This story should remind us how easy it is to pull off acts of terrorism. With drugs like fentanyl and carfentanyl pouring into our country, officials should treat synthetic opioids as a terrorist threat in addition to a public health threat.
Chemicals & Chemistry
Agent Orange was used as a defoliant during the Vietnam War. A recent paper indicates that the chemicals which comprise AO persist in high concentrations in some pockets of South Vietnam. In addition, they could be causing hormonal imbalances in babies born in those regions.
A recently published working paper states that the water in Flint, Michigan is presumably responsible for startling drops in fertility rates, and increased fetal deaths, as compared to neighboring cities. How reliable are these data and should we really be sounding alarm bells?
Gatorade needs a better marketing team. A very curious advertisement contained a diagram of an organic molecule that, if it actually existed, would probably be dangerous. You certainly wouldn't be drinking it.
Gases are being now infused into various beverages, especially coffee and beer for a variety of reasons. But there is a viral video of two maniacs who tried "helium-infused beer." If they were looking for laughs they succeeded mightily. But is it real?
CNN's science team must have been in a coma when they swallowed whole a nonsense study about 9/11 dust raising cholesterol in kids. They look pretty foolish, but not nearly as much as the study authors. It will be some time until anyone can "top" this. Don't hold your breath.
Worried about North Korea tossing nukes around? Ebola? Killer hurricanes? While all of these are dreadful, you might as well forget about them and every other threat around. They are irrelevant. We are already doomed. Because someone put a fleece jacket in the dryer.
Whether one supports or opposes the death penalty, the debate should be based upon ethics and morality informed by evidence-based biomedical science. Not distortions and half-truths.
A chemical plant in nearby Crosby, TX manufactures a class of unstable compounds called organic peroxides. One is TATP, the explosive the infamous "Shoe Bomber" attempted to use aboard a flight. Peroxides must be kept cold, so when the electricity goes the chance of a massive explosion grows. And there's little that can be done.
A new study states that kids who live near farms which use sulfur – a chemical and a pesticide – have more asthma. And it doesn't matter if the sulfur is used in a conventional or organic farm setting. Can this be true?
America's love affair with coffee bubbled to the surface in 2013 when nitrogen-infused coffee made its appearance in Oregon. Nitro-coffee? Is this a silly fad, or is there some science behind it? Let this article percolate for a while and you'll see.
There are three basic facts about death: (1) We all have to die. (2) All young deaths are tragic deaths. (3) Some of us die in ways that are more interesting than others, and those deaths often make their way into case reports. This story involves all three.