

I've been away for a few days of well-timed holiday, basking in the sun of the long-awaited English spring. Meanwhile, a few chemical-related headlines caught my eye ...

Chemicals on the iPad

I can't wait to see this. The Times reviewer of the iPad writes: "My favourite app ... is The Elements for iPad, a dazzling, interactive periodic table offering the 3-D sensation of touching and spinning real-world representations of elements, supplemented by live data (perhaps you'd like to look up the market price for platinum?)" Or even hydrocarbons on ICIS?

Oil Prices Cause Huge Hike in Banana Prices

Banana prices are set to smash the £1/kg barrier on the back of huge hikes in the price of oil and the weakness of sterling, importers predict in this article in The Grocer.

Baby Meerkat saved by Plastic Tub

Aaaar. A baby meerkat rejected by its mother has been nursed back to health in a plastic margarine tub.

photo Times meerkat

Polaroids and Vinyl Records Make Comeback

You'd think that digital photography and music had made Polaroid photography and vinyl records redundant. Not so, apparently. Some optimistic engineers have salvaged Polaroid's last standing factory, at Enschede in the Netherlands, and have just put the black and white film on sale, with colour to follow in the summer.

Meanwhile, UK sales of 12in vinyl LPs were worth 10% more in 2009 than in 2008. This marks the second year of growth, which retailers attribute to teenagers rediscovering the medium.