Category: Coping with COVID
Overlooked No More: Alice Ball, Chemist Who Created a Treatment for Leprosy
NYT After she died — and just a year after her discovery — another scientist took credit for her work. It would be more than half a century until her story resurfaced. On New Year’s Day in 1922, a scientific paper in an obscure medical journal described a drug that would help revolutionize the treatment […]
Apr 11, 2023
Wild Iguana Steals Little Girl’s Cake, Gives Her Rare Bacterial Infection
Gizmodo The toddler is thought to be the first known case of Mycobacterium marinum caught from an iguana bite. A 3-year-old girl’s holiday in Costa Rica was ruined by an iguana in more ways than one. The scaly reptile stole her cake, but not before biting her hand and transmitting a rare bacterial infection that endured for […]
Apr 4, 2023
New Staff for 2023
When I’m not researching and curating content for UNMC, I’m a flower farmer! Farming was never in the plans, it just sort of happened, and my husband and I couldn’t be more thrilled. We have 65 acres of a former tobacco farm, and the soil is a depleted dust bowl from over 350 years of […]
Mar 22, 2023
The mystery of Alice in Wonderland syndrome
(BBC) A surprising number of people experience symptoms of this curious condition, which is named after Lewis Carroll’s heroine, who changed size after eating and drinking Nine-year-old Josh Firth was in the car with his parents when he noticed something strange happening to the buildings on either side – they seemed to be getting bigger. […]
Mar 14, 2023
Study shows artificial sweetener erythritol linked to increased stroke and cardiac risks
Chemistryworld The sweetener erythritol has been linked to a dramatically increased risk of cardiovascular problems. Erythritol is a four-carbon sugar alcohol naturally present in small amounts in fruits and vegetables, but at levels 1000 times higher in some processed foods such as pastries and ice creams. It is around two-thirds as sweet as sucrose and […]
Mar 7, 2023
6 doctors swallowed Lego heads for science. Here’s what came out
(NPR) When Dr. Andy Tagg was a toddler, he swallowed a Lego piece. Actually, two, stuck together. “I thought, well, just put it in your mouth and try and get your teeth between the little pieces,” he says. The next thing he knew, it went down the hatch. As an emergency physician at Western Health, in Melbourne, […]
Feb 21, 2023
Happy belated birthday, Phil Collins!
As I was collecting content for this issue of The Transmission, I learned Phil Collins turned 72 yesterday! His music will live on forever, especially In the Air Tonight, a true classic. I heard a story long ago about the origin of that song, a dark tale of an icy murder, and anger. The real […]
Jan 31, 2023
Test your knowledge of spillover viruses, starting with … what are they?
(NPR) After three years of living with an unprecedented pandemic, how much of your knowledge has changed about how these catastrophes start? Like, what exactly is a “spillover”? Where do viruses like SARS-CoV-2 come from? And how often do they … spill over? Take our quiz and test your knowledge.
Jan 31, 2023