Daily blogging like daily exercise
So, it’s day 31, and I made it! I’ve decided that daily blogging is like daily exercise– it’s much easier to keep going when you’re supported by a group of other people with the same goals and mission. So, I’m grateful for the support of my fellow bloggers and the new friends I’ve made along [...]
Molecule of the Week: Vitamin D
Over the last several months I’ve gotten press releases just about every week about Vitamin D, usually talking about studies that show health problems connected to Vitamin D deficiencies. A lot of this discussion about “the optimal dose” of Vitamin D is still under debate, though. The main problem is that it is possible to get too much. [...]
Whales in New York Harbor
They’re the largest animal to ever live on Earth, and for the first time researchers have confirmed that blue whales have been singing off the coast of Long Island. (These animals are almost unfathomably huge. If you’re in NYC sometime, check out the blue whale model suspended in the American Museum of Natural History’s Hall [...]
Connecting science and life: a guest post by Jennifer L.W. Fink
Before I was a writer, before I was a mom of four boys – before I was the mother of one boy – I was a nurse. Guess I’ve always been interested in science. In high school, I loved biology and advanced biology. In college, I studied anatomy, physiology, pathophysiology, microbiology, chemistry, biochemistry, nutrition and [...]
More Guest Blogging
I had so much fun with the Official May Blogathon Guest Post Day last Thursday that Webb of Science is doing another Guest Post Day today. This week I’m hosting Jennifer L.W. Fink of Blogging ‘Bout Boys. One of the treats of this month long blogaganza has been making new friends and reading their work. [...]
More Mars Rovers
The rovers are still my favorite NASA mission, for reasons I’ve already written about. Even if the rovers quit tomorrow, the rover science team of Steve Squyres of Cornell and company would still have decades of data to comb through and analyze. Last Friday, they published more of the Opportunity data in the journal Science [...]
When Manhattan streets and the sun align
It’s just about time for Manhattanhenge– that moment where the sun aligns with Manhattan’s street grid. The magic times this year are Saturday and Sunday– May 30 & 31 and again on July 11 & 12. On a day with a clear sunset, the experience is breathtaking. In 2005, when I still lived at the [...]
Summer is (almost) here
Fleeting moments between spring and summer are magic in my little corner of NY harbor. Bikes and rollerblades speed by– walkers, joggers, and marathoners-in-training drink in the cool breeze laced with sweetness (honeysuckle?). And the hardy fishermen (with an occasional woman) cluster in cultural pockets, speaking Chinese, Spanish, or Brooklyn-drenched English. At another fisherman’s pocket, [...]
The pull of the urban garden
Although I now consider myself a urban gal and not necessarily a green thumb, my agrarian roots continue to tug on me. Last summer, I gave in to the gardening urge and our front porch erupted in a jungle of herbs and tomatoes– tasty grape ones and some marginal Early Girls– they worked for gazpacho, [...]
Molecule of the Week: Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
The molecule of the week is actually a collection of 209 different possible versions of this molecule that have multiple chlorine atoms connected in different combinations along the hexagonal segments of the structure– like charms on a bracelet. Though these chemicals are highly heat resistant (used as flame retardants in electronics manufacturing until the late [...]
