Category archive: Science and Medicine

Mindfulness Meditation

I’ve written before on this blog about my long struggle with panic attacks and anxiety. Every now and then, my brain chemistry gets screwy, and the highly unpleasant experience of major anxiety/panic returns for a time. I’ve recently been suffering through one of these periods, and, as usual, I’ve found significant relief from meditation. In…

Beginnings of the science of forensic toxicology

This is an interesting article for authors who are either researching the history of forensics or writing 19th century murder mysteries (link below). I confess that I’ve always been fascinated by the use of scientific methods in the investigation of murder…long before CSI ever gained such high visibility in popular culture.  I remember attending my…

Beam Scotty up, please!

Beam me up…for the 3rd try! Scotty’s ashes will be aboard the corporate SpaceX craft tomorrow as they try again to fulfill James Doohan’s wishes to send some of his ashes into space (2 previous attempts met with unfortunate ends). Hope all goes well this time! http://is.gd/MBfsAk

Swine Flu, now officially known as H1N1

I’ve been following the swine flu scare quite closely, having long been interested in infectious diseases that have spread widely, causing the great pandemics of history.  One of the reasons I went back to grad school recently to study biology was because of my concern over the devastation wrought by HIV-AIDS.  I wanted to know…

Women and HIV-AIDS: Disappointing News

This week’s medical news brought a report about the disappointing results of one of the (thought to be) most promising weapons in the small arsenal against HIV-AIDS: a vaginal gel microbiocide, Carroguard. The gel was being tested in a large-scale trial in South Africa and Botswanna. This clinical trial had been ongoing for three years,…

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