Life comes down to a struggle between risk and benefit. Although not always consciously, we evaluate our diet, our cosmetics, our medications, household chemicals and activity levels on the basis...
There鈥檚 a buzz in the air these days, a loud one. I鈥檓 sure you鈥檝e heard it but it could have easily been mistaken for a malfunctioning drone plane stuck in the trees. The sounds of summer are...
You鈥檝e undoubtedly heard of the California gold rush of 1849. But any mention of the 鈥渃oprolite rush鈥� in southern England that took place around the same time would probably draw blank stares. Yet...
We are getting fatter.聽 The World Health Organization estimates that a seventh of the world鈥檚 population is overweight and about 300 million people can now be classified as obese.聽 What鈥檚 going on?...
The most fashionable address in New York is no longer Central Park West. It is 66 East 11th St., in Greenwich Village. The building doesn鈥檛 look like much from the outside; it was once a factory,...
During a public lecture on genetic modification I described an experiment that involved enriching soybeans with the amino acid methionine. Soybeans are widely used to raise animals but are low in...
We hear a lot about food these days. Whether it is about healthy choices, food security and feeding the planet, environmental impacts of food production or the science of GMO biotechnologies,...
"Genetic engineers develop bovine growth hormone!" Now there's an issue the cartoonists can really milk. Giant cows bursting through the roof of their barns, animals sporting udders from head to...
How鈥檚 this for a coincidence? A few years ago on an organic chemistry exam I asked the following question: A compound used to clean coal is often referred to as 4-methylcyclohexane methanol. What...
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