Getting lab-grown meat — and milk — to the table
By Bob Holmes Beef, chicken and dairy made from cultured cells could offer a smaller footprint than conventional farms. Companies are working on scaling up and bringing prices down. Read more
How the brain calculates a quick escape
By Tom Siegfried Whether fly or human, fleeing from danger is key to staying alive. Scientists are beginning to unravel the complex circuitry behind the split-second decision to beat a hasty retreat. Read more
America is failing women’s health
By Susan E. Short and Meghan Zacher OPINION: Systemic inequity means women in the US die younger and suffer more than they should. It’s time for health for all. Read more
Could getting rid of old cells turn back the clock on aging?
By Amber Dance Researchers are investigating medicines that selectively kill decrepit cells to promote healthy aging — but more work is needed before declaring them a fountain of youth Read more
What we are reading
Fatal food
You’ve heard of mariners getting scurvy from too little vitamin C, but explorers shedding skin because of too much vitamin A might be new to you. In the Disappearing Spoon podcast, Sam Kean relates the story of three men and their sled dogs slogging through the snowy expanse of Antarctica on a 1912 scientific expedition. Food, supplies and one man are lost to an icy crevasse. The way the remaining men find to sustain themselves leads to sloughed off skin — and worse.
Living green
Many of us do our best to minimize our personal carbon footprint, but do those actions really make a difference? If you want some fact-based guidance, take this New York Times quiz and see how a vegan diet stacks up against recycling and other measures. The quiz is part of an opinion piece by psychologist Sander van der Linden, who writes that fighting misperceptions and misinformation about what actions will slow climate change may be most important of all. And your personal contribution is small change: It’s governments and businesses that have the greatest power in this effort, he notes, so don’t take it too hard if you don’t ace the test. (To see more of van der Linden, watch our event on conspiracy theories.)
Costly gains
Today’s bodybuilders would outdo Arnold Schwarzenegger at his peak, but achieving this degree of muscle mass is not easy. In fact, it’s nearly impossible without steroids or other drugs that can cause severe health problems. For the Washington Post, Bonnie Berkowitz and William Neff dive into the often ad-hoc regimens of steroids, drugs and supplements that extreme bodybuilders take and the dangers therein, revealed in the story’s graphics. Weakened hearts, ’roid rage and permanent infertility are among the problems — and that’s not all that afflicts the biz: The story is one in a series, Built & Broken, that explores the dark corners of the competitive bodybuilding world.
Art & science
Get a whiff of this
The fresh, sharp smell of Christmas trees in the December air isn’t holiday magic — it’s chemistry: The scent comes from a suite of compounds, each bringing in its own essence. Most of these molecules show up in our everyday lives. The turpentine-smelling compound alpha-pinene can be made into camphor, a main active ingredient in Vicks VapoRub. Myrcene shows up in lemongrass and hops, while bornyl acetate — the star player in the trees’ scent — makes a more discreet appearance in rosemary.
Some of the standouts in the odor cocktail are shown above in an infographic by Andy Brunning, the educator and creator behind Compound Interest, a blog that introduces readers to all sorts of molecules we regularly encounter. His infographics span materials chemistry, food chemistry, chemistry in the news and more. Whether porridge, cat pee, or the polymers in a World Cup jersey, Brunning has the chemistry covered. We encourage you to peruse the blog, but if you want to keep referring to a piney scent as “Christmas-tree smell” instead of “bornyl acetate,” we won’t judge.
