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Antivenins for Snake Bites

20 Mar 2017

To make an antivenin, small doses of poison are injected into horses or goats.聽 The amount of toxin is not enough to kill the animal but is enough to trigger the production of antibodies.聽 These...

The Origins of Vitrol

20 Mar 2017

Sulphuric acid, which has the traditional name, 鈥渙il of vitriol.鈥 It is a nasty, corrosive liquid, making 鈥渧itriolic鈥 an apt term for virulent language. At first it may seem odd that the term ...

South American Poison Dart Frog

20 Mar 2017

There are several species of such frogs which contain such powerful toxins that just brushing against its poisonous skin is enough to kill an adult human. One hundredth of a milligram of...

Hold Your Nose for the Durian Fruit

20 Mar 2017

The durian grows mostly in southeast Asia where it is referred to as 鈥淭he King of Fruit.鈥 The only problem is that the king needs a bath. While people speak in exalted terms about the taste of the...

The Ballistic Bomb

20 Mar 2017

The Ballistic Bomb is a hardened cake of chemicals that is designed to be dropped into the bath water. It produces vigorous fizzing, supposedly the cause of pleasure in the "Southern Hemisphere,"...

Pucker Up: The Chemistry of Kissing

20 Mar 2017

And just when I was getting used to being single in the summer. July 6th rolls around; International Kissing Day. It鈥檚 like a second Valentine鈥檚 Day but less sweet. I mean really, no chocolate? But...

Are all Fats created equal?

20 Mar 2017

Not all saturated fats are created equal. They have a different effect on blood cholesterol depending on the number of carbon atoms in their molecular structure. Lauric acid, the predominant fatty...

Leeches

20 Mar 2017

Have you ever wondered why hippopotami spin their tales when they defecate? African Bushmen say that they are showing God that they have eaten only grass and not fish as fulfillment of the...

Self-Cleaning Toilets and Self-Cleaning Clothes

20 Mar 2017

Nobody looks forward to cleaning toilets. And maybe in the future you won鈥檛 have to. That may be one of the benefits of nanotechnology, a burgeoning field of science that everyone is talking about....

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