Our collective vision of Christmas landscapes is so immersed in snow that the very phrase 鈥淚t鈥檚 beginning to look a lot like Christmas鈥 conjures up imagery that is nearly all frosted, sparkling and...
That鈥檚 the question I ask when I see a claim purporting that some supplement prevents or cures disease, or a cream that is said to reverse skin aging, or an environmental contaminant that...
It all started in Bavaria, southern Germany, 1895. Dr. Roentgen, a physicist, noticed a spooky greenish ray seeping through the completely sealed test tube and projected onto the screen wall. What...
A magnitude 9.1 earthquake occurred just off the northeast coast of Japan on March 11th, 2011, at 14:46 local time. The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, like all nuclear power plants in Japan...
Say acetone, and what comes to a chemist鈥檚 mind? Washing laboratory glassware is a good bet. Actually, the prime use of acetone is to produce polymethyl methacrylate, better known as Plexiglas....
For many years members of the American Society of Magicians gathered on October 31 at Machpelah Cemetery in New York to break a magic wand over the grave of the man whose name is synonymous with...
Contrary to popular belief, aspirin does not occur in nature, it is not found in the willow tree. But there is a connection. Aspirin, or acetyl salicylic acid, was first produced commercially by...
Queen Victoria was the first monarch to give birth to a child under anesthesia. Prince Leopold, the Queen鈥檚 eighth child, was born in 1853 after her physician Dr. John Snow had administered...
Circe was the sorceress in Greek mythology who drugged Odysseus鈥 crew to make them forget their homeland, then proceeded to turn the men into swine. When Odysseus set out to rescue his crew, he...