terrasig

User Image

Posts by this author

February 16, 2010
Just before Christmas, the US FDA issued a warning regarding a clay-based traditional West African remedy for morning sickness called Nzu or Calabar or Calabash clay. We discussed this topic here when the initial health warning came out from Texas. The problem with the product is that it contains…
February 15, 2010
I was an angry 14- or 15-year-old in late 1978 or early 1979 - can't recall which year, but definitely angry - walking home on a Sunday night after a dishwasher shift at Grandma's Saucy Apron, a now-defunct Italian restaurant in my hometown where I was working to make money for a Spanish National…
February 14, 2010
Valued commenter wc just left us a link to one of the most insightful articles to date on Dr. Amy Bishop, the University of Alabama in Huntsville biology professor charged in the shooting deaths of three colleagues where two other professors and an administrative assistant were injured. In today's…
February 13, 2010
First and foremost our condolences go to all our our colleagues at the University of Alabama at Huntsville and others in the Huntsville science community such as Twitter friend, @girlscientist, Dr. Chris Gunter. As we are learning, yesterday's shooting occurred after UAH Assistant Professor of…
February 12, 2010
I started strong this morning, lots of e-mail interaction with the lab and even a few hundred words on a blog post, but then had another setback. Hence I offer you a photographic (iPhone cam) composition entitled, "Still Life." I am too young to feel this old. (Special note to PalMD: No vomiting…
February 10, 2010
From Monday's issue of The Press in York, England: A breast cancer patient from York says she is "disgusted" by a shortage of the drug she and hundreds of other women rely on to reduce the risk of the disease returning. Mother-of-two Marion Barclay, 45, said the situation became so serious last…
February 9, 2010
Thank you for visiting our introductory post on K2 Spice and welcome readers from Maia Szalavitz at the TIME Healthland blog. The comments to which she refers can be seen by scrolling to the end of the post. However, our blog has moved since this was posted in Feb 2010 and any further comments are…
February 9, 2010
I'm always pleasantly surprised when a topic generates enthusiastic reader feedback, particularly when comments come from long-time readers who share experiences I never knew they had or, in some cases, comment for the first time. The topic this time was a simple reflection on my current bout of…
February 7, 2010
I have just a couple of thoughts today that I offer to the reader not for sympathy but, rather, for scientific observation and reflection. I've been dealing with a case of bronchitis that became pneumonia. I tried to teach through it, do grant reviews, finish a book chapter, etc. but was finally…
February 4, 2010
Please forgive me for the cranky. I am still confined to bed and am only writing between fits of coughing that still occasionally drive me near unconsciousness due to hypoxia. I'm stuck at home trying to read some research literature across the VPN and proxy servers from my three faculty…
February 3, 2010
A few weeks ago, we discussed (1, 2) some of the drugs confiscated by authorities who searched the Sedona resort room occupied by self-help guru, James Ray, following the October 2009 deaths of three followers who paid nearly $10,000 each for his Spiritual Warrior retreat program. Late this…
January 23, 2010
With all the technopop, hip-hop, sampling, and all kind of nonsense in music today, it's always refreshing to see an incredible songwriter kick total and complete ass with just a glorified wooden box, some steel strings, and her/his own voice. This is Lake Claire/Atlanta-based singer-songwriter…
January 22, 2010
Here's a great, last-minute opportunity to interact one-on-one with a major player in the field of environmental and dietary influences on gene expression. From the Duke University Office of News and Communications: Charles Darwin famously reasoned that genetic traits change over many generations…
January 21, 2010
I'm a bit under the weather today but I wanted to at least share with you an interesting career development consideration pointed out by the always-excellent medicinal chemist blogger, Derek Lowe at In the Pipeline. In his post, What Should Non-Chemists Know About Medicinal Chemistry, Anyway?,…
January 19, 2010
This past weekend's international science communication conference, ScienceOnline2010, also saw the first, final hardback copies of Rebecca Skloot's long-awaited book make it into the hands of the science and journalism consuming public. Moreover, an excerpt of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks…
January 19, 2010
It seems that bodybuilding supplement makers are challenging erectile dysfunction supplement makers to see who can recall the greatest number of products adulterated with undeclared, unapproved drugs. In this case, an internet retailer of the following supplements has issued a voluntary recall of…
January 18, 2010
From "Lesser Known Wise and Prophetic Words of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr." by liberal writer and California Democratic Party delegate, Deborah White: "Science investigates; religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge which is power; religion gives man wisdom which is control. Science deals…
January 14, 2010
Hearty congratulations this morning to a group of early-career investigators who received this award yesterday in Washington, DC: The Presidential Award for Early Career Scientists and Engineers was established in 1996 and is the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on outstanding…
January 13, 2010
I've tried to get about three different posts started today. But they all seem meaningless and trite in light of the devastation and suffering being experienced in Haiti since yesterday. We've done some work with anticancer compounds from plants in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Ethnobotanists…
January 12, 2010
For those of you following Twitter or watching the television in the university cafeteria, you'll know that the North Carolina port of Morehead City is being evacuated. Nine containers of an explosive, pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN), have been punctured and there is concern of an explosion. (…
January 10, 2010
Next weekend at ScienceOnline2010, I'll be co-moderating a session on encouraging scientists and science trainees from underrepresented groups to participate in social media. I will be working with Damond Nollan, a social media specialist and Web Services Manager at North Carolina Central…
January 10, 2010
Our post on drugs and documents found in the Sedona resort room occupied by self-help guru James Ray requires a correction and a clarification related to the Michigan doctor of osteopathy who, according to publicly-available records, prescribed some of the drugs as detailed in these publicly-…
January 9, 2010
While the coffee wasn't quite ready this morning, I ventured to the Wall Street Journal health page at the Wall Street Journal, one of my frequent first-reads. I was immediately intrigued by a short article from the excellent Jennifer Corbett Dooren about Roche-Genentech gaining US FDA approval for…
January 6, 2010
This quick post is in response to one by DrugMonkey a few days ago entitled, "Nope, I just get my regular salary..." Drug speaks of the realities of federal research grant-supported scientists at US universities and research institutes and how the apparent large dollar figure grants do not line the…
January 6, 2010
The US FDA has released a statement based on finding from the Texas Department of State Health Services on December 23, 2009: The Texas Department of State Health Services is warning consumers, especially pregnant or breastfeeding women, to avoid consuming a traditional product called "Nzu" because…
January 5, 2010
On October 8, 2009, paramedics responded to a 911 call at a mystical retreat being held at Angel Valley Spiritual Retreat Center in West Sedona, Arizona, a stunningly beautiful area known widely as a mecca for New Age enthusiasts. Eyewitness accounts compiled in this October 21 New York Times…
January 4, 2010
Thanks to the always vigilant eyes of Liz Ditz, Ratbags.com is reporting that pediatric immunologist and vaccine developer Dr. Paul Offit, writer Amy Wallace, and Condé Nast (publisher of Wired magazine) are being sued for libel in US District Court by Barbara Loe Fisher, founder and acting…
January 3, 2010
In today's Los Angeles Times Dr. Irving Epstein, Brandeis University chemistry prof and HHMI investigator, writes in "The science of science education": In 2005, more than two-thirds of the American scientific workforce was composed of white males. But by 2050, white males will make up less than…
January 3, 2010
Quick question for readers who conduct research with vertebrate animals. We were gazing lovingly at the PharmBeagle this morning and got into a discussion that the beagle is on one of the primary model species for long-term toxicology studies required of drug companies by the US Food and Drug…
January 1, 2010
Steve Silberman and Rebecca Skloot just pointed out to me an editorial from science writer Chris Mooney that has appeared online and will be in the Sunday, January 3rd edition of The Washington Post. In the essay, "On issues like global warming and evolution, scientists need to speak up," Mooney…