Superfoods, Silkworms, and Spandex
eBook - ePub

Superfoods, Silkworms, and Spandex

Science and Pseudoscience in Everyday Life

  1. English
  2. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  3. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

Superfoods, Silkworms, and Spandex

Science and Pseudoscience in Everyday Life

About this book

In this new collection of bite-size pop science essays, bestselling author, chemistry professor, and radio broadcaster Dr. Joe Schwarcz shows that you can find science virtually anywhere you look. And the closer you look, the more fascinating it becomes. In this volume, we look through our magnifying glass at maraschino cherries, frizzy hair, duct tape, pickle juice, yellow school buses, aphrodisiacs, dental implants, and bull testes. If those don't tickle your fancy, how about aconite murders, shot towers, book smells, Swarovski crystals, French wines, bees, or head transplants? You can also learn about the scientific escapades of James Bond, California's confusing Proposition 65, the problems with oxygen on Mars, Valentine's Meat Juice, the benefits of pasteurization, the pros and cons of red light therapy, the controversy swirling around perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), why English cucumbers are wrapped in plastic, and how probiotics may have seeded Hitler's downfall.

Superfoods, Silkworms, and Spandex answers all your burning questions about the science of everyday life, like:

  • why "superfood" is a marketing term, not a scientific one;
  • why plastic wrap is sometimes the environmental choice;
  • why supplements to reduce inflammation may just reduce your bank account;
  • how maraschino cherries went from a luxury good to a cheap sundae topper;
  • what's behind "old book smell";
  • how margarine became a hot item for bootleggers;
  • why duct tape is useful, but not on ducts; and
  • how onstage accidents led to fireproof fabrics.

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Yes, you can access Superfoods, Silkworms, and Spandex by Joe Schwarcz in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Physical Sciences & Chemistry. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Publisher
ECW Press
Year
2024
eBook ISBN
9781778522765

Table of contents

  1. Praise for Dr. Joe Schwarcz
  2. Also by Dr. Joe Schwarcz
  3. Introduction
  4. Breathe and Burn
  5. Bees and Bananas
  6. It’s on Fire!
  7. Nylon Pros and Cons
  8. Dƶbereiner’s Lighter and Berger’s Lamp
  9. The Dreyfus Brothers’ Discovery
  10. Smuggling Margarine
  11. That’s the Way the Rubber Ball Bounces
  12. Antibiotic Concerns
  13. Superfoods and Superhype
  14. Biobased and Biobunk
  15. Pickled Athletes
  16. Fascinating Fiberglass
  17. ā€œSoothing, quieting, and delightful beyond measureā€
  18. From ā€œSwill Milkā€ to Pasteurization
  19. Frying with Water
  20. A Legendary Neon Sign
  21. The Third Man
  22. Rutherford’s Transformations
  23. Science in the Movies
  24. The Big Nickel
  25. Tin Pan Alley
  26. Valentine’s Meat Juice
  27. The Shot Tower
  28. Aconite Murder
  29. The Pitfalls of Proposition 65
  30. Red Light Therapy
  31. The Leidenfrost Effect
  32. An Experiment on a Bird
  33. Causation and Correlation
  34. Cucumbers and Plastics
  35. Uncle Fester
  36. Inflammation Information
  37. Wine and Health
  38. Problems with Palm Oil
  39. Issues with the People’s Chemist
  40. Bats, Vampires, and Longevity
  41. Hitler and Probiotics
  42. Molecules and Mirrors
  43. Clarence Birdseye and TV Dinners
  44. Diamonds!
  45. Head Transplants
  46. Organocatalysis
  47. The Bark That Cures
  48. Scho-Ka-Kola
  49. Expanding on Spandex
  50. Swarovski Crystals
  51. Catalytic Converters and Crime
  52. Fill ’er Up — With Hydrogen
  53. The Battle against Frizzy Hair
  54. The Curse of Misinformation
  55. Space Tourism
  56. The Father of Modern Medicine
  57. James Bond and the Puffer Fish
  58. Gutta-Percha, Walking Sticks, and Hickory Golfers
  59. John Dee and 007
  60. Maraschino Cherries
  61. Keep That Temperature Low
  62. The Yellow School Bus
  63. No, It Doesn’t Switch My Stem Cells On
  64. The Truth Is Out There
  65. Dental Implants
  66. It Stinks!
  67. Those ā€œForeverā€ Chemicals
  68. Silkworm Poo
  69. Oxygen on Mars
  70. Bull Testes
  71. But It’s Natural!
  72. Graphene!
  73. Duct Tape
  74. Porcelain and Alchemy
  75. Lead — It Really Is Toxic
  76. Oh, That Old Book Smell!
  77. Roots of French Wine
  78. Let’s Play Chess
  79. Index
  80. About the Author
  81. Copyright