Letter from the Editor

From the Editor

As you all probably know, the Southwest Retort is on a nine-month schedule, correlated to the traditional academic year (September to May). So this is our last issue of Volume 73...yes! The Retort is 73 years old, and the eRetort is 10 years old. What can I say? Time flies when you’re having fun.

The 53rd ACS DFW Meeting in Miniature and first virtual Meeting-in-Miniature took place on May 1, and the winners are listed in this issue. It was organized by the University of Texas at Dallas using the Blackboard Collaborate platform; 109 undergrads, graduate students, and postdocs participated.

My favorite press room article this month is the calculations for bubbles in a glass of beer. No, the researchers didn’t do it just because they liked beer (although they probably do). Bubbles are an important part of the sensory experience of beer drinking (or of any bubbly beverage); the bubbles transport flavor and scent compounds as well as tickling your nose. This particular paper caught my fancy because it combines elements of gas laws, foaming/surfactant chemistry, and flavor and scent transport, all working together to produce the effect of a bubbly beverage.

Keep safe and well and have a good summer...back in September!