The molecule of the week is actually a collection of 209 different possible versions of this molecule that have multiple chlorine atoms connected in different combinations along the hexagonal segments of the structure– like charms on a bracelet. Though these chemicals are highly heat resistant (used as flame retardants in electronics manufacturing until the late…
It’s Havidol— the cure for all that ails modern society! Though it looks like a real ad, it’s actually Justine Cooper‘s art, a whole campaign that’s a fascinating commentary on direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising. Yes, we all want to feel our best, and we’d love it if a pill could do that for us. Justine spoke…
As swine flu concern seems to be simmering down a little, I want to highlight some of the interesting stories about science that should make a difference in infectious disease science, whether H1N1 turns out to be the next dangerous pandemic or not. 1. Why is the flu seasonal? Honestly, I was thinking about this…
Looking more closely at the some of the coverage of swine flu, I recognized the (probable) handiwork of a CDC researcher from a lecture I covered recently at the New York Academy of Sciences about biological imaging. Amazingly this technology (negative stained transmission electron micrograhs) actually dates back to the 1950s, but it’s fast and…
Cheering for an animal’s organs makes up one of my many badges of geekdom. In February I found out that Lizzy, one of my 10-year-old cats, had diabetes. Granted, I’d been getting the “fat cat lecture” from vets for almost five years. My black bundle of meows, attitude, klutziness, and a bottomless stomach was overweight.…
A new study about antioxidant content in pizza crust makes me realize that I was in the wrong area of chemistry. Instead of wondering about my relative carcinogen exposure, chemical burns and taking antibiotics for that one bacterial infection that made my hand swell to twice its normal size, I could have been baking pizza.…
Health care and health insurance policy heaps up as an entire basket of (smelly) things to write about, but my colleague Gretchen Cuda’s excellent post on her blog has inspired me to write of my own experience among the uninsured. She writes on Bright Scideas: In browsing the Plain Dealer this morning, I came across…