WkS+paper+2

This page is for group work by Christopher, David, Susan & Denis

Hello group, my name is Denis and I have a link to the NY Times for you to have a look at in relation to a self healing polymer coating. The article also featured recently in the Australian. The original article appeared in Science Vol 323. No 5920. pp 1458-1460. I will grab a link as soon as I can but it will be via the Monash Online library.

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Here's the link and there is a .pdf file of the paper attached as file 1458.pdf

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Denis

And here's the link to the Australian

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Denis

In case self healing polymers don't appeal - how about a fast charging battery.

Here's the link to an article in Nature and timesonline. []

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and the .pdf is attached

Denis If anyone has any other suggestions could they please make a posting. Denis ML: Denis OCL people do live complex lives as we have noted before so try to sit on your hands for a couple of days. Two members of your group will, I think, appear. One may be a withdrawal - I can't tell at the moment.

David: Hey, sorry I haven't contributed yet, but I should have gotten a lot done here by Thursday night- I haven't forgotten, and I don't intend to make you do this all by yourself, especially in light of all you have already done here :P

hi guys this is the first time ive sined into wiki, unfortunently ive had very limited access to the net the last couple of weeks due to the nature of my job. Please give me a few days to read through the info you have gathered. I intend on working with you guys to submit our task. cheers chris

DMc:Hello David & Chris. If we could agree on a topic I'm happy to start the ball rolling with some commentary. I prefer the self repairing polymers. However since this is almost an all male WS there was a report released in the New England Journal of Medicine over night about extensive research into prostate cancer and PSA (prostate specific antigen) screening that might have some interest although I haven't looked for the links. let me know what you think.

David: I don't mind the polymer one. I'll just post a few thoughts on this first, and then I'll try to write something coherent later (I'm about to get kicked off my computer). Reason why media article this is of public interest: This is "space-age technology" without using space-age materials; as the article itself states, the coating developed involves a derivative of chitin, a very common organic compound. Applications are widespread, and the primary one discussed in the article is coating for vehicles- this would remove the need for expensive repairs for minor scratches, which is something we all would welcome (although it is possible, if I may post this without being referred to as a Luddite, that a disadvantage of this is that it could put some panel beater jobs at risk- they would still be required to repair dents and large scratches, but a significant proportion of their work //may// disappear if this coating becomes widespread; conversely, there would be significant job gains in the industry of developing and applying this technology). It has also been mentioned that this could have an application to furniture- no longer would expensive furniture need to be protected when the children are running wild, as any scratches they make could easily be repaired. Likewise, this would also give peace of mind when hiring those slightly clumsy-looking movers. I haven't really come up with other applications, but I suppose these may have a role in protecting the surface of other outdoor products, such as solar panels and wind farms (don't know enough about them, I could be wildly wrong), which of course is of enormous benefit in the development of renewable energy sources. Now what the article does highlight quite well in lay terms is how the self-healing polymer actually works- exposure to UV light is what repairs the scratch in the surface. When the ring-shaped oxetane within the polyutherane polymer is broken, it is the chitosan which repairs the breach; UV light stimulates this reaction in response to the breach, so the self-healing polymer is of very easy use once applied. I'll give my summary of the actual scientific article later tonight, and then we'll see if we can put this into a nicely written piece of work, hmm?

David: Got a temporary reprieve here, so I'll just state that the above summary was from the primary article in the NY Times; the Australian does add a little- the oxetane works by being split into two reactive ends (this is obvious to us, but may not be so to the lay reader) which are then filled by the chitosan, thus repairing the ring, and the speed of the reaction depends upon the strength of the UV light- the example given is a 3-4 times faster reaction in the sunny southern US during summer than in the darker north. Other applications given here are packaging, clothing and bandages, so there are broad-ranging possible applications. Finally, the article headings aren't exactly sensationalist, rather they are simple summaries of what the article is actually about; however there key words that jump out, such as "**__Hi-tech__ coating** may **heal** paint", which give an indication as to the product; and "A **polymer coating** that can **heal itself** thanks to **UV light**". Hi-tech in the Australian really deserves a little extra attention, as the term does grab the eye in a special way.

DMc: I think that both newspapers covered the story accurately, although I note that the Australian was a reprint from the "Times", so I will concentrate the New York Times (NYT). Given that for general reporting, the technical information has to be re-packaged Henry Fountain did a good job. Mind you he is their specialist Deputy Editor and has a degree from Yale. He has authored or co-authored a number of books in the field of science so I would presume he has a science degree from Yale. I found no bias in his reporting and his headline was descriptive of the article and better that the one in the Australian. This is a report where using chain diagrams of chemical compounds would be superfluous to the average reader, even for the NYT. The article is certainly relevant to the general population and of general interest, which is why it got space. If I had one critism of the newspaper reports, and it is generally so, they fail to refer to the funding sources which should be of interest to readers. The primary funding sources are listed in the article and should have been mentioned in the news coverage. The only other matter which a person of Fountain's background may have researched is if there has been any research of this nature anywhere else in the world, although given space/word limitations (like writing an article summary), you can't put in everything.

Denis ML: Susan has had a house fire - I'll reassign her to another group.

David: Firstly, hopefully things get better for Susan soon.

Ok, then the information the author has acquired is through his position as a science deputy editor, and he has presumably chosen the article for its public interest and potentially broad application. A brief summary of the article (I'm not a physical chemist, so any corrections are welcome). First impression- the media reports are very similar to the abstract, although obviously simplifying the following, "//The network consists of an oxetane-substituted chitosan precursor incorporated into a two-component polyurethane. Upon mechanical damage of the network, four-member oxetane rings open to create two reactive ends. When exposed to ultraviolet light, chitosan chain scission occurs, which forms crosslinks with the reactive oxetane ends, thus repairing the network.//" Introduction is nice and simple, and places the context of the desire to develop such self-repairing polymers, in what was seen naturally in organic creatures- this led to the development of spatially heterogenous remendable polymers (I think "spatially heterogenous" refers to a 3-D lattice structure, rather than a simple 2-D one- think of the difference between carbon structures in diamond and graphite; "remendable" is self-esplanatory given the context). The authors also refer to previous methods of developing polymers with the desired characteristics. It appears that the specific components were chosen here for their utility when placed together- polyutherane networks were chosen for their heterogeneity, and the oxetane-substituted derivative of chitosan was chosen for the cleavage of a constrained four-member ring via the oxetane, and the UV sensitivity of the chitin derivative in actually facilitating the repair. As this is a chemistry paper, the methods are a little different to what I'm used to, but the use of diagrammatic representations of the actual compounds, and a description of how they actually work (how the initial structure was formed under ambient temperatures, then mechanically damaged to cause a scratch, then UV light exposure healed the damage- this is then illustrated through further diagrams, comparing before, scratched, then after). The salient point made in this section is that the OXE-CHI is what repairs the damage; this cannot be done by either PUR or CHI-PUR alone. Additionally, the rate of repair is contingent upon the amount of OXE-CHI- if there is only half, then the repair time is doubled. The actual repair process is tied to UV light, not to moisture or humidity, so these factors don't affect. What is interesting is the belief of the authors that a repair will be "thermosetted", and that there is a chance an exact repeat of the scratch in the same place will not be healed; as this is a molecular-level event, those molecules may be set in place once, and then unable to re-heal, due to the method by which the initial repair occurs. Paper concludes with a simple summary of what was actually achieved, and mentions the potential for broad-ranging commercial application. I can't help but consider how lucrative the patent would be for the first company to commercially develop this, as the licensing potential is huge.

DMc: In fact as well as abstracts to the paper itself many universities and their schools/colleges have media departments that publish and circulate press releases which are phrased in non technical language. The battery one for example had a press release put out by MIT's news office. In addition to these most scientific organisations like AAAS and CSIRO have email and RSS feeds which are free to subscribe to. I get monthly emails on selected CSIRO journals such as Marine & Freshwater Biology which simply list all the articles with a link to the abstract. I also get weekly updates by email from AAAS on "This week in Science". So as a journalist it's not that hard to access and scan scientific literature for those which are "newsworthy" to your particular audience. Communication in science is now very well done and very easy to access.

Denis

DMc: David my suggestion is that if we have not heard from Chris by the end of the day that we start to summarise ready to post to Blackboard tomorrow. I'll put together a summary late today at the bottom of this page and you edit it and we'l' copy and paste to Blackboard tomorrow. How does that sound. Denis ML: Sounds more than fair to me. You have been very patient.

David: Denis, that's totally fine. If you put together the summary if we haven't heard anything, I'll edit (if it even needs it) overnight, and that'll hopefully give you some time to make sure you're happy with any edits I've made.

DMc: - here tis

__ " **Hi-tech coating ** **may** **heal ** **paint**" __ Both newspapers covered the story accurately with the technical information sufficiently re-packaged by the journalist without obscuring or changing the essence of the information. There was no bias in either report. The articles highlight quite well in lay terms how the self-healing polymer actually works by exposure to UV light and when the ring-shaped oxetane within the polyurethane polymer is broken, it is the chitosan which repairs the breach. This media article is of public interest because it is "space-age technology" without using space-age materials and the coating involves a derivative of chitin, a very common organic compound. Applications are widespread, from vehicles, furniture, the surface of outdoor products, packaging, clothing and bandages. The article headings aren't exactly sensationalist, rather they are simple summaries of what the article is actually about; however there key words that jump out, such as "**__Hi-tech __**** coating ** may **heal ** paint", which give an indication as to the product; and "A **polymer coating ** that can **heal itself ** thanks to **UV light **". Hi-tech in the Australian really deserves a little extra attention, as the term does grab the eye in a special way. No pictures or illustrations were used in either report as they would not have been appropriate for the papers’ readers. The New York Times journalist is a specialist science reporter research indicates that he has a science degree from Yale. The article in the Australian was sourced from the Times. The article is certainly relevant to the general population and of general interest as the product has wide application to everyday life. One criticism of the newspaper reports, and it is generally so, is that they fail to refer to the funding sources. Funding sources are important information because they let the reader know who is paying for the research and who might benefit directly. The primary funding sources are listed in the article and should have been mentioned in the news coverage.

Denis David: I'm very happy with this. I can't see any reason to change this, and haven't noticed any typos that need editing, but you may want to double check yourself before submission. I noticed your final point you give special emphasis to, and I can see why, as it is important, and an issue that I hadn't even considered when I read the articles. I think you've done an excellent job of including points that you and I raised, and this does feel like something we've both collaborated on. It's been a pleasure to work with you.

DMc: Hi David. It wasn't special emphasis, sorry about that. I copied the entire wiki page to Word then edited and re-copied the edit to wiki and didn't notice the font change. It will be fixed when I post to Blackboard with the links. Good to work with you and thanks for all you input and help.

Denis