Science Niblets

At the end of my freshman year of college I got stuck with the task of cleaning out a refrigerator I’d shared with three other students equally ill-equipped to handle the dizzying freedom of a parent-free kitchen. Much of the food within had been hanging out for the better part of the academic year and was considerably altered by the experience. Once-white rice had turned a strange shade of pink. Brown sauces had become green. A lone cucumber in the produce drawer had attempted to escape the plastic bag holding it by transforming into a liquid. It was, in a word, gross.

You have probably heard about the concept of a carbon footprint. The carbon footprint is a quite common indicator of the bad impact on the environment caused by consuming goods and services. Sometimes it comes up in unexpected contexts. For example, I was looking for a hotel room recently and they presented the environmental impact for staying one night in their hotel room in the form of the carbon footprint. The carbon footprint can be used for basically everything. Here are more examples of things for which you can calculate a carbon footprint: a mile driven in a specific car, buying a pound of beef, even just breathing over the course of one’s life. The carbon footprint tells you how much carbon dioxide emissions (and methane) each thing produces.

Botox is used for banishing crow's feet and tightening sagging jowls. Six million Americans each year and an estimated 75% of celebrities over the age of 35 use it. But did you know that Botox is composed of the same deadly toxin responsible for botulism poisoning that can cause paralysis and respiratory failure?