Selected Essays

Selections from Kitchen Chemistry
Traditional Sauce With Science in Mind		Cherry Juice Chemistry in the Kitchen
Onions: Don’t Dig and the Truth Remains Buried		Nitrite In The Hot Dogs Of My Youth
Compounds like tBHQ in McDonald’s Fries Complicate Life		Becoming A Culinary Chemist
Selections from Basic Chemistry Concepts
What’s In Their Names Is In Spica And Pork Chops		Specific Heat: a Beautiful Characteristic Property
How Everyday Substances and Habits Can Dissolve Your Teeth Away		Flames To Ashes: Campfire Science
Science Dimensions On A Baseball Diamond		Pressure Gradients: No Sucking Involved
Even When Pure, Water Is Blue		Relativistic Effects In Your Wedding Ring
Snow, Chemistry And The Spirit Of Christmas		The Subtleties Of the Volumetric Pipet
Selections from Chemistry and Sex
Neutralization In Sexual Intercourse		From Breasts To Structural Formulas
Selections from Science, Philosophy and Society
Where is the Derivation, Dude?		Good Character Traits of A Scientist
Languages Are Like Species		Horizontal Propaganda: Impact on Science and Education
Choices in the Aftermath of Society’s Commitments		I ragazzi di via Panisperna (The Boys of Via Panisperna)
Adding Scientific Insight to a Sensual World		The Bad Dreams Of Big Science
Selections from Environmental Issues
Oxidation Numbers: An Ecological Perspective		VW Scandal: But Many Other Reasons Not to Love Cars
Selections from the Plant World
What Flowers Do With Light		Autumn Leaf Chemistry: More Than Just Eye Candy
One Man’s Weed Is Another Man’s Science		The Botany And Pharmacology Of German Chamomile Tea s
Perfectly Natural: Gardeners’ Love of Chemistry and Chemists’ Love of Plants		My Favorite Nobel Prize and Why a Flower Beats Any Perfume
Selections from Math and Astronomy
Why Perfect Numbers Only End in 6 or 8		Probability In Unexpected Places
The Mathematics of How I Met My Wife (an introduction to Fermi Problems and significant figures)		Persuading Vacationers To Calculate Latitude
Adventures With Venus		Thoughts of Astronomy While Tobogganing
Selections from Health Sciences
The Causes of Heart Disease: Mostly Not Genetic		Drug Synchronicity in Amazon Tea
The Modern Myth of Life Expectancy		The Alcohol-Cancer Connection