Chemwatch

Every day, workers handle many hazardous chemicals; from industrial solvents and cleaning agents to pesticides and laboratory reagents. Behind each product sits a document that can mean the difference between a minor incident and a life-altering event: the Safety Data Sheet (SDS). Yet despite their importance, many SDS libraries are poorly maintained and, most dang...

This month, we celebrate the life and legacy of Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin, a titan of 20th-century science and the third woman ever awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. At a time when the inner workings of complex biological molecules were largely unknown, Hodgkin gave the scientific world the tools to actually see them. Her breakthroughs didn’t just solve chemical...

For decades, dichloromethane (DCM), also known as methylene chloride has been a laboratory staple. That familiarity is now being challenged by tightening methylene chloride regulations, driven by stronger evidence of serious health harms. For laboratory professionals, safety officers, and researchers, understanding what DCM is, how it has been used, why it is now c...