Chemistry

Fact Check: Is Chewing Gum 'Made' Of Plastic?

A reader sent me an email asking about chewing gum and if it was really made of plastic and my first thought was 'Why ask me? Do what scientists do and go to Google, skip the first 10 entries, which will all be gamed by SEO experts at anti-science gro ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Aug 20 2021 - 3:01pm

Louisiana Has Important Things To Worry About, Lawyers Shouldn't Invent A 'Cancer Alley' To Pile On

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the American public fell back in love with science. In the first 19 years of this century, Californians denied vaccines to such an extent a law had to be passed to prevent coastal parents from creating a Whooping Cough pandemi ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Aug 31 2021 - 11:14am

Natural Zinc Sulfides Are Ruining The Mary Rose, But Science Can Fix It

As the crown jewel of Henry VIII’s, its flagship, the Mary Rose, patrolled the Atlantic with her heavy cannons for 34 years. It then spend 437 more buried beneath the turbulent English Channel before being recovered and placed on display at the Mary Rose M ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 17 2021 - 11:45am

Sulfur And Iron Haunt The Ghost Wreck

Analysis of the wood from three 17th century shipwrecks in the Baltic Sea, the Ghost wreck, the Crown and the Sword, showed high concentrations of sulfur and iron using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) scanning. Scientists from the same team have previously repor ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 17 2021 - 2:28pm

In A Pandemic World, Be Thankful For Pesticides

This year, you're going to pay 24 percent more for a turkey, a tough bite out of the wallet for poor people and a dose of reality for economists and armchair pundits who claimed prior to today's "stagflation" that higher prices are no c ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Nov 23 2021 - 6:32am

Sulfoxaflor: EPA Just Gave Them A Fantastic Endorsement For Environmental Health

We may be our own worst critics, but America continues to lead the world in science, science literacy, and science policy. Anyone who has tried to navigate science policy in Europe knows how bad it can get when the discourse is hijacked by government-funde ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Feb 7 2022 - 1:19pm

Skin Bleaching: How Lead Cosmetics Poisoned 18th-Century European Socialites

Eighteenth-century socialites have been depicted as vain, silly women who were poisoned by their white lead makeup. The Countess of Coventry, Maria Gunning — a society hostess renowned for her beauty — is said to have refused to stop wearing foundation co ...

Article - The Conversation - Feb 27 2022 - 11:55am

Why Your Expensive Restaurant Mac And Cheese Probably Has Velveeta

I make macaroni and cheese quite a lot. I like to eat it on Fridays and for friends and family on holidays. I have sampled mac and cheese all across the country. I am no Guy Fieri, but I have gotten around, and I can tell you with a great deal of confidenc ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Mar 16 2022 - 9:39pm

Canadian Activists Wants To Ban Decabromodiphenyl Ethane- That's Bad News For The Public Worried About Fire Safety

The activist group Environment and Climate Change Canada has gotten political allies inside the government's Health Canada division to try and lobby for bans on decabromodiphenyl ethane- without having a replacement for a flame retardant used to keep ...

Article - Hank Campbell - May 20 2022 - 5:35pm

Advil, Grilled Food, And Disinfectants: 3 Anti-Science Scare Stories We Can Leave In The Past

The year 2018 began much like every year does, full of promise and hope. And it ended like almost every year does, jaded and weakened by compromise.  Though a budget shutdown is in the news, hyperbolic claims about science being left behind are just politi ...

Article - Hank Campbell - May 30 2022 - 12:35pm