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AUGUST 2020 I PCB007 MAGAZINE 89 One of the perks of an academic's pre-pandemic life was the chance, at least once a week, to sit in on cutting- edge research presented by invited experts from around the world. The COVID-19 pandemic has put a pause on seminars hosted physically on university campuses. But in mid- March, a small team of MIT mathematicians began to no- tice that institutions around the world were finding ways to continue hosting seminars online. To virtually attend these talks, however, required hearing about them through word of mouth or digging through the webpages of indi- vidual departments or organizers. Enter researchseminars.org, a w e b s i te t h e M I T te a m f o r m a l l y launched this week, that serves as a sort of crowdsourced Ticketmaster for science talks. Instead of featuring upcoming shows and concerts, the new site lists more than 1,000 free, upcoming seminars hosted online by more than 115 institutions around the world. "We've had a lot of feedback from users, who say, 'Thank you so much for building this. I feel like part of a community again,'" says Drew Sutherland, principal re- search scientist in MIT's Department of Mathematics. The site is designed so that any verified organizer can add their own seminar listing. In this way, the team hopes the site can serve as a centralized, crowdsourced portal to the latest scientific advances being presented anywhere in the world. Users can filter seminars by topic, then click on a listing for details on how to virtually attend. After en- tering a password—or in more discerning cases, solving a math puzzle—they can sit in on live talks they might have been unable to attend in person. (Source: MIT News) A Ticketmaster for Science Seminars try into the electroless copper solution. Water from rinses may contain both organic and in- organic contaminants. Follow recommended times of immersion in all proprietary pre-plate solutions and rinse thoroughly after each step. Palladium drag-in to electroless copper may cause instantaneous solution decomposition. Always strive to use best practices when it comes to rinsing, filtration, and monitoring of any contaminants. PCB007 Michael Carano is VP of technology and business development for RBP Chemical Technology. To read past columns or contact Carano, click here. will be increased instability in the copper plat- ing solution due to the accelerated formalde- hyde breakdown rate. When this occurs, the go-to tactic is to bail out a portion of the work- ing plating solution and replace that with fresh electroless copper components. This reduces the specific gravity to a lower level. Also, keep in mind that the formation of carbonate and formate is not linear. And the buildup is not easily predicted. Again, unlike electrolytic plating solutions, electroless copper is thermally unstable. While suppliers have worked diligently to ensure reasonable stability of the copper process, by- product buildup, catalyst drag-in, and other factors will create conditions ripe for plate-out and copper loss. Drain the boards before en-