Who is a new Mythbusters — meticulously debunking pernicious (or just plain silly) myths about science? A report by William Weir in the Hartford Courant — in his profile of Pepsi’s science laboratory (which is in New Haven, Connecticut), reveals the secret: Eric Milgram, senior fellow at the lab, used to work in the pharmaceutical […]
To a louse on a lady
This week’s Classic Louse Poem is Robert Burn’s “To A Louse. On seeing one on a lady’s bonnet at church.” It begins: Ha! Whare ye gaun, ye crowlin ferlie? Your impudence protects you sairly, I canna say but ye strut rarely Owre gauze and lace, Tho’ faith! I fear ye dine but sparely On sic […]
Asparagus Smell — Wee Progress
For Marcel Proust, one of the after-effects of eating asparagus, was that it “…transforms my chamber-pot into a flask of perfume.’’ This unusual phenomenon is well known by a (disputed) percentage of asparagus-eaters who are lucky (or unlucky) enough to be able to nasaly detect the vegetable’s odorous metabolites in their (or others’) urine. And […]
New Year’s message to authors
As New Year’s day approaches, take a look back to Peter Tyrer’s words of advice, in 2007, to prospective authors for the British Journal of Psychiatry: A NEW YEAR MESSAGE TO ALL OUR AUTHORS No, your failure to have your paper accepted for publication is not because you have offended me or another of the […]