Why I adore Hans Rosling....

It's not entirely explainable with words or simple graphs. It's best understood by actually watching him operate with his animated data. See his new TED talk here.

OSU pals make the Oregonian!

...this work brought to you by my favorite peeps at OSU. These folks have previously brought us wonderful research on air quality at our very own Mt. Bachelor Observatory, with help from some great students at COCC.

glycosides in my garden

Memorial Day always has felt like an odd holiday for me. Growing up the only real memorial thing that would happen is that my mom and dad would each take their mothers to the cemetery to put flowers on the headstones of their spouses. There wasn't much for direct links to the military, it seems. But Memorial Day was always a day to work on some project outdoors. As an adult I still find myself planning for and doing work around the house during the holiday weekend.

So today I went to the nursery and bought some plants and tree bark for my yard.

I knew I wanted to get some digitalis, because there was some growing here when I moved in and I find it gorgeous in a showy kind of way. But I also love it that digitialis is the source of commonly prescribed cardiac glycoside digoxin. I didn't realize until I did a little web searching today that the plant actually is not just a little poisonous--it contains enough of the glycoside to really mess you up bad even if small amounts are ingested.

I also picked up some kinnickkinnick, which is Arctostaphylos. I bought it because it will look good and do well where it needed to go, but it turns out to be darned interesting, too. Turns out it is a relative of the familiar manzanita, and like digitalis, it contains a glycoside compound that is biologically active. In this case the glycoside is named arbutin. It inhibits the formation of melanin and has been used in herbal treatments for urinary tract problems. But these extracts have been the subject of some concern since they may be carcinogenic.

a new blog to watch

Emily Monosson has a blog that has been recommended to me, called the Neighborhood Toxicologist. I'm linking it from here, from the list of Stuff I Like that is in the right-hand corner of my page. I haven't had a chance to give it a close inspection but I have reason to believe it'll be good.

Meanwhile, in Ochem the current topic is Electrophilic Aromatic Substitution. In an email conversation with a student, I was drawn in to a discussion about polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs. There is so much descriptive chemistry I would like to include in my courses, but there just isn't much time and it is often the kind of information that is accessible to my students anyway, if I just point out to them where to look.

So with that said, I once again can plug Wikipedia, which has an excellent article on PAHs.

biology meets chemistry meets physics meets engineering

This is one of the best cross-disciplinary stories I have seen in a while. Who'da thunk this would work? What a creative idea! Biological systems are so cool, since over time they are often optimized to utilize available materials and make the best possible use of what is in the environment.

is your drywall off-gassing poisons?

ABC News ran a story this evening about a woman in Florida who is claiming her house has made her sick, and that Chinese drywall may be to blame. The story included no details worth mentioning--it was a classic case of little information but lots of "two sides" reporting.

CNN does a much better job, reporting that the materials have been tested and shown to contain some strontium sulfide, which potentially could lead to the production of H2S, explaining both a sulfurous smell and problems with corrosion of pipes and wires in the house, which is quite new.

You can read more here.

mmmmmmeta

Science News reports on a group that has devised an efficient way to substitute at the normally-resistant meta position on aromatic rings. Thanks to Sean for the link.