UO E-clips, Dec. 5

Where have I seen that before? (Nature.com): There was something strangely familiar about results published in two high-profile chemistry journals recently: as one researcher has since pointed out, they accidentally replicated an experiment that was done more than a century ago. The resulting ruckus has highlighted how accidental chemical conclusions can get past peer review, and stands as a reminder of how easy it is to miss similarities to old results. … “We are so reliant on electronic databases nowadays, I bet there are many current students that have no idea that the print version of Chemical Abstracts [a database of all chemical reactions ever published] even exists,” says Michael Haley, a chemist at the University of Oregon, Eugene. “It’s good for older folk to point out to us young punks that ‘you need to do your homework better’,” he says.

Police seek suspect in attacks near UO (Register-Guard): Eugene police released a sketch Tuesday of a possible suspect in recent attempted sexual assaults near the University of Oregon. The man is suspected of sneaking up behind women and grabbing them as they walked alone in three separate cases. All three women escaped his clutches uninjured. The victims and witnesses helped detectives complete the sketch of a white man, about 25 years old, with short, sandy blond or light brown hair. He is between 5 feet 10 inches and 6 feet 1 inch tall and has a medium build, police said.