The Neighborhood Toxicologist

“Must keep water out” was my mantra. The old red backpack, my faithful traveling companion for over twenty years, cross country, up mount...

I shouldn’t admit this, but I get an odd thrill on trash collection day. Maybe it’s because our two trashcans are packed so full that it’s a...

Years ago when I first met my husband, I am ashamed to say, I may have belittled the importance of his research project. He was studying l...

This morning I finally came across the science article I’d been dreading. With the kids off to school and the dog walked, I settled in to my...

Much to my embarrassment, shortly after graduating with my Ph.D. and directing my attention to PCBs and other toxics in fish, whenever we s...

Nanotechnology is an interesting field for a toxicologist because of the very public discussion about toxicity, regulation and the future of...

Yesterday my mother asked about using plastic wrap in the microwave. She uses it when reheating or warming food, and her reheated food is mo...

Yesterday NPR had an interesting story on mercury in those compact fluorescent lightbulbs (you know those odd shaped spiral bulbs that prom...

A news article published today in Environmental Science and Technology reports on the recent changes to EPA's Toxic Release Inventory ....

My daughter is rehearsing to be a Who down in Whoville, a creature invisible and nonexistent to all but Dr. Suess’s Horton who first hea...

Cruising through the latest news in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, I came across an article on PFOA (you know, those fluo...

While researching regulation and toxicology of nanomaterials for a post on this page, I was directed towards the following report produce...

This week there was an interesting article by Barnaby J. Feder in the New York Times reporting on the regulation or non-regulation of nanop...

Many of us here in Western Massachusetts worry about Vermont Yankee (our local, and famously old nuclear power plant). We ask the dentist, ...

I search the pantry and the fridge for a quick nutritious dinner. “How about tuna,” suggests Sophie, my youngest. Tuna is her favorite prote...

What do my husband’s armpits, my son’s sandals, my mother’s steak knives and my daughter’s hairbrush all have in common? Antibacterials. T...

I had been working on a project about the development of nuclear power plants in this country and through a list-serve of scientists and en...