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…Action Man, Bald Eagle and a Theremin at the Kent Festival of Science…
Last week was a primary school half-term break for my son. I had some holiday to take, and so we decided to seize the opportunity to spend some quality time together; well, either that or restore some sanity to my wife’s life! We had, a couple of weeks earlier, and following a thoroughly enjoyable experience ... -
This Week in Science History: Nicolaus Copernicus
Every week is a great week for science! This Week in Science History is one of the best as I was tempted by way too many anniversaries. So many cool things happened this week: Arrhenius (02/19/1859) and Boltzmann (02/20/1844) were born (in addition to several Nobel laureates born this week), new ocean life is found ... -
Star Wars Healthcare Advancements (Convergence of Art and Science)
I’m really enjoying writing about the realities of science fiction. Let’s take a look at Star Wars this time (although I will return to Star Trek in a future blog – see Healthcare Tech From Star Trek and Star Trek Health Care Part 2) As George Lukas stated “A long time ago… in a galaxy ... -
HeLa Cells and Henrietta Lacks
I am working my way through the book “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot. I’m not a chemist and HeLa cells meant little to me until I read passages in this book. Henrietta Lacks was a poor tobacco farmer who lived in poverty. But Henrietta’s legacy is remarkable. Her cells, taken from ... -
Job Sharing in the Epididymis
Alternative title: The Excited Puppy and The Epididymis Let me warn you: I work on reproduction in animals, so I get to say things like “testicular toxicity” and “epididymis” in polite company. Which brings me to this month’s musings. There’s a program here which has been bedeviled by epididymal inflammation. Every compound they would put ... -
Reversing Antibiotic Resistance?
Whether we’re working at a laboratory research bench or caring for patients in a clinical setting, reports show us that increased resistance of various bacteria to our available antibiotics is on the rise. In fact, an estimated 70% of hospital-acquired infections in the U.S. involve bacteria that are resistant to one more antibiotics. Due to ... -
This Week in Science History: Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin is one of the few scientists who has transcended science into popular culture and the mainstream of public consciousness. In the United States, one does not have to look far to see his name, as it can routinely be spotted on the backs of cars. Schoolchildren and even the huddled masses know ... -
Solving Scurvy With Limes: One of the First Uses of Statistics in Medicine
Over the next year or so, I will be blogging about the history of statistics use in medicine and clinical trials (afterall, I am a statistican.) Most medical research, before the 20th century, consisted of reporting cases on an individual basis to determine cause and effect (usually not very accurately). But the first know clinical ... -
Salt Not Only Melts Icy Roads – It Raises the Boiling Point of Water!
I got a very good question as a comment to a recent blog I wrote on how sodium chloride (table salt) melts ice: does salt raise the boiling point of water? Sounds crazy – an innocuous substance being able to lower the freezing point and raise the boiling point of the same liquid! Can’t be ... -
La Química del Té
Si quedaron impresionados por el hecho de que una taza de café contiene alrededor de 1500 sustancias químicas , no se sorprenderán al descubrir que ¡una taza de té contiene casi 2000 sustancias químicas! Muchas de estos compuestos poseen propiedades antioxidantes y beneficios para la salud, al igual que el café. Sin embargo, la estructura ...