To mark the International Year of Chemistry and promote its goals, Elsevier is launching a competition for young chemists. We invite you to submit an essay answering the following question: How can chemistry contribute to solving the challenge of developing sustainable resources (water, energy, food) in the 21st century?

The essays will be evaluated by a panel of Elsevier judges and three winners will be selected.

ll entries must be e-mailed as a Word or pdf attachment to iyc2011.essay@elsevier.com by 11:59 p.m. on June 30, 2011.  No purchase necessary to enter or win.

Ocean gliders are small underwater unmanned vehicles with very low energy consumption. They are able to cover great distances using only the energy of small and light batteries. Most underwater vehicles, like submarines, use a spinning propeller to move around in the water.

Propeller driven vehicles are fast, but they also require a lot of energy to maintain their speed. Underwater gliders move around by changing their buoyancy, that is, they change their density so that they alternate between more dense and less dense than the surrounding ocean water. This change in buoyancy causes the glider to rise and sink in the ocean.

As the underwater glider goes up and down, its wings give it a forward motion just like the wings on an airplane glider, which is why these devices are also called gliders. But airplane gliders can only “glide” as they fall downwards due to gravity. Underwater gliders can glide forward both as they rise and fall. In a typical configuration, the ocean glider changes its density by moving a small piston forward and back that increases and decreases its volume.

You may remember that you calculate the density of an object by taking its mass and dividing that by the object’s volume. Since the mass of the glider remains constant, all we need to do is change its volume. A small change in volume (about a half cup of water) is all the glider needs to change its density enough to rise and sink in the ocean. Other ideas and configurations will be welcomed in this competition.

Requirements for the participants:

Teams of all the universities worldwide are allowed to participate in the competition.

Each team should not exceed the number of 4 members.

All the participants must prove that they are currently students in a university, by means of a certificate. A copy of the certificate must be sent by e-mail during the registration phase.

Competition phases:

The teams should register sending an e-mail with the subject “UPM 2011 INTERNATIONAL ACADEMIC COMPETITION ON UNDERWATER GLIDERS DESIGN” to the address ocean_gliders.navales@upm.es, including the following table with the team information: Team name Country Coordinator Name University Postal address e-mail 2nd Member Name University Postal address e-mail 3rd Member Name University Postal address e-mail 4th Member Name University Postal address e-mail Copies of the certificates proving that all the members of the team are currently students in a university must be attached to the registration e-mail.

The company Dessault Systèmes, which sponsors the competition, will provide educational licences of its PLM systems to be used in the competition. The maximum number of licences provided to each team will be equal to the number of members of the team.

The licences will expire at the end of the phase 3 of the competition. For the 5 finalist teams the licences will be prorogued until the end of the competition.

Write a poem or short story for a chance to win cash prizes. The Dream Quest One mission is to inspire, motivate and encourage anyone have the desire or love of poetry and writing, to continue doing so without fear of failure or success.

Poems and short stories may be submitted on any topic, subject, or theme. Guidelines: Write a poem, thirty lines or fewer on any subject, style, or form, typed or neatly hand printed. And/or write a short story, five pages maximum length, on any subject or theme, creative writing fiction or non-fiction (including essay compositions, diary, journal entries and screenwriting).

Also, must be typed or neatly hand printed. Multiple poetry and short story entries are accepted. Postmark deadline: July 31, 2011 All contest winners will be announced on August 31, 2011 Prizes: Writing Contest First Prize is $500. Second Prize: $250. Third Prize: $100. Poetry Contest First Prize is $250. Second Prize: $125. Third Prize: $50. Entry fees: $10 per short story. $5 per poem.

How to apply

To send entries: Include title(s) with your story (ies) or poem(s), along with your name, address, phone#, email, brief biographical info. (Tell us a little about yourself), on the coversheet. Add a self-addressed stamped envelope for entry confirmation.

Fees payable to: DREAMQUESTONE.COM Mail to: Dream Quest One Poetry & Writing Contest P.O. Box 3141 Chicago, IL 60654 Visit http://www.dreamquestone.com for further details, to print out an entry form and to enter online. No one who achieves success does so without acknowledging the help of others. The wise and confident acknowledge this help with gratitude.