Author: Fred Estes

Fighting Opioid Addiction

Gitanjali Rao Invents a Medical Diagnostic Tool “One of our family friends became addicted to prescription opioids after a car accident,” says Gitanjali Rao, an award-winning inventor. The friend’s doctor had prescribed opioid painkillers to ease her suffering. As happens all too often, Gitanjali discovered, the friend mistakenly took too much of her prescription and… Continue reading Fighting Opioid Addiction

Yvonne Clark

Rediscovering Women and People of Color in Science Yvonne Clark’s path to working on the Saturn Five rockets that took astronauts to the moon started with burned toast and her desire to fly planes. Y.Y., as she like to be called, had a longer road to that rocket project than most of her NASA colleagues.… Continue reading Yvonne Clark

Two Noons?

A colleague recently surprised me. She posted an item about the recent equinox in a science blog and mentioned solar noon. There’s another kind of noon? Two noons? I always thought of noon as 12:00 o’clock as shown by my watch, though I wondered why a nearby sundial seemed so far off from my watch.… Continue reading Two Noons?

Myth of the Tongue Map

A persistent meme of misconception It’s not what you know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know that ain’t so.” Mark Twain The Problem How do we know what is so and what ain’t so? Sometimes obsolete or debunked ideas still persist and circulate widely. Many people today still believe the misconception that… Continue reading Myth of the Tongue Map

Supertaster Test

With flavors of chocolate and red fruits, this Barolo [red wine] has a strong backbone of tannins.  from LoveToKnow.com Some people can see better than others, with vision like eagles. Some people can hear better, detecting subtle sounds as a dolphin hears the sounds of small fish swimming. And some people are extra sensitive to… Continue reading Supertaster Test

Lab Girl by Hope Jahren

Geobiologist Dr. Hope Jahren wrote Lab Girl as a story of her life in science. The core of her book chronicles her life as a young woman growing up to be a scientist. “In my memory of those dark winter nights [in rural Minnesota] … as my father [who taught physics and earth sciences at… Continue reading Lab Girl by Hope Jahren

What is a Fata Morgana?

In 1880, Prince George of Wales, the future king of England, then in his teens, saw it during a sea voyage. As he wrote in his journal, “July 11th. At 4 a.m., the Flying Dutchman [the legendary ghost ship] crossed our bows. A strange red light as of a phantom ship all aglow… stood out… Continue reading What is a Fata Morgana?