Word goes chemistry, science goes cool and cookies go nuclear.

A chemistry 'add-in' for Word (http://go.nature.com/KynNV9), created by Microsoft in collaboration with the Unilever Centre for Molecular Science Informatics at Cambridge University, aims to make it easier to get your chemistry into the widely used word processor. Lauren Wolf on Newscripts (http://go.nature.com/xkBm6h) pointed out that you need either Word 2007 or 2010, so as she “operates in the Stone Age (or is it Bronze Age?–I'm not sure) and have only Word 2003”, she hasn't had a chance to try it yet. Wolf also picks up on the fact that many academics use Macs, for which there isn't a version available. Worry not, Mac users: Peter Murray-Rust, one of the collaborators, hopes that Chem4Word's open-source nature will mean it should “be available to the Mac Word and Open Office communities”. We must confess that our office uses Stone Age versions of Word too, so we haven't been able to test it out either.

Is science cool? This question was asked by KJHaxton on Endless Possibilities (http://go.nature.com/HBgcyt) after reading a newspaper article suggesting that it is (http://go.nature.com/NXGfxO). The article quotes a Large Hadron Collider physicist, astronomers, numerous science writers and a comedian, but Haxton isn't entirely convinced. She welcomes the increase in science on TV and that the press are reporting more scientific experiments, because “We need publicity for the science of the future, the science that the viewer or their children or grandchildren will help fashion.” But Haxton concludes that the only measure is “the number of young people who view it as a viable career choice”.

And finally, following on from last month's atomic-emission-spectra scarves, we have atomic-orbital cookies. Windell Oskay at Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories (http://www.evilmadscientist.com/article.php/atomiccookies) cut some melamine extrusion plates for a cookie press in the shape of the s, p, d and f orbitals we all know and love. One standard cookie recipe later and, hey presto, we've got atomic orbitals in a new and tasty form.