How do painkillers work? By reducing the chemical responsible for pain, by reducing the amount of the chemical responsible for pain in the brain, or by blocking the pain signals to the brain. Painkillers are called analgesics, which comes from the Greek word analgesia, meaning “without pain”. It was first used in reference to painkillers […]
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What is DDT? It stands for dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane and was the first synthetic pesticide. It was banned in 1972. DDT didn’t start being used in large quantities until after the Second World War, but it had been discovered quite a while earlier. Othmar Zeidler, an Austrian chemist, first synthesized DDT in 1874. Nobody realized that it
Why are Omega-3 fatty acids good for us? They are healthy fats that are supposed to support heart health, lower triglycerides, improve blood vessels, aid the immune system, and do good things in the brain. What are Omega-3 fatty acids? They are not just one fat. There are 11 different types altogether. When we are
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What is baking soda? Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate, which is a salt. Baking soda has a myriad of uses, but it was first used for baking, hence its name. It was discovered in 1801 in Berlin, by a pharmacist called Valentin Rose the Younger. I don’t know when it was first used in baking,
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Is cocaine natural? The main ingredient in cocaine comes from a natural plant, but it needs to be processed. Cocaine is a stimulant taken from the leaves of the coca plant. The Coca plant grows in South America, on the lower slopes of the Andes. Because it is such a valuable crop, cultivation has spread
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How does anthrax kill? Anthrax is an infection caused by a bacterium called Bacillus anthracis. Because it is a bacterial infection, it can be treated with antibiotics if it is discovered soon enough. We may have heard about anthrax from the news, but it is a naturally occurring bacteria that has been around for a
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What is a metal? A metal is any material that readily loses its outer shell electrons, can be polished to be highly reflective of light, is opaque, conducts heat, conducts electricity, is ductile, and malleable. The bond between the atoms in the molecules cause all of these properties and are what makes a material a
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Henrietta Lacks developed cervical cancer and the cells taken from a tumor biopsy have formed the HeLa cell line, named after her. Ms. Lacks didn’t know that her cells had been taken and she died in October 1951, before the significance of her cells was known. She was only 31 years old. She did not
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Why does dry ice fog sink? The gas from dry ice is more dense than air and therefore it sinks. Dry ice is solid carbon dioxide. It is called dry ice because when it melts it turns into a gas rather than a liquid. Regular ice would be wet ice because when it melts it
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During his career, Maurice Hilleman developed over 40 vaccinations. It is thought that his vaccinations save over 8 million lives every year. However, he was not interested in making a name for himself, only that his vaccines helped people. For this reason, despite having received his vaccines, very few people have ever heard of him.
#859 Maurice Hilleman – microbiologist specializing in vaccinology. Read More »
