Chemistry

The rosy periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus) is a plant that produces organic compounds used to treat cancer, arrhythmia, and other medical conditions and now the details of the metabolism process for…

This was a poster I did for the 2012 Meeting of the Society of Toxicology in San Francisco. Formaldehyde had been produced and used commercially for over 100 years.  Only recently, however,has…

Dead European honeybees have almost 57 different pesticides detected, according to a new paper in the Journal of Chromatography A. Should that be a concern? Not really. The great thing about…

Each year, the farmers around the world who produce our food (fruits, vegetables, grains) get the equivalent of a “grade” on a giant “group project.”   For 2014 they got another A+ as…

Synthetic cathinones which produce effects similar to amphetamines and have been associated with numerous fatalities are derived from cathinone, which is present in the khat plant. Only supplement…

Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) are a group of environmental contaminants that were banned in industrialized countries decades ago, but sut since they accumulate through the food chain and remain…

Though wealthy elites and fad-chasing food activists have promoted the idea that salt is a killer, the science doesn't show that. Instead, links are correlational. Asia has always been held up as a…

Can a different food process actually create food that is nutritionally different? Scientists are skeptical but a group of nutritionists claim they have done so - by reviewing a bunch of papers…

Scientists have inventoried and categorized all of Earth's rare mineral species described to date, each sampled from five or fewer sites around the globe. Individually, several of the species have a…

Fibres from the Australian native spinifex grass are being used to improve latex that could be used to make condoms as thin as a human hair without any loss in strength. Working in partnership with…