Of tomato plants, iPods and Darwin’s great-great granddaughter
Could a voice actually matter in making plants grow? Most of the scientific-sounding explanations I’ve ever heard about response of plants to people have invoked the additional carbon dioxide in the plants’ vicinity. But over the weekend I heard about an unusual study carried out by The Royal Horticultural Society. The researchers played different voices [...]
Molecule of the Week: Carbon dioxide (part 1 of many)
This small molecule is too big for a single post, so I’ll probably revisit it at different points in this blog. It’s the most oxidized form of carbon, often thought of as waste product: both of fossil fuel burning and of the energy reactions that fuel life. But it’s also an essential component of photosynthesis [...]
Encouraging (women) scientists to opt in to academia
It’s an interesting week to talk about women in science. On Tuesday afternoon, I listened in on the end of a White House panel discussion about Title IX and its impact on women in both athletics and science and technology. Scientific American also reported on a new government study about the state of women in [...]
The global cancer challenge
The policy side of my reporting head has also turned to health issues over the last year or so, particularly global health. From a Western perspective, it’s easy to take for granted the scope of care and treatments that are available. But the developing world is light-years away from even hoping to have access to [...]
Molecule of the Week: Zinc gluconate
The Molecule of the Week is the active ingredient in Zicam, the nasal gel cold remedy that the FDA warned consumers to stop using this week. What’s the problem? Some users have reported losing their sense of smell after using the gel. On Tuesday, the FDA stepped in and issued a warning letter to Matrixx [...]
Webb of Science gives fashion advice
Fashion is not normally my beat. But I’m a science writer who writes careers articles, the most recent one about dressing for job interviews. So, today anyway, I’m a writer who gives fashion advice to scientists. Even though my workday fashion choices these days often remain within the home office, I do take pride in [...]
Data and writing– unpublished or unpublishable?
Scientists, writers and even science writers share a common plight: there’s always a subset of their work that lies fallow, tucked in a notebook, lingering on a hard drive. The question remains whether that work should remain on a dusty shelf, or whether it actually belongs among “the published.” When I was in graduate school, [...]
Molecule of the Week: Hydrogen
Though hydrogen is the smallest atom and is perched at the top left of the periodic table, hydrogen in nature exists as two atoms hooked together. Hydrogen hit the news this weekend as a leak led NASA to scrub the Space Shuttle Endeavor launch: Hydrogen is as clean as chemical fuels get: burning it produces [...]
June 8th birthday shout-out
I decided that in honor of my own birthday, I’d see which scientists also blew out candles on this spot on the calendar. (Okay, so I guess it’s a day late.) My cosmic alignment is pretty distinguished. Francis Crick, co-discoverer of the DNA double helix was born on June 8, 1916. I also share a [...]
Molecule of the Week: Water
It’s been a rainy week in New York City, and my office next to our front porch and my container garden has me thinking about that ubiquitous wetness. It’s been soaking my plants, and after a quick errand on Friday afternoon, its dampness lurked for hours on the hem of my jeans. It’s easy to [...]
