We have a sizable collection of biochemistry-related laboratories in this issue. Our cover is a molecular graphic that illustrates the paper on page 1026 by Adele Wolfson, Mona Hall, and Thomas Branham. They describe a laboratory course that accompanies the first semester of biochemistry and includes assays for lysozyme activity and protein concentration, purification of lysozyme, and a library/computer project involving molecular modeling and writing a grant proposal. David Hawcroft describes procedures for using radioisotopes in biochemical studies on page 1030, and on page 1036 Michael Mosher et. al. report a synthetic experiment on micro-, semimicro-, and macroscale whose product is a building block for peptides that bind DNA. There is also a photosynthesis experiment using a simple dye reaction on page 1034 by A. Ros Barceló and J. M. Zapata. Our microscale laboratory feature has two biochemistry experiments as well. Isolation and purification of an enzyme is quickly and easily done according to the procedure on page 1040 by Chad Morgan and Neil Moir. And a glycosidation reaction that is suitable for an organic lab with large numbers of biology majors is reported on page 1041 by Brooke Bedell et. al. The current importance of biochemistry and molecular biology are underscored by the wide variety of laboratory experiments that are now being devised to correlate with courses in these areas.

Very interesting kinetics experiments can be done with glow-in-the-dark toys. The time decay of ZnS phosphorescence is easily measured as described on page 1048 by George Lisensky, Manish Patel, and Megan Reich. Mechanical properties of polymers can be measured using the tensile tester that is the subject of the paper by Carter Gilmer and Matthew Williams on page 1062. Our Tested Demonstrations feature includes a solid-state reaction that goes at room temperature and involves a color change from blue to yellow-green; by Lixu Lei, Xuebin Yao, and Xinquan Xin, it appears on page 1018. A low-cost photometer based on solid-state LEDs is described by Jay Hamilton, Jeffrey White, and Mary Nakhleh on page 1052.

Book reviews, this month devoted to environmental chemistry books, begin on page A276. Those who are curious about how the American Chemical Society oversees its widespread educational efforts will be interested in the report from Stanley Pine, chair of ACS's Society Committee on Education, on page A275. A lot is going on in chemical education, and we try to keep you abreast of it each month. John Kenkel continues his report on what is happening in two-year colleges on page A272, Susan Arena Zumdahl describes a program for minorities and women on page A266, and Arlene Russell and Michael Pavelich summarize an electronic, on-line conference whose subject was faculty rewards on page A268. Marcetta Darensbourg has found that some simple innovations in her teaching style can produce downright pleasurable results, and she describes them in a commentary on page A273.

Michael Laing argues eloquently on page 1007 that we have too many algorithmic exercises and far too few problems that require serious thought in our general chemistry courses. His approach to this deficiency is to have students struggle with the same ideas that chemists struggled with during the first half of the nineteenth century, namely the relation between equivalent weight and atomic weight. A way to learn how students are thinking about chemistry is proposed by Alberto Regis, Pier Albertazzi, and Ezio Roletto on page 1084. By having students draw concept maps before and after instruction, they are able to draw conclusions about how students are conceptualizing our subject.

On page 1089 Kenneth Wiberg provides a review of the role of electrostatic effects in organic chemistry. Stabilization of polyfluorinated compounds, amide resonance and other carbonyl interactions, and stability of allyl radical and anion are all treated here. Fullerene organic chemistry is reported on page 1066 by Achim Hildebrand et. al., and the chemistry of paper yellowing appears on page 1068 in a paper by Henry Carter.

Chemistry and the Human Environment, a new course for non-science majors, is reported by Conrad Trumbore, Julie Bevenour, and Kathryn Scantlebury on page 1012. A laboratory program that would appear to complement such a course is described on page 1023 by Robert Kerber and Mohammed Akhtar; they focus the lab on real-world substances. Joseph Bieron, Paul McCarthy and Thomas Kermis report on an NSF-sponsored development in which general chemistry lab is divided into clusters of experiments. On page 1021 they describe three such clusters, one on carbon, one on swimming pool chemistry, and one on metals.