The Complexity of Fats and Carbohydrates
“Eat Butter.” This was the title of a controversial TIME magazine article in 2014. It suggested that saturated fats are not as harmful to cardiovascular health as was commonly believed for the past few...
Muffling Bacteria
An Alternative to Antibiotics I lay dormant. I quietly absorb nutrients from my environment, growing, growing, growing — and then I split into two. This happens over and over again, until there are...
Chemical Co-option: Using Nature
How is it that humans are able to turn milk into so many different foods, from butter and ice cream to yogurt and cheese? In the case of yogurt and cheese, we actually have a fair amount of help. These foods...
The Feasibility of Self-Driving Cars
There are more than 5 million automobile accidents every year in the United States, resulting in over 40,000 deaths. Worldwide, there are over 1 million deaths. Because over 90% of accidents are caused by...
Mimicking the Quantum Side of Photosynthesis
If you were given a nickel for every time the solar industry promised a technology that would finally make solar power universal and cheap, then you would have, well, universal and cheap solar power by now....
The Dark Side of Keeping Clean
We’re committed to using refillable water bottles. We carefully place paper and cardboard into recycling bins. Yet every day, when we routinely wash our faces and brush our teeth, are we mindlessly polluting...
Water Fluoridation
This past March, Mayor David Stahl of East Brunswick, NJ denounced tap water fluoridation as "mass medication of the public." An ethical labyrinth, it infringes on informed consent and individual choice, but...