Mercury
dblum | March 10, 2010After I wrote my last blog post on mercury, readers wrote to ask about the old-time antiseptic Mercurochrome which - as you might imagine - was named for the poisonous traces of mercury mixed into it.
One man wondered about childhood toxic exposure. Another noted that her mother still liked to tell the story of when she was a little girl and dumped Mercurochrome "all over her beautiful white bedspread." Â I had to laugh (my mother likes to tell the story of how I colored all over her white bedspread). But if you know Mercurochrome, you know that it would have made an incandescently brilliant…
dblum | March 9, 2010Elemental mercury is a slippery substance.
In the earth's crust, it anchors itself by bonding with other elements, creating materials like the rough coppery rock cinnabar, a crystalline combination of mercury and sulfur. Once cinnabar, or other metallic ores, are mined and crushed, mercury can be easily extracted. Then the warmer above-ground temperatures, the decrease in pressure, cause pure mercury to become a very odd liquid metal.
Unlike a drop of water, a drop of mercury touched by a finger does not wet the skin. Instead, it breaks into smaller drops, tiny glittering balls that…
oracknows | February 13, 2009Unfortunately, as we have been dreading for the last four months or so since her relapse was diagnosed, my mother-in-law passed away from breast cancer in hospice. She died peacefully, with my wife and the rest of her family at her side. As you might expect, I do not much feel like blogging. Because I foresaw this day coming, however, I did set up a series of "Best of" reposts to autopost for you while I am in mourning. Some I have even updated and/or spiffed up with actual editing. If you've been reading less than a year or two, they're new to you. If not, I hope you enjoy them again. I don'…
oracknows | February 9, 2009Not again.
I have no way of knowing if the media in my hometown happen to be more credulous when it comes to pseudoscience than average, but, given the number of stories referred to me emanating from Detroit and its surrounding suburbs, you'll forgive me if I'm very depressed right now. For instance, we have "investigative reporter" Steve Wilson of WXYZ Channel 7 Action News, who, although claiming the title of "Chief Investigator" for that station, clearly couldn't investigate his way out of a paper bag--at least when it comes to medical stories--given that he is known for routinely…
cmooney | February 20, 2008
My latest Science Progress column just went up: It's about the strong rebuke (PDF) that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit just gave the Bush administration on the subject of mercury pollution.
The good news is that the administration's sham regulatory policy for this dangerous metal has now been blasted by the courts. The bad news? Ten years after the Clinton administration first tried to save children from mercury--from brain damage--we still don't have a regulatory policy.
That's pathetic, but it's also typical of this administration. As I conclude the column:
In general...…
cmooney | January 22, 2006If you'd like to see an impressive example of how politically relevant, non-"balanced" science reporting can be carried out, read this article in the Reno News and Review. It's a takedown of Congressman Jim Gibbons--now running for Nevada's governorship--for releasing (along with Rep. Richard Pombo) a report that distorts and twists the science of mercury pollution.
I believe that politicians should be held accountable for lying to or misleading the public, whether it's about science or about anything else. So I'm glad the Reno News and Review is bringing charges about the misuse of science…